Visualizing Colonial Power

Nuncius ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 676-722
Author(s):  
Beatrice Falcucci
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Power ◽  
National Museums ◽  
Overseas Territories

Abstract The aim of this paper is to compare the ways in which some of Europe’s most important colonial museums displayed their exhibits—how colonial territories and colonial subjects were represented through visual exhibition, how the display cases were arranged, which objects and artefacts were presented and in what sequence—as the clearest possible representation of the biological, technological, and cultural superiority of Europe with respect to the populations on display. The paper will therefore emphasise both the differences and different histories as well as the similarities between colonial museums in Europe. In fact, while acknowledging that there are special features linked to the differing conditions of both the motherland and her overseas territories, a common cultural horizon can be found in the different national museums taken into consideration here and in the interpretation of the inherent propaganda such institutions promoted.

Design, power and colonisation: decolonial and anti-oppressive explorations on three approaches for Design for Sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas B. TORRETTA ◽  
Lizette REITSMA
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Design For Sustainability ◽  
The People ◽  
Reflexive Practice ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Design Power ◽  
Relational Issue

Our contemporary world is organized in a modern/colonial structure. As people, professions and practices engage in cross-country Design for Sustainability (DfS), projects have the potential of sustaining or changing modern/colonial power structures. In such project relations, good intentions in working for sustainability do not directly result in liberation from modern/colonial power structures. In this paper we introduce three approaches in DfS that deal with power relations. Using a Freirean (1970) decolonial perspective, we analyse these approaches to see how they can inform DfS towards being decolonial and anti-oppressive. We conclude that steering DfS to become decolonial or colonizing is a relational issue based on the interplay between the designers’ position in the modern/colonial structure, the design approach chosen, the place and the people involved in DfS. Hence, a continuous critical reflexive practice is needed in order to prevent DfS from becoming yet another colonial tool.

‘A Routh O’ Auld Nick-Nackets’ – the antiquarian collection of John Rae

2015 ◽  
Vol 36-37 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-183
Author(s):  
Paul Taylor
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Moral Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Case ◽  
National Museums ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

John Rae, a Scottish antiquarian collector and spirit merchant, played a highly prominent role in the local natural history societies and exhibitions of nineteenth-century Aberdeen. While he modestly described his collection of archaeological lithics and other artefacts, principally drawn from Aberdeenshire but including some items from as far afield as the United States, as a mere ‘routh o’ auld nick-nackets' (abundance of old knick-knacks), a contemporary singled it out as ‘the best known in private hands' (Daily Free Press 4/5/91). After Rae's death, Glasgow Museums, National Museums Scotland, the University of Aberdeen Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, as well as numerous individual private collectors, purchased items from the collection. Making use of historical and archive materials to explore the individual biography of Rae and his collection, this article examines how Rae's collecting and other antiquarian activities represent and mirror wider developments in both the ‘amateur’ antiquarianism carried out by Rae and his fellow collectors for reasons of self-improvement and moral education, and the ‘professional’ antiquarianism of the museums which purchased his artefacts. Considered in its wider nineteenth-century context, this is a representative case study of the early development of archaeology in the wider intellectual, scientific and social context of the era.

The Stuart Jewel: a new acquisition for the National Museums of Scotland

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 428-429
Author(s):  
Brian Jackson ◽  
Susannah Honeyman
Keyword(s):  
National Museums

Recommendations for Sustainable Cetacean-Based Tourism in French Territories: A Review on the Industry and Current Management Actions

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-235
Author(s):  
Josephine Chazot ◽  
Ludovic Hoarau ◽  
Pamela Carzon ◽  
Jeanne Wagner ◽  
Stéphanie Sorby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammal ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Whale Watching ◽  
Cetacean Species ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Overseas Territories ◽  
Socioeconomic Benefits

Whale-watching activities provide important socioeconomic benefits for local communities and constitute powerful platform incentives for marine mammals' protection or more broadly marine environments. However, these activities can cause adverse effects on targeted populations, with considerable downside associated risks of injuries and fatality for whale watchers during inwater interactions. France with its overseas territories has the second largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ), in which more than half of existing cetacean species are encountered. In these territories, recreational and commercial whale watching, including swim-with cetacean activities, have recently developed. Yet few studies focused on these activities and their associated impacts across French territories, leading to an unclear assessment of the situation. To address this issue, we reviewed cetaceans' occurrence within the French EEZ, whale-watching industry, targeted species, local management of marine mammal-based tourism activities, and regulations in France mainland and some overseas territories (Reunion Island, Mayotte, and French Polynesia). Fortyeight species are encountered in the French EEZ, and 15 are targeted by whale-watching activities. A total of 185 operators, including 34% offering swim-with-cetaceans tours, offered trips in France and overseas in 2019. While several more or less restrictive regulations exist locally, our results indicate that French's national legal framework for marine mammals' protection remains inadequate and insufficient to cope with the recent development of this activity. As conservation biologists, managers, and stakeholders from these French territories, we cooperated to provide general guidelines for a sustainable development of whale watching at a national scale. We urge (1) to legally acknowledge and regulate whale-watching commercial activities; (2) to create a national legal framework regarding whale watching and swim-with marine mammals practices, while accounting for local distinctiveness and disparities across regions; (3) to conduct more research to evaluate local short- and long-term impacts on targeted marine mammal populations as well as the socioeconomic benefits; and (4) to reinforce synergetic relations between the different stakeholders.

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