Sharing Stories on Contested Histories
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Kaft voorkant met titel Sharing Stories on Contested Histories 2-14 December 2018 A two weeks Shared Cultural Heritage Training Programme for International Museum Professionals in the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands in collaboration with the Reinwardt Academy Beeld zie pagina 3 Twee logo’s van RCE en RWA hieronder Kaft achterzijde 1 Beeld (Nationaal Monument Slavernij verleden = foto 2 zie pagina 4) Tekst: Photo on front: VOC Senior Merchant, Aelbert Cuyp, c. 1640 - c. 1660 oil on canvas, h 138cm × w 208cm × t 4.2cm × d 5cm The figure standing on the left is a Dutch East India Company (VOC) merchant, probably Jakob Martensen, beside his wife. Behind them, a slave is holding a parasol, a pajong, over their head. This was a status symbol in Javanese culture. Batavia Castle is visible in the background. To the right, the Company fleet rides at anchor, ready to return to the Netherlands. The merchant is pointing to the ships, indicating his involvement. (Collection Rijksmuseum) Photo on back: National Slavery Monument, Erwin de Vries, 2002 In the Oosterpark in Amsterdam is the National Slavery Monument commemorating the abolition of slavery on the 1st of July 1863. The monument was unveiled by Queen Beatrix in 2002. Photo Arthena - CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3267983 2 3 4 COLOFON Sharing Stories on Contested Histories: A two weeks training programme for museum professionals in the Netherlands 2 – 14 December 2018 Copyright © 2018 Reinwardt Academy and The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands Arjen Kok and Ruben Smit Printing: Xerox Design: WIJZ werkt! Photo on cover: VOC Senior Merchant, Aelbert Cuyp, c. 1640 - c. 1660 oil on canvas, h 138cm × w 208cm × t 4.2cm × d 5cm (Collection Rijksmuseum, Rijksstudio) Photo on back: National Slavery Monument, Erwin de Vries, 2002 Photo Arthena - CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3267983 Programme booklet ISBN It is prohibited to multiply the content of this publication by means of print, photo copy, digital copy or by any other means without the explicit written permission of the publisher. 5 Gaarne paginanummers bijvoegen Table of Content 1. Word of welcome 2. Introduction, goals and mission statement of programme 3. Day to Day Programme – Sharing Stories on Contested Histories – 2-14 December 2018 4. Mini-Bios of lecturers and coaches 5. Important logistical information 6 Word of welcome Welcome to the Netherlands and welcome to Amsterdam in this fresh and windy autumn. We are very happy to welcoming you to our exciting studies programme. We truly hope that this programme is going to bring us together on a mutual journey of discovery and learning with and from each other. Mutuality is the keyword here. This training course - which was initiated by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands - is part of the Shared Cultural Heritage policies of the Netherlands government. The Shared Cultural Heritage programme and its ideals are the fundament of us being together for these two study weeks that lie ahead. A shared history offers a shared future. How does the history of the Netherlands as a world nation continue to influence Dutch society and our international relations? The language we speak, the food we eat, the buildings that surround us and the stories we pass on bear many traces of a shared history with other countries, among them Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Suriname, Sri Lanka, the United States and South Africa. The Netherlands is now working with these countries to preserve the significance of these historical links for future generations. The shared cultural heritage programme is part of the Netherlands’ international cultural policy. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, the National Archives, DutchCulture, Dutch embassies and various organisations in the partner countries are collaborating in this programme. Shared Cultural Heritage can be both a pleasure and a burden. There is a pleasure because through this shared past we now have a connection with which we are bound together and can study that shared history in joint curiosity and wonder. However, it can be burdensome too - for much of the shared heritage is rooted in troubled and painful histories. Too often inequality dictated the outcomes of written history and cultural history. Up to the present-day interactions are in many cases determined by a multi-layered texture of coloniality. There is a need to find new ways to discuss this shared past. In this training we will explore multiperspectivity, new ways of storytelling and empathy. We are both honoured and very pleased with the various partners that join us in this programme: Amsterdam Museum, Black Heritage Tours, Imagine IC, The Mauritshuis, The National Archives, Rijksmuseum, Tropenmuseum and West Den Haag. Without these partners this programme would not get the necessary in-depth quality and touch down with reality. We are really looking forward to working together on this programme. 7 Arjen Kok (Senior Researcher at the Cultural Heritage Agency) and Ruben Smit (Senior Lecturer Interpretation and Learning – Reinwardt Academy) – Project Leaders for this programme 8 Introduction, goals and mission statement of programme Case study offers sense of reality The studies programme Sharing Stories on Contested Histories uses difficult and often neglected heritage as a launchpad. The Amsterdam Museum will act as client in this working programme. Two permanent exhibitions Amsterdam DNA and World – City will be, so to speak, the playing ground on which we set our learning expedition. In these exhibitions are a few case studies that we are going to study, discuss and rethink. We will set up four mixed teams and with these teams we will investigate the offered case studies in the exhibition. Lectures will offer frames and modes of looking at this matter. Workshops will allow exploring and actively sharing ideas. Fieldtrips to museums with behind the scenes talks and discussions will allow for new insights and bringing out other concepts of working and dealing with sensitive matter. Together we hopefully will be able to discover new paths in an old world. For we see this whole programme as a first few steps into expectantly a long relationship in working together and trying to find new ways of understanding and storytelling. Multivocality and needs mutuality and intervision When it comes to presenting shared pasts, heritage institutions in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world have become more and more aware of the need to become more polyvocal, engaging, diverse, (self)reflective and participatory. Inclusive, representative and participatory modes of sharing cultural heritage and the therewith linked histories add relevance to our institutions and society at large. This awareness is resulting in an ethical rethink and change on working practices on collecting, designing exhibitions and setting-up learning programmes. It is a work in progress, however, which will highly benefit from exchanges of experts in an international setting. So, if we want divers, multi-vocal points of view, if we want a new way of storytelling which offers multi perspectivism, well then, we better set it up, don’t we? Therefore, this is not a traditional one-way training programme but it is a studies trajectory based on mutuality and reciprocity. It is a trip where we all will be walking together and are working in an atmosphere of inter vision. Problem Statement Springing from the Era of Enlightenment most museums have long-established roots in traditional top-down museum learning (education) and one-way exhibiting (presentation). Too often this leads to a single voiced, Grand Narrative way of story-telling. However, museums have developed rapidly in the last few decades. Current societal developments in this everchanging world demand museums to become more poly-vocal, more engaging, more diverse, more (self) reflective, more participatory and more empathetic to stay relevant. Inclusive, representative and participatory fashions of sharing cultural heritage and the therewith linked histories have been successfully tested but are not yet a common practice. The inertia of institutionalised structures and working fashions is often hidden. Softly deconstructing underlying power structures is sometimes needed. Can new concepts of storytelling and communicating about cultural heritage be found? Is there an open and multi-perspective manner to bring about the story? Multi perspectivism seems necessary to do justice to complex disputed histories. Can museums and heritage institutions take a socially relevant role in this. Can we – in this polarizing world – become the needed safe places? Places where a in a non-toxic and open way discussions and debates can take place: can we become essential 'contact zones'. Mission: Respect, Intervision and Open-Mindedness at the Very Base for Working Together The nature of the subject matter of this training programme is sensitive, and in most occasions disputed and contested. In such cases fresh interpretation strategies are needed. There is no simple recipe for coming to solutions. This programme is therefore a joint effort to work together and find new ways and strategies for possible solutions. Hence, this training needs to be based on mutuality. In these two weeks we will become a Community of Practice. This means per definition that we are all students and teachers, that we are really sharing knowledge with each other. that we need to operate on a level playing field. To be really successful we need to work in trust and mutuality. Real learning only happens when you feel trusted, respected and understood. 9 Sharing reflections on and knowledge of contested histories in an inclusive and open-minded way might contribute to new transnational dialogues and new perspectives. Therefore, we must set some basic rules that we will use in the coming weeks.