Karin,

   some brillant people in anthropology and linguistics (Boas,  Benedict, Whorf...) started some really inspired  research on a "relevant theoretical framework" for understanding different world views. Being myself no anthropologist I don't know about any significant recent progress
in this matter. I suppose that only  very few cultures have any inborn or original interest in putting their view 'on display' in a museum.

   Anyhow - it would be truly fascinating if you could apply this kind of widely tested anthropological methodology to museum work. Because museum exhibitions unlike beliefs and language etc. are hardly the product of a 'culture' - although you may quite often deduct from an
exhibition some kind or unkind ideas about the 'culture' (or lack of) of the people having produced this exhibition. In German museums we have a saying "Der Kuhgeschmack des Direktors setzt sich immer durch" - a very polite translation would be something like "The deplorable taste
of the director will finally prevail".

   We museum people are mostly of the tribe of 'free floating intellectuals'. And so we might try to produce understanding for a different culture by making other people look through the eyes of the culture being the subject of this exhibition. That is exactly what many museum
people are trying to do (we might even cite some web sites). But for this kind of translation we need to be fluent in (at least) two cultures. Some very gifted museum people might succeed in doing that - not necessarily by sharing the culture on exhibition or by having grown up in
it.

  Conclusion: I would very much like to hear more about this project and any possible results.

Christof Wolters

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