Body of knowledge: Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery and the blind imagination

ABSTRACT

This article examines the cultural and philosophical intersection between visual and tactile knowledge and the emergent aesthetics of modernism. In the September 1913 edition of The Museums Journal, J. A. Charlton Deas published a paper entitled “The Showing of Museums and Art Galleries to the Blind.” The text, exceptional in its historical context, complicated prevailing assumptions about acts of “visual” art and blindness. Deas details a series of experiments undertaken at Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery from 1906 to 1913 that consisted of making accessible exhibits, specimens and paintings for blind children to touch. Unprecedented at the time, these experiments recast the persistent Western belief that the eye has privileged access to knowledge, instead asserting that knowledge is embedded within material corporeality. The physical, creative and intellectual inclusion of blind people into the formerly inaccessible space of the museum was unique in its reach and offers a refreshing new perspective of what those (authoritatively visual) spaces could be. Sunderland, a region which tends to be discursively separated from the ambitions and experiments of modernism, was at the center of modernist discussions about knowledge, sight and touch; and, disrupts modernism’s silence with respect to acknowledging unprecedented regional developments such as those detailed in “Showing.”     

Teenagers' Multisensory Routes for Learning in the Museum

ABSTRACT

In this article I draw on a study of sensory aspects of teenagers' use of digital media, how these sensory aspects are incorporated in emerging learning strategies, and the implications of this for the same teenagers' engagement in museums. My focus is on how an ethnographic approach that attends to the senses may enable a critical review of prevailing pedagogical ideas in museums. Recent developments in museum education have led to large investments in state-of-the-art technology to produce interactive, multisensory exhibits. However, the question of how teenagers respond to these campaigns remains rather under-researched. This article shows how habitual use of digital media in teenage everyday practice incorporates learning to appropriate other people's experiences and ideas through a configuration of vision, touch, motion, and imagination, thereby enhancing non-representational learning qualities such as affect and sensation. The implications of this sensory approach open up routes to differentiate pedagogical settings in museums that on a superficial level apply the same educational technologies, but since they are based in different sensorial belief systems, different conditions for learning unfold in their use. In developing this analysis I argue that through ethnographic attention to the senses we might advance theories of learning within museum education.     

Touching the Deep Past

ABSTRACT

The nineteenth century was fascinated with the display of human remains in museums. The most celebrated of such exhibits was the Egyptian mummy, which served as the subject of a range of sensorial investigations. Museum mummies were gawked at and sometimes handled by museum goers. Outside of the museum, mummy unwrappings were popular public spectacles. Travelers to Egypt often brought back a mummy hand or foot as an essential tourist souvenir. Scientists, for their part endeavored to categorize mummies by their varying colors, textures, and aromas. These multisensory responses to the mummy were complemented by fictional accounts in which revivified mummies were depicted as exerting their own tactile power over their modern handlers. Such practices and stories point to a desire to physically connect with a bygone world in a modern age—a desire often accompanied by a fear of such contact with the past proving overwhelming. The fact that mummies might be regarded as trophies of conquest by imperialist Europeans suggests that the concern with touching and being touched by the mummy also represented a Western ambivalence towards colonial subjects.     

对博物馆“免费文化盛宴”的反思

博物馆免费开放后,随即产生馆藏品受损、服务质量下降、参观者热情难以持续等问题,这些问题对博物馆的长远发展将产生严重影响。为此,应控制参观人数,引导参观者行为,创新展览方式,从而使博物馆的功能得以最大化实现,并获得更为长远的发展。     

再论构建广州十三行专题博物馆

十三行博物馆是彰显千年商都广州城市精神之魂的最好载体;十三行博物馆的内涵与外延具有历史性、国际性、现实性意义;选取十三行商馆遗址构建专题博物馆能产生良好的效果。筹建十三行博物馆并不需要大拆大建,并能更好地保护历代普遍遗产,促进历史街区的整体保护与复兴,形成具有规模效应的十三行商埠文化特色旅游区,带动相关产业的蓬勃发展,打造广州世界文化名城品牌。     

论全球化背景下西方的文化殖民主义

全球化已成为一股不可阻挡的潮流 ,然而西方一些发达国家 ,凭借其在当代国际社会中的经济、政治主导地位 ,利用各种手段 ,自觉或不自觉地推销其文化制品和价值观念 ,推行文化殖民主义。我们应旗帜鲜明地抵制文化殖民主义 ,采取相应对策 ,建立必要的文化安全防范机制 ,加强对西方文化产品入口的管理 ,最根本的是要弘扬民族文化传统进行文化创新。     

从基督教入侵看西方国家对汤加的殖民

19世纪以前,汤加就有自己的宗教信仰并持续了几百年。然而19世纪以后,在西方基督教的强势入侵下,其本土宗教分崩离析。基督教在汤加生根发芽,奠定了其作为汤加主要宗教的基础,反映了西方国家对汤加的殖民统治。时至今日,汤加的政治、经济和文化教育等社会领域仍深受影响,基督教已成为当今汤加社会生活中重要的组成部分。     

Public spending on agriculture in Southern Africa: Sectoral and intra-sectoral impact and policy implications

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: firstly, it examines the relationship between public agriculture expenditure and agriculture sector growth, and secondly, it examines the heterogeneous effects of expenditure on agriculture growth depending on which subsectors within agriculture receive the investments. The co-integration analysis results offer insights into a number of issues: (i) it is found that agricultural expenditures are important for agriculture sector growth in Malawi, Eswatini (Swaziland) and Zambia and (ii) that within the agricultural sectors, investing in research and development, subsidies, and in neglected areas (livestock, fisheries) alongside crops can expand the agricultural sector more. Policy makers should increase public spending in agriculture but should also emphasize on improving intra-sectoral allocations, targeting areas that create sectoral growth.     

The evolution of the social welfare system in Palestine: Perspectives of policymakers in the West Bank

Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have long experienced social problems such as high rates of poverty and unemployment. These social problems necessitate the development of a viable, effective social welfare system. Relying on colonialism theory, this study examined the evolution of the social welfare system in the Palestinian Territories with an emphasis on the West Bank. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews with 16 staff officials in Palestinian ministries and through archival material and administrative records. Results indicate that the Palestinian National Authority inherited a fragmented social welfare system in 1994 that lacked an appropriate legal framework. Additionally, internal deficiencies (e.g., unclear legal mandates, duplication of services) and external restrictions (e.g., road closures) have undermined the effectiveness of Palestinian social welfare institutions. The newly adopted approach to social welfare planning (i.e., partnership) and recent national planning initiatives show promise. Implications for social welfare policy and future research are discussed.     

关于魏晋南北朝士族、庶族问题的再探讨

魏晋南北朝史研究中的士族、庶族等词汇的区别和划分问题,由于说法或者语境的不同往往产生歧义。针对上述问题进行比较、辨析,可知严格意义上的士族就是指高门士族,其余所谓的＂次等＂与＂低级＂士族并不存在,不应视为士族。     

Alternative care options and policy choices to support orphans: The case of Mozambique in the context of the SADC

Contextualizing the situation of orphans within the Southern African region and drawing on quantitative and qualitative field research, this article analyses care options and social protection policy for orphans in Mozambique, with its focus placed on children in orphan support centres. Seeking to offer new insights and greater understanding of the experiences of children in care and of the social protection available to them, the research highlights that orphaned children living in informal foster care arrangements are more likely to experience abuse, neglect and maltreatment than those living in non‐governmental care organizations. The research emphasizes the need for a more careful selection of foster families in which children are placed. Recommendations include the need to focus on capacity building and institutional reforms that provide social protection policies for orphaned children as part of an overall social protection floor. The monitoring and evaluation of organizations providing care to orphaned children is deemed a priority.     

“俗文学中的江南”学术研讨会综述

在＂俗文学中的江南＂学术研讨会上,学者们发表了有关这一领域的最新成果,涉及江南地区俗文学资料的发掘、俗文学中江南文化的体现、文学的雅俗交融、当代视野下的俗文学研究等方面。选题广泛而细微,视角独特而开阔,提出了新的观点及研究方法,还发现和运用了新的史料。     

南宋遗民词闪回法时空结构方式浅析

闪回法是南宋遗民词时空建构的重要方式 ,它充分地体现出遗民词时空建构以“过去”时空为支点的特征。这一方式是在词以“现在”或“未来”时空为主体层面的前提下 ,将具有“过去”属性的时空因素点缀进主体时空层面 ,以此打断正常时序 ,造成时序的断裂。其功能在于通过时空错置所形成的强烈感觉冲击来凸现“过去” ,传达遗民对“过去”时空的执著怀念。     

南北朝释奠推行模式比较

释奠是魏晋以来由皇帝、皇太子倡导推行的国家级学礼,以尊师崇圣为宗旨,倡导了当时以及后世的崇儒学风。南朝的释奠丰富详备,且讲且奠,由帝王、太子在京师举行典礼;北朝的释奠前简后详,呈后来居上之势,逐渐发展为从中央到地方多层级推行的官学学礼。释奠成为普及面甚广的全国性学礼的历史过程体现了南、北礼仪文化的迥异品质和整体差异。     

Activation in the Austrian Social Assistance Scheme – Unproductive Pressure and Low Support

Activation is an essential part of social assistance schemes. This article provides an insight into the implementation of activation in the Austrian social assistance scheme by analyzing the work requirements and support offered in two provinces, Upper Austria and Styria. The main questions addressed include: Does social assistance require everyone to look for employment? What kind of requirements do social assistance offices set, what support do they offer and to whom? To what extent do those activation measures lead to a job search? The analysis draws on survey results for 1,071 claimants and recipients in the two provinces. It is shown that social assistance does not require all respondents to search for employment, and that activation actually depends on province as well as personal circumstances. Items are formed by identifying low and high conditionality in terms of support and pressure based on 11 questions. Current practice incorporates supportive forms of activation to a lesser degree than efforts to force people to find work, due to pressures from the caseworker. Although high conditionality is not found to affect the job search activity, the job search requirement itself fosters people's search for employment.     

X–children and the militarisation of everyday life: comparative comments on the politics of youth, victimage and violence in transitional societies

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Northern Ireland and South Africa, this paper contends that the so–called ‘children of violence’ are perceived in terms of the serious cultural contradictions of the adult world and rarely in their own terms. Does the concept and norm of childhood give us permission to give violence a defining site of origination? Does childhood have a discursive function similar to penal incarceration as a limit–category of social abuse or caretaking by which society as a whole can be measured? If so, it is not surprising that children and youth are not merely conceptualised as victims of the pathological, but they become pathogenic as well. They are not only a vulnerable target of violence and aggression, but are reciprocally positioned: as authors of violence bearing the unmediated social horrors of the past; as suspect actors in the present; and as potential aggressors in the future. If childhood is good to think about these days, what does it really allow us to think about?     

Groping in the Dark

ABSTRACT

Government mandated blackouts precipitated a crisis in the optical consciousness of the American public in the first years of the Second World War. In an effort to foil potential aerial bombardment, citizens were asked to turn off their lights and so break an otherwise unqualified promise of modernization: ubiquitous illumination. After decades of constantly increasing levels of artificial light, blackouts challenged not only nighttime visibility, but spatial perception more generally. Americans discussed ways to adjust to dimmer surroundings, to infer spatial information from non-visual senses and familiarize themselves with nightscapes based on specular rather than geometric properties of surfaces. Although the blackouts lasted only a few years in the USA, they reveal the profile, albeit in negative terms, of how the nation's visual environment was imagined around 1940.     

记两晋南北朝之华山郡（下）

清《陕西通志》卷2《建置一（图表）》言“太平真君初,置华山郡”。1992年出版之陕西《华县志》言北魏太平真君元年（公元440年）设华山郡。①此乃二书编者于相关历史不明所致。据《魏书》卷4《世祖纪上》,北魏于始光三年（公元426年）十二月袭据长安,比太平真君元年早13年。上文已言东晋有华山郡,实则后秦亦有华山郡②,料想赫连夏亦当有华山郡。