The truth is more important than sensitivity

The truth is more important than sensitivity - this is the key takeaway even if you don't read beyond the first paragraph of this article. This statement has been paraphrased from the answer by Sir Geoff Palmer to the question - how should museums display and interpret "contested" heritage with sensitivity? As a scientist, his advice is logical: 1) go to the source material 2) uncover the larger context 3) present your findings.

The first hurdle that needs to be crossed when we talk about decolonisation is colonial amnesia and historical gaslighting. Erasure and half truths are commonplace in the telling of historical events, whether is the statues of slave traders labelled only as philanthropists or vast museum collections that talk about what the objects are but not about how they got there. The truth is an irrefutable tool that can help us cross this hurdle.

However, as we have seen in recent years, the truth does not go down well with everyone. Thus also begging the question - to whom is the heritage sector trying to be "sensitive"? The task ahead for museums is to focus on interpreting and presenting their collections with courage rather than sensitivity.

Damian Etheraads - Museum and Cultural Development Manager at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, brought a practical dimension to the conversation by talking about their recently published Indigenous Engagement Policy. During the talk and in the policy itself, several truths were acknowledged and this is a powerful first step in itself. For example:

"We acknowledge that items now in the collections may have been acquired in situations of unequal relations of power related to colonial and imperial histories."

The focus on people by engaging with community and acknowledging the agency of indigenous people over collections, reframed the dialogue around museums.

The speakers also weighed in on the importance of independent cultural bodies, unencumbered by political agenda, to research, interpret and present history through material heritage. This was particularly topical after the government in England stated its position on contested heritage in September 2020 and threatened the publicly funded status of cultural Arm's Length Bodies if they did not fall in line with the Government's position.

The talk by Sir Geoff Palmer and Damian Etheraads followed by Q&A was part of the Museums + Heritage Summer Series on 14th July 2021.