295 Blog Post 2

So, I entirely realize that this is a trip to England and we are supposed to be talking about things in relation to this country, but I need to vent about the Native American exhibit in the British Museum. It ends up being related to England’s sense of entitlement and Nagra’s writings eventually, I promise. 

For some reason, I was not expecting to walk into a museum exhibit talking about the Native Americans of North America. I guess when I think about the destruction of their lives and culture I generally think of a young America making (and continue to make) horrible and genocidal decisions. Which, now thinking about it, none of that would have happened if colonizers could have kept it in their pants.

Most of the plaques in this exhibit say one thing or another about the Europeans coming to the Americas. Most of them never distinctly mention England by name. And the one I did see that talked about an English explorer did so in a praising fashion. Which is ridiculous. It’s like Disney’s Pocahontas all over again. Oh, and I only found out he was actually from England because I googled him.

His name was Captain James Cook and according to the plaque in the British Museum, he was welcomed by the Mowachaht tribe with “ceremonies” at Vancouver Island. They then casually throw in that fact that “objects collected by Cook, during this expedition, are on display.”

            That plaque pictured above completely brushes off the fact that he just decided that he now owned these hats and masks used by the natives of Vancouver Island. And I also find it pretty hard to believe that they greeted him so welcomingly. If I had to guess Cook just wrote that down in his diary or letters back to England in order to make these interactions (and himself) sound good. What’s that saying, again? History is written by the winners.

            It does seem as though someone working for the British Museum has some sort of sympathetic bone in their body though. This comes to mind because, while not explicitly forward about the destruction colonizers caused these groups of people, they do try to acknowledge it. When first entering this section, they had a large board talking about how they are “illustrating the effect of European contact and colonization on their communities.” Again, no real mention of England in specific, or even that it was a bad effect. But it’s something (I guess).

            Reading this made me frustrated at first because it seems to brush the effects still happening aside, though, at the same time, it reminded me of the “critics from within” conversation we had earlier today. The artists Nagra talked about in “Meditations on the British Museum” all disagreed with the actions their countries took but only did the minimal to say so. They talked in metaphors and ambiguity. Much like this plaque at the entrance.       

            Whether or not this is an actual attempt to “critic from within” is, unfortunately, irrelevant in my eyes. To me, it is still not enough. Most of the artifacts in this exhibit that talk about the European’s effect are in a positive way. For example, one of the first things I looked at was bragging about, how after we arrived on North America, their metalworking was much improved. (Apologies for the blurry photo)

            They pretty much take credit for the natives going from “hammering and etching copper” to whole new traditions of jewelry making and weaving "after European contact." I can’t even begin to explain how ridiculous that proclamation is. As if this new fancy European metalworking trumps the traditional style. They make it seem that if we hadn't taken their land, they would still be stuck in the freaking stone age. The sense of entitlement and pompousness in that one plaque blew my mind. 

            In this section, any hope for a ‘critic from within’ has dissipated entirely. If anything, it has become the complete opposite of a critique. Instead, they almost seem to be supporting the destruction of culture. I mean, sure they had to kill some people, but look! With our help, they can now make jewelry in a different way! Isn't that just amazing.

          I realize I just did a lot of ranting so let me wrap this up a little more clearly. There were times when walking through the North American Native American exhibit today that were kind of horrifying. In fact, most of it was really saddening. At times, it felt like they could not see that the destruction of these peoples homes still continued. That by taking the artifacts and putting them on display in this museum, they effectively ignore this continued problem and in no way make up for the mistakes of the past. However, there are some moments when I can see the idea of a "critic from within" showing. It's not strong and it is by no means enough. But it's there and that's a start at least.