Comments on: Museology, the hard way http://cultureby.com/2004/09/museology_the_h.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:43:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Grant http://cultureby.com/2004/09/museology_the_h.html/comment-page-1#comment-7341 Grant Fri, 01 Oct 2004 11:32:28 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1119#comment-7341 Lee, if you are right, we are really in trouble. Thanks, Grant Amoeda, Very well said. No one wants another patronizing museum exhibit. That truly is the old order of museology. But I believe unless we show the Islamic world that we respect their accomplishments they will be loathe to make a transition to the thing we find "hierarchical, anti-enlightenment, and anti-democratic" (to use your phrase, with which I wholeheartedly agree). In the language of the Austin Powers movies we have to "throw them a bone." Thanks for a great and thoughtful post, Grant Lee, if you are right, we are really in trouble. Thanks, Grant

Amoeda, Very well said. No one wants another patronizing museum exhibit. That truly is the old order of museology. But I believe unless we show the Islamic world that we respect their accomplishments they will be loathe to make a transition to the thing we find “hierarchical, anti-enlightenment, and anti-democratic” (to use your phrase, with which I wholeheartedly agree). In the language of the Austin Powers movies we have to “throw them a bone.” Thanks for a great and thoughtful post, Grant

]]> By: amoeda http://cultureby.com/2004/09/museology_the_h.html/comment-page-1#comment-7340 amoeda Thu, 30 Sep 2004 17:23:18 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1119#comment-7340 <a href="http://www.raany.com/aboutraa2fr.html" rel="nofollow">Ralph Appelbaum</a> has said (and I paraphrase) that museums are where take our visitors and our children to show them the best of what our culture has to offer. As an exhibit designer, I like this comment because it speaks to the way museums can be at once enlightening and patronizing. Since 9/11, we've heard a lot of commentary about how a hate-filled terrorist minority have hijacked a noble and beautiful faith. While I believe this is true, it would make a patronizing premise for an exhibit and I doubt it would play well with Islamists. A bridge-building exhibit about Islam would have to go beyond mosaics, mathematics and architecture and bring people inside a world that includes tendencies that Westerners like me regard as hierarchical, anti-enlightenment and anti-democratic. It might not have to be reverent about that world, but it would have to dialogue with it. In doing so, it might say something important and inviting about "moderation" in an Islamic context. Ralph Appelbaum has said (and I paraphrase) that museums are where take our visitors and our children to show them the best of what our culture has to offer. As an exhibit designer, I like this comment because it speaks to the way museums can be at once enlightening and patronizing. Since 9/11, we’ve heard a lot of commentary about how a hate-filled terrorist minority have hijacked a noble and beautiful faith. While I believe this is true, it would make a patronizing premise for an exhibit and I doubt it would play well with Islamists. A bridge-building exhibit about Islam would have to go beyond mosaics, mathematics and architecture and bring people inside a world that includes tendencies that Westerners like me regard as hierarchical, anti-enlightenment and anti-democratic. It might not have to be reverent about that world, but it would have to dialogue with it. In doing so, it might say something important and inviting about “moderation” in an Islamic context.

]]> By: Lee http://cultureby.com/2004/09/museology_the_h.html/comment-page-1#comment-7339 Lee Sun, 12 Sep 2004 15:31:31 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1119#comment-7339 "Moderate Islam" is a fiction of the West's so called intellectuals, who are pale creatures so full of themselves they are actually empty and barren. “Moderate Islam” is a fiction of the West’s so called intellectuals, who are pale creatures so full of themselves they are actually empty and barren.

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