NATIONAL MUSEUMS: NEGOTIATING HISTORIES 12-14 JULY, 1999 A three day conference convened jointly by the National Museum of Australia, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian National University, and the Australian Key Centre for Media and Cultural Policy, Griffith University. Further information regarding registration and accommodation are available from Arwen Blackwood Ximenes Assistant Administrator The Centre for Cross-Cultural Research The Australian National University Telephone: +61 2 6249 2434 Facsimile: +61 2 6249 2438 Web site: www.anu.edu.au/culture CONFERENCE TRAVEL You can obtain discounted airline tickets with Ansett Australia by calling 131 413 and quoting the master file number for the conference: MC09587. The rate negotiated is 35% discount off the standard economy airfare, however it is subject to availability so book as early as possible. PROSPECTUS The National Museums: Negotiating Histories conference will consider how competing understandings of national histories are presented and negotiated through exhibitions and other public programs in museums, although the conference papers and discussion will range beyond issues of display to consider topics such as acquisition, custodianship and repatriation of cultural property. The conference will broadly explore how museums present indigenous and settler/migrant histories and cultures and environmental histories in postcolonial societies, especially South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Although the conference is organised around these three themes, it is intended that speakers will focus not only on the particular questions of representation and display of these themes but also the inter-relationships between them. This approach raises questions about how national museums can accommodate different perspectives and understandings of place, history and society. Such questions become a means to explore the relationships of museums not only to multiple histories but also to the contemporary issues through which different groups in postcolonial societies engage each other. PROGRAM (as at 28 May, 1999) MONDAY, 12 JULY 1999 NATIONAL MUSEUMS IN A POST-COLONIAL WORLD 8.30 Registration 9.30 Indigenous Welcome 9.45 Ms Dawn Casey, Acting Director, National Museum of Australia Welcome and Introduction 10.30 Morning Tea 11.00 SESSION ONE Prof. Graeme Davison, Dept of History, Monash University, Australia Dr Udo Kusel, Director, National Cultural History Museum, Pretoria, South Africa "Negotiating New Histories in a New South Africa" 12.30 Lunch 1.30 SESSION TWO Dr Annie E. Coombes, Director Graduate Studies, History of Art, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom "Impossible Histories: 'Nation' and Memory in a democratic South Africa" Dr Steve Prystupa, Museum Assistance Program, Dept. of Canadian Heritage, Canada. Dr Hans-Martin Hinz, Head of Department, German Historical Museum, and Chairperson, ICOM Germany. "History Museums: Negotiating Histories, German experiences" 3.00 Afternoon Tea 3.30 Dr Peter Stanley, Principal Historian, Australian War Memorial, Australia. "Diversity of visitors; diversity of interpretation: the Memorial's Second World War gallery" 4.15 DISCUSSION SESSION Ms Jackie Huggins, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Australia Ms Kirsty Wehner, National Museum of Australia / New York University Dr Andrea Witcomb, Lecturer, Research Institute for Cultural Heritage, Curtin University of Technology, Australia. 5.30 Close TUESDAY, 13 JULY 1999 PEOPLE AND NATION 9.00 SESSION ONE: EXHIBITING NATIONALITY - MUSEUMS AND NATION Dr Gaye Sculthorpe, Director, Indigenous Cultures Program, Museum Victoria, Australia Prof. Ruth Phillips, Director, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Canada. 10.30 Morning Tea 11.00 SESSION TWO: NEGOTIATING CUSTODIANSHIP Dr George Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer, Museum Victoria and Director, Melbourne Museum, Australia Dr Paul Tapsell, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Australian National University, Australia. "TAONGA MANA WHENUA A Maori tribal response to the Museum of New Zealand" 12.30 Lunch 1.30 SESSION THREE: LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL HISTORIES Ms Anna Malgorzewicz, Immigration Museum, Melbourne. Ms RookSana Omar, Director, Local History Museums, Durban, South Africa "Dilemmas and Paradoxes of a Local History Museum in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa" Dr Jock Phillips, General Manager, Heritage, Dept. of Internal Affairs, New Zealand "The Politics of Pakeha History in a Bicultural Museum: Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand 1993-98" 3.00 Afternoon Tea 3.30 DISCUSSION SESSION: PEOPLE AND NATION Mr Ian McShane, Senior Curator, Australian Social History, National Museum of Australia Mr Djon Mundine, Senior Curator, Gallery of Aboriginal Australia, National Museum of Australia Dr Robin Trotter, Australian Key Centre for Media and Cultural Policy, Griffith University, Australia. 4.30 Close 6.00 PUBLIC LECTURE Prof. David Lowenthal, University College, London, UK. "From Cosmopolis to Culture Wars: A National Museums Saga" 8.00 Conference Dinner WEDNESDAY, 14 JULY 1999 THE 'GLOBAL' AND THE 'LOCAL' - THE PLACE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY IN NATIONAL MUSEUMS 9.00 SESSION ONE: ARE ALL HISTORIES IN NATIONAL MUSEUMS NATIONAL HISTORIES? Dr Tim Flannery, Director Elect, South Australian Museum, Australia Prof. John MacKenzie, Professor of Imperial History, Lancaster University, United Kingdom 10.30 Morning Tea 11.00 SESSION TWO: FROM NATURAL HISTORIES TO ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORIES Dr Tom Griffiths, Senior Fellow, History Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University "Social History and Deep Time" Dr Geoff Hicks, Dept. of Environment, New Zealand 12.30 Lunch 1.30 SESSION THREE: MULTIPLE MEANINGS OF LANDSCAPE Dr Heather Goodall, Associate Professor, Social and Public History, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Dr Stephen Dovers, Research Fellow, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University, Australia. "Still Settling Australia, muddling through the environment, and museums" Ms Jay Arthur, People and the Environment, National Museum of Australia. "The Lexicon of Landscapes" 3.00 Afternoon Tea 3.30 DISCUSSION SESSION: THE PLACE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY IN NATIONAL MUSEUMS Dr Mike Smith, Senior Curator, People and the Environment, National Museum of Australia Dr Libby Robin, Curator, People and the Environment, National Museum of Australia 4.30 CLOSING REMARKS Professor Geoffrey Bolton 5.00 Close Kirsten Wehner The Centre for Cross-Cultural Research The Australian National University Telephone: +61 2 6249 4929 Facsimile: +61 2 6249 2438 Email: [log in to unmask] The Centre for Cross-Cultural Research Web site: www.anu.edu.au/culture ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh/museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). 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