The balcony café in the National Museum is a personal favourite study spot. Bright and airy with free WiFi, charger points and decently priced coffee. I always feel removed from the competition and stress that often characterise university study spaces.
Despite the praise, there is a satire that plagues every trip I take there. As a third-year geography student the question of how we can decolonise our curriculum has been a recurring theme in most modules I have taken.
This semester I have chosen to take a module entitled “development and decolonisation in Latin America” and thus as I sit in the National Museum Scotland doing my weekly reading, the irony of what is displayed on my laptop and where I am sat hits me in one cognisant swoop.
The course is ungraded, meaning (within reason) I will be deciding my mark at the end of the semester. My lecturer advocates for this, explaining that it allows for a greater emphasis on the content being taught and less on an arbitrary number given at the end of teaching. To earn my grade I must end the class by writing a letter of self-reflection considering what I have gained from the course. Something I can already confidently say I have learned is how detached I am from the content.
The national Museum houses 7760 objects from the America’s, and the website admits that “aspects of the collection have been shaped by imperial and colonial thinking and actions that are based on racial and racist understandings of the world.” Of course, there is certain respect in the museum acknowledging the controversial means by which the collection was built. Just as I hope it shows at least a level of respect, through self-aware irony, that I choose to study a course about decolonisation in a museum built through empire. And consequently cringe at myself.
But being mindful is not enough. The saying, “the dead don’t bury themselves” articulates the work of museums as they strive to best represent departed cultures. 2018 provided a perfect example of when the museum failed to bury the dead with respect. After displaying a sign in the ‘global Scot’s’ exhibition that described Scotland’s involvement in empire as being motivated by “high principles and personal ambition,” the museum received huge amounts of backlash. The self-righteousness outlined there was, and still is, terrifying. Museums educate the public and the consequences of the information they display regarding prejudice and public judgement is vast. The museum has since pledged to make changes to displays and labels to properly address the historical bias.
Perhaps I need to rethink my position on the balcony café surrounded by a distorted, Eurocentric view of Latin America. On the other hand, it does give me something to reflect on in that final essay. I think my lecturer will smirk at the paradox I find myself in, and accept the First I already anticipate granting myself. (This is a joke in case she reads this).
“national museum of scotland – edinburgh” by dan.boss is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.