Indigo,
I'll grant Adrienne and Tim (and myself) credit for not dismissing the question . . . for knowing enough to be encouraging of that line of inquiry.
The application of the Post-Colonial concept of "Otherness" to museum gift shop merchandising and café food/beverage has not likely occurred to other thinkers. (After all, three museum professionals wrote immediately to encourage that line of inquiry!) Your message implies there is always some resource to be found. If there has been research on the subject, it's buried in some library; but my first assumption is the idea is novel . . . and likely has not been researched. Sometimes one must find tangential resources and extrapolate.
It's also important to point out graduate-level research is intended to involve moving beyond existing and established research and knowledge. Thank goodness! Otherwise we'd be churning out MAs and PhDs who just repeat the same research and information that's their professors taught, and their professors before them, and so on and so on.
To move 'beyond' existing and established research and knowledge requires meeting and talking with supervisory/thesis committee members; reaching agreement about the validity of such inquiry; deciding upon appropriate method(s) of research/survey and interpretation; etc. It *is* a difficult path to tread . . . but rewarding to contribute new perspectives. (The next best discovery is still awaiting its discovery, right?)
From my perspective, our responses were encouraging of the line of inquiry which implies a void of knowledge of the subject. Also, don't ignore reference to some potentially applicable Post-Colonial theorists and historical precedents: (1) The "noble savage" was described by Jean-Jacques Rousseau differently from how European colonists brought indigenous peoples before their monarchs as a "freak show" . . . and all assumed a holier-than-thou, "we're more civilized than them" approach. And, (2) European colonial powers' exclusion of the "Other" (the indigenous peoples of the Americas) whilst plundering/raping the land of its natural resources for export. Helpful ideas, I'd hope . . .
If Adrienne, Tim and I were there when Columbus set sail, we'd have been supportive . . . unlikely to repeat threats that he'd fall off the edge of the flat Earth or tell him to keep trying to find better and better maps that simply didn't exist until he drew the map!
Best wishes for a happy weekend,
Sincerely,
Jay Heuman
Curator of Education
Salt Lake Art Center
20 South West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Phone: 801.328.4201 x 21
Fax: 801.322.4323
URL: www.slartcenter.org
Salt Lake Art Center:
Celebrating 75 Years!
1931-2006
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Gayle "Indigo Nights"
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 1:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Thesis Assistance
Guys, I'm having a little trouble with the advice
given, that basically she should tough it out and go
it alone.
What she's done is, rather than to make phone calls,
or face-to-face visitions that may be out of her
financial reach at the present (ever heard of starving
students?), she's taken the approach of going to the
group and asking for their inputs. Doesn't mean she
can't extrapolate your feedback into something that
becomes her own, but she's taking "the smarter way,"
in my book of getting expert advice at less expense.
Anybody seen lately how god awful schooling has
become? I should hope that, if a student comes to
this learned body and looks for assistance, they
wouldn't be turned away and told go find it for
yourself. That doesn't mean a student should
plagiarize anything; it just means that one should
pour the knowledge between the ears through the spigot
of the internet to lend them a hand.
Not picking on Jay or anyone. I just believe we have
a responsibility to help our young people where we
can, and they have a responsibility, as well, to help
in return.
=========================================================
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