Dear Giovanni,

I would like to present some of my museum work at the conference. Here is a draft abstract.

Ethnographic Museums, Social Inclusion and Disability: Inspiration Africa!

Dr. Viv Golding, University of Leicester

Inspiration Africa! was a 2 year £72,000 DfEE funded project involving 12 schools and the African Worlds Gallery of the Horniman Museum in South East London. The project focus was ICT, Art and Literacy. A special feature of Inspiration Africa! was the collaborative approach by a multi-racial team of artists, website designers and educators, to the feminist-hermeneutic research, which pointed to the potential value of ICT at a region theorised as the Museum Frontiers.

The project work was based around 12 key objects in the newly opened gallery, which inspired 12 key themes. These themes provided an opportunity for the participating schools (4 Secondary, 4 Primary and 4 Special Schools) to imaginatively explore aspects of the museum collection and to challenge racist or stereotypical views of Africa. The themes also permitted the students to make personal connections with the museum objects and with each other through the feminist-hermeneutic methodology and the creative use of old and new technologies. 

My paper will concentrate on the themes selected by four special schools, whose student’s disabilities ranged from challenging behaviour and mild learning difficulties to severe physical conditions. These themes were Stories from a Benin plaque (Nigeria), Harmony from a Gelede mask (Nigeria), Respect from an Ashanti stool (Ghana) and Dreams from a Shona headrest (South Africa). I would also draw out the complexity of the disability definition. For example, the participants from one secondary school may be regarded as suffering from a range of hidden disabilities, which their theme, Bravado from the Midnight Robber mask (Trinidad), was designed to address and another secondary school worked in partnership with their local special school for part of their project on Power from an Nkisi sculpture (Zaire). 

At the end of the DfEE funding a major exhibition of the all the creative project outcomes was held at the museum. This exhibition was applauded by the public who saw the construction of new knowledge and identities at the borderlands between the museum and the school. The exhibition and the website (www.clothofgold.org.uk/inafrica) demonstrated new ways of collaborative working that were highly motivating for the students, whose self-esteem and the subsequent levels of their achievement was raised. These fresh approaches employed during Inspiration Africa! produced challenging new possibilities for museums to address the UK government agenda on social inclusion, as well as becoming more relevant and meaningful to the lived experience of a wider audience.








-----Original Message-----
From:   Giovanni Pinna [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Tue 7/15/2003 7:58 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Cc:	
Subject:        Meeting on Disabled people and cultural heritage

On 28th and 29th November 2003 the Tuscany Region and the Florence 
Council will organise in Florence an International Conference, with the 
sponsorship of the ICOM Italia, on the subject of “Disabled people and 
cultural heritage”.
The purpose of the Conference is to point out what people is doing in 
Italy, Europe and all over the world to encourage the access of the 
disabled people to the cultural heritage spread whether in museums or 
in the territory. Moreover the Conference aims to highlight the most 
significant experiences in this field.
The Conference will deal with any kind of disability: ambulation and 
functional disabilities, blind men/women, mentally handicapped people, 
etc.
We ask everybody who knows, took part or is taking part in this kind of 
experiences, to let us know them. We intend to invite to the conference 
people who will present the most significant experiences.


Contact Valentino Baldacci
MEMORIA ECCLESIAE
Via dei Conti, 6 - 50123 Florence, Italy
Phone: 055/2670367
Fax: 055/2656369
E-mail: <[log in to unmask]

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