Museums and Race Museums and institutions have to handle controversies and tough subject matter. There is no easy solution in handling them that will please everyone. However, there some ways that are better than others. For the issues that surround race, I believe there is one way that is better than the rest. I believe the correct way to display works of art or any other offensive work is to give the proper background context of the article. With this proper context, it is necessary to understand the impact the work can have on all different races and to be empathetic with the feeling it can create. To go with this, it is necessary for museums and historic places to be a place of debate. In my analysis I will show several different …show more content…
If they do not history will be lost. If they chose to ignore controversial topics, they are choosing to ignore history and history then can be lost forever.
An example of the role museums play in controversial issues is from the St. Louis Contemporary Art Museum. The museum displayed works of art that displayed civil rights images and images of black women that were digitally altered. Many people found this to be offensive. The museum decided to leave the exhibit up and to put labels to explain that this exhibit could possibly be offensive. Another example with a very different outcome is when Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image decided to take down a controversial webcam that was mounted on a wall outside of Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image. They decided to do this because there were clashes of violence between pro and anti-Trump people (Campanile). These two examples show how museums have roles in controversy and how they can spark debate or worse, they can spark violence.
Race is a very sensitive and delicate topic in today’s society. As stated by Younker, “Race as a topic forces people to confront their personal and social identities in relation to past and present racial issues. This confrontation can lead to feelings of shock, guilt, shame, apathy, and resistance to the truth” (CONTROVERSY AND COLLABORATION: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USING THE
One of those negatives is that the museum is misunderstood, so they have very few visitors. This is bad because the museum cannot present their works of art to anybody. Few people know about the museum, and the people who do know think it’s boring. This is because often people have the stereotype that only traditional people can go to museums. However, by creating advertisements, and by raising money for the art curator so that they can pick art that is more interesting for the neighborhood, people will be attracted to the museum. Also, as a student, my advice is that they need to make the museum more visible because before I did not know that there was a museum in Manhattan that represented the Hispanic culture. However, now that I am doing this work about the museum I have realized that the Hispanic Society of America is very interesting and an incredible museum to know, and because of that, we have to do campaigns and field trips to make the museum more
Now when looking back at the past views on races it can be a little controversial and offensive to some people. The matters have been joked about in our grade but are a serious issue today. In the time periods of Oj Simpson and Tom
Race has always been a touchy topic within the United States because of its societal implications. Race has never failed to stir up arguments which have turned into riots and violent protests. Race has always been at the center of politics, entertainment, and schooling with a majority of the US population taking polarized stances. Much of this debate on race stems from the large history that race has had within the United States. It has provoked thought as well as violence ever since the first Americans stepped onto the New World.
Race is still an open topic in America and in the world, as it has always implied differentiation, inequalities and division among human beings, and has been the basis for some of the most tragic events in history.
Moreover, other pieces show the lives and struggles black people have endured since their freedom in the 1960s. Stevens, Ellis, and various students’ art depict the reality of black history in a time when much of black history has been forgotten or altered . The pieces show
Race has been a dominant, defining factor in both the 20th and 21st centuries. It has been a reason for missed job opportunities, unequal treatment, harassment, and even murder. In today’s society, race discrimination is still having a heavy effect on the lives of individuals with different colors of skin. Although some progress has been made, the treatment of different races can be brutal still today. There are stories featured in the news everyday about the mistreatment of an African American or the stereotypical harassment of a hispanic person. What has improved, is the way society is handling these relations and discriminations of race. This improvement is clear when you compare the treatment of the victim in the 1930’s
I firmly believe that the point of visiting a museum is to educate one on how things once were in the past through its display of artifacts, exhibits, art, cultural objects, etc. Its purpose is to let you imagine what it was like during a time you were not apart of or, in some cases, allow you to look back at a time you were apart of when you were very young. The African-American Museum of Long Island did a great job at presenting some of the many African-American contributions to society. In addition to presenting contributions from the African-American community, the museum was able to show us some of the struggle they were required to overcome as well.
The interpretation and appropriation of culture within museums came under attack starting in the 1960’s. Native American groups raised questions about the biases and agendas of curators and museums and demanded that their voices be heard in the political arena. Many Native American organizations argued that if Whites are the ones interpreting and appropriating other cultures, then it is actually their culture on exhibition.(King 1998: 96, Stocking Jr. 1985: 88, Patterson 2014: 52). Deidre Sklar, a researcher of Native American artifacts, stated that: “Time and space in a museum, are defined in terms of the confines of the collection, not of the context from which [the collection is] drawn. Visiting hours from ten to five and the glass exhibit case define EuroAmerican, not Native American time and space” (Weil 2004:3). In response to this outcry, the Museums of the American Indian Act was created and signed on November 28, 1989, enabling the creation of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). The NMAI is arguably the most famous native-run institution and acts as a living memorial to Native Americans and their traditions (King 1998: 106).
My pre-adolescent years were spent in a community thick with diversity. My friendships were as diverse as the environment in which I lived. It never struck me that racial and ethnic ideals separated people in society. However, upon moving to a predominately white upper-class community I began to question such racial and ethnic ideas. From my adolescent years through today I began noticing that certain people are viewed differently for reasons relating to race and ethnicity. As a result, the most recent community I grew up in has kept me sheltered from aspects of society. As a product of a community where majorities existed, I found myself unexposed to the full understanding of race and ethnicity. Prior to the class I had never fully dealt with issues of race or ethnicity, as a result I wondered why they would be of any importance in my life.
In reading and examining the arguments made by Blauner, Ture and Hamilton and Steinberg, I have come to realize or maybe just acknowledge more so, the many aspects of race, racism and its role within our nation. Not to say that I was oblivious to it (race) before this class, but I had not taken the opportunity before to examine it as closely as we have this semester. Primarily, I had associated race only to the color of one 's skin rather than what it is in actuality; a social construct. Although this social construct / racial hierarchy may change over time with political, economic and historical changes, it has been proven by empirical sociological evidence to be so deeply
Although I was able to witness many different examples of inequalities in most of my daily encounters, a situation occurred that has had the ability to overshadow all of my other observations. While at work, I was able to have a conversation with a co-worker about her father’s recent loss of a job promotion. What makes this situation, such a powerful example of the force of stratification is more that just the conversation that took place but also in the context in which I had it and regrettably in my response to the conversation.
The concept of race keeps me up all night, bothers me all day. The fact that something can be so important but at the same time so unimportant boggles me. Something that makes people unique binds them together. After nights being awake pondering this idea, and days researching its consequences, I have realized that race is something that does not fit into neat little boxes. It is not something we as a society can file under a certain category. With this realization, the events on the news that tell of racial tensions all over the world, and the resulting prejudice and terror that surround them stay active in my mind. Now, when I close my eyes and try to go to asleep, when I once again visualize the horrific reports of hate attacks and loss that covered the media is clusters, I visualize myself too- getting an education and using it to be part of a change. Then I wake up in the morning and put my plans to action to help resolve these issues that plague the world each and every
Nearly one year after the 2016 election, the populace of America remains divided on many issues. In no better way can this divide by illustrated than the issue of race relations. In this paper, I will thoroughly discuss the current split between races in America, how it continues to encompass the national discussion today, and what factors relating to this topic exacerbate the painful divisions between Americans.
Anthropologists have always had their discrepancies with the word culture and its background significance. There have been numerous definitions that have filtered through the field, yet not one that everyone can accept or agree with. Franz Boas, an anthropologist in the early 20th Century, and his students, had a difficult time figuring out the objective of what culture is. Culture is about learning and shared ideas about behaviour. Although Boas and his students had a slightly different idea in mind. They ultimately reached a conclusion, a definition of culture in their view that is a contradiction in terms. Boas sates that, “ culture was expressed through the medium of language but was not reducible to it;
Art can also be a controversial at the same time. There are many people who express their idea of art in a way that, in my opinion, should not be seen by the public. For example, many people consider paintings of naked women to be art, as do I, but I do not think it is appropriate for a painting of that nature to become a piece of public art. Another example is people who use profanity in their art. Swearing is not appropriate for a child to see painted on the side of their neighborhood buildings. The thing