understanding museum in a new society
TRANSCRIPT
UNDERSTANDING MUSEUM IN A NEW SOCIETY: THE CHALLENGES OF TECHNOLOGICAL
INNOVATIONS.
BEING A PAPER PRESENTED BY OGAYI CORNELIUS (SENIOR ETHNOGRAPHER) ON THE OCCASION OF 2012 INTERNATIONAL
MUSEUM DAY CELEBRATION
INTRODUCTION
At first, the museum was conceived as elitist institution that looks after
cultural and religious properties. In Africa, it was conceived as a
‘sacred temple of antiquities’. Overtime, particularly in late 20 th
century, the museum began to assume the role of a cultural resort
center, a medium of public interaction; a specialized school of some
sort; an entertainment industry per-excellence and leitmotiv of
cultures.
As the society is developing, new ideas driven by technological
innovation are evolving, with new opportunities and the attendant
challenges too. The museum and museum management began to
align itself with the contemporary realities. The implication of these
innovations is the changing role of museum, a paradigm shift towards
‘people and society’ and all that is associated with promotion of our
socio-cultural values, as well as meeting up with the social, economic
and technological needs and aspirations of the people. Museum is
adapting to these challenges, particularly the Information
Communication Technology (ICT).
As it is expected of us yearly when observing this day, papers are to
be presented based on the theme of each year’s celebration. This
paper as one of such, focuses on the evolutionary schema of museum
in Nigeria. Emphasis will be placed upon the changing roles of
museum in the present era engendered by modern technology. This
1
will help us in appreciating the museum and its services for a better
patronage.
MEANING OF MUSEUM
Various scholars have attempted presenting a precise definition of
museum albeit with marginal success. Etymologically, the word
museum is derived from the Greek word Museion. It meant ‘seat of the
muses’ and designated a philosophical institution or a place of
contemplation. According to Abun (1987:1) the muses were believed
to be nine virginal daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who were
charged with the responsibility to protect and encourage art and
science, poetry, music, dance and history of Greeks. The daughters of
Zeus were also reported to be good dancers and singers. In this way,
they helped men to forget their sorrow and anxiety. Thus, museion
became associated with a place where men’s mind found rest and
aloofness for everyday affairs as well as a sense of inspiration (Okita,
1985:64). Use of the Latin derivation, museum, appears to have been
restricted in Roman times mainly to places of philosophical discussion.
In 15th century, the word museum was revived in Europe to describe
the collection of Lorenzo de Medici in Florence conveying the meaning
of comprehensiveness rather than describing a building. By the 17th
century, museum was being used in Europe to describe collections of
curiosities (Ole Worm’s Museum in Copenhagen was so called).
At present, the museum has been defined in varying ways.
Encdyclopeida Britannica (1975) saw it thus: “Museums as institutions
serve the three main functions of collecting, preservation and
presentation of objects. Such objects may be specimens of nature,
related to geology, astronomy or biology, they, may illustrate the
2
creation of man in history, art or science’. In its contemporary sense,
the museum is an “institution developed by modern society to stave
off for as long as possible the deterioration and loss of objects
treasured for three cultural values” (Encyclopedia Britannica,
1975:649).
In a more comprehensive manner, the International Council of
Museum (ICOM) in 1974 defined it as “a non profit making, permanent
institution in the service of society and its development, and open to
the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and
exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material
evidence of man and his environment (Hudson 1977:1). This definition
is compendious. Museum practitioners since then, subscribe to this
definition because:
1) It conceives it as a public institution
2) It brought out salient functions of museum which includes
collecting, preserving, studying, interpreting and exhibiting
objects of cultural and educational values.
As enthused by Okpoko (2006:3) museums preserve the tangible
evidence of man’s history, creativity and the physical aspects of the
world he inhabits. They also give information about the past
environment of the materials displayed; such materials then attract,
entertain and arouse curiosity amongst the people. Indeed museums
give people the opportunities to rediscover themselves and to identify
their place in the past and the role they can play in the contemporary
world.
ORIGIN OF MUSEUMS
Ptolemy 1 established the world’s first museum in Alex Andria, Egypt
around 290 BC. (Archibong 2010:10). The museum as it was then
called was established as a centre of learning dedicated to the muses.
3
Ptolemy’s house of the muses consisted of a lecture hall, a mess
hall, a court, a cloister, a garden, an astronomical observatory,
living quarters, the library and collections of biological and
cultural objects” ( Archibong, 2010:9). The museum as was
conceived by Ptolemy was a repository of cultural artifacts and natural
specimens. “It was a research centre, liberal arts college and
advanced institute”. Ptolemy’s death in 283BC marked the beginning
of museum “revolution” as people after him strove to improve on it.
Before modern museums developed, different societies had different
ways of preserving objects important to them. Modern museums
developed in Europe in the 17th century and the term ‘museum’ was
used in English in 1682. It was used to describe ‘the collection of
strange, rare and exotic things that the gentleman Elias Ashmole gave
to the University of Oxford. Form the private collections of courtiers
and gentlemen, museums became the public educational institutions
we know today” (Ambrose and Paine 1993:6).
MUSEUMS IN NIGERIA
The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) as it is
now known has its root in Nigeria’s Antiquities service, which was
established on 28 July, 1943.
Historically, the origin of museum is traceable to pre-Arab and
European times. During these periods, various cultural materials of
ritual, religious and political importance were fashioned, conserved
and preserved in temples or traditional shrines and in the palaces of
kings and chiefs (Okpoko, 2006:8). Apart from housing cultural
materials like ivory bronze and carved wooden objects, these
institutions (temples, shrines and palaces) were preserved as
monuments in their own right.
4
Head of each household, priests of various shrines (Eze mmuo), and
some of the ‘kings’ or ‘chiefs’ acted like curators. Their role was to
preserve and conserve these objects which ranges from iron or bronze
amulets, wooden statue (Ikenga) or images of deities; ritual objects
like ivory trumpet, iron gongs, drums, flute, etc. In this era, objects
were preserved because of their utilitarian or symbolic value. The uses
were more of religious, spiritual, political and cultural.
However, the development of modern museums was a handiwork of
Kenneth Murray, an art teacher in the British colonial service. In 1927,
while performing the role of ‘adviser to government on the effects of
the colonial education system on local art’ (Nzewunwa 1984:101),
Murray made personal collection of several Nigerian art forms. He
recommended the establishment of museums and the promulgation of
relevant laws to protect Nigerian cultural artifacts (Murray 1996: 33).
This recommendation was however postponed till 1953.
A clear-cut legislation to prevent the indiscriminate acquisition and
exportation of Nigerian cultural materials were not instituted until
1953 when the Antiquities ordinance No. 17 was passed. The bill made
way for the creation of National Department of Antiquities and charged
it with the responsibility of exploration, care and presentation of
antiquities or works of art, and provides also for the control of
exportation of works of art, from Nigeria (Nzewunwa, 1984:102).
In 1979, Decree No. 77 dissolved the Department of Antiquities and
established the National Commission for Museums and Monuments
(NCM & M). This became a corporate body entrusted with
management of museums and monuments in Nigeria.
Today, the NCMM administers about 36 museums, located in almost
each states of the federation. Though, some states have two. Our own
museum of colonial history, Aba came into existence in 1985 while.
5
The ten colonial administrative building (consulate office) was sited
initially at Akwaete and was carried to Aba in 1902 on foot by our local
men on the instance of then colonial masters. The gallery is a pictorial
one with 8 bays chronicling events from slavery and slave trade era to
the 1960 independence. The museum was officially commissioned in
1985 for public usage. Many other museums were established
between 80s and late 90s.
THE MUSEUM IN MODERN WORLD: CHALLENGES AND
INSPIRATIONS
Modern society is a product of modern technology. The place of
Information Communication Technology (ICT) in modern business nay
museum is preponderant. For instance, the use of internet has
increasingly eased communication, and transfer of data to a large and
heterogeneous audience. Today, in the museum sector, we have e-
museum, e-library, open air museum, eco-tourism, etc. These
museums serve to reach out to large number of audience, despite
their various locations. Through the internet, one can afford to sit in
the comfort of his home and access museums and its their collections.
The interest of such an audience can be stimulated so as to visit the
real museum.
As the world population is steadily on increase, visitorship of museum
and museum public equally increases and continually makes fresh
demands on the museum. The demand for better services, demands
for leisure, information, education, entertainment and the likes. The
implication of these demands is a movement towards a paradigm shift
from the traditional roles of museum of collecting, conserving,
6
studying, interpreting and exhibiting objects for cultural and
educational values. Museums in Nigeria, for instance, now provide
cultural activities like traditional dances, music or film shows and
drama for public enlightenment and relaxation. Also, most Nigerian
museums have kitchens, which serve traditional dishes and locally
brewed wine, among other things. Some of these museums also have
carefully planned activities for children’s entertainment, growth and
development. Aba museum is renowned in these areas.
The 21st century museum is no more satisfied with permanent
exhibitions and restricted to a place. There is a growing trend of
innovations engendered by Information Technology (I.T) revolution.
We now hear of E-museums, Eco-museums, eco-tourism museums,
open air museums, etc. These museums as their names imply are
museums that are not necessarily located at a given location, but ones
which allows access through the internet. They serve to arouse
interest and curiosity from intending visitors, to museums permanent
exhibitions.
To sustain and increase visitorship, to museums, museum in Nigeria is
trying to take care of the physically challenged in the society. These
are people who are visually impaired, the lame, the deaf and dump,
etc. these set of people, though have interest in museum, but are
physically limited by the way museums are built. Modern museums
like Calabar, Owerri, Port-Harcourt are electronically powered and
have elevations that enables access to museum collections.
Beyond the realm of imaginations of museum founders, today’s
museum is the vanguard of public education. As the modern society is
facing climatic, environmental and socio-economic maladies, the
museum is fast responding to the demand for public enlightenment
and education. Today, we hear of Ozone layer depletion, hurricanes,
7
typhoon, earthquake, landslides, eclipse among others. The museum
through its education outreach programme has been reaching out to
the public to enlighten them of these climatic and environmental
challenges. For instance, in March 2006 when eclipse was experienced
in Nigeria, the museum embarked on serious public enlightenment
campaign. Schools, traditional institutions, villages and communities
especially at rural areas were visited. The essence of this was to
create awareness on what causes it and how people should react in
the event of such occurrence. This yielded fruitful result as people saw
this event as a normal occurrence unlike what it were when it
previously occurred in 1946 (see the Bottled Leopard, by
Chukwuemeka Ike).
Today’s museum is creating avenue for inter-cultural dialogue,
interaction and mutual co-existence. As noted by Afigbo (1985:52)
“what we have in our museums are artistic expressions of the spirits of
the different ethnic groups which make up Nigeria”. Many people do
not have the opportunity and resources of traveling to other parts of
the country other than theirs. But through exhibitions of cultural
properties in museums, people of different ethnic groups have the
opportunity to see and study cultures beyond their own vicinity.
Therefore by spending its resources in preserving and exhibiting
cultural objects from the different parts of the country in one museum
and on enlightenment programmes, the museum will help in
broadening the knowledge of people of the different ethnic groups
thus making them to have respect for the technological ingenuities of
one another and better members of their immediate communities. This
will make different ethnic groups to be in a better position to tolerate
one another. It must be emphasized here that whatever a group of
people has ‘achieved in any area of human endeavour including that
of artistic expression, is the result of a mutually enriching dialogue
8
with its members’ (Afigbo 1985:57). Ethnographic, historical and
archeological studies have show that the NOK and Ife terra cottas, the
igbo-ukwu bronzes, the Ife and Benin brasses, the city walls in the
northern parts of Nigeria, etc. are the results of the geniuses of the
groups that produces them as well as contacts with their various
neighbours (Okpoko, 2006:15).
Museum education is widening its scope of influence in the threshold
of new technologies. The kind of education services provided by the
museum is unique. Swift (1999a:55) extensively wrote:
The opportunity for people to learn from objects is what
distinguishes museum education from other forms of learning.
Objects are powerful educational resource – they can attract and
hold people’s attention, motivate, inspire, amuse and amaze. They
can stimulate curiosity and imaginative thinking, encourage us to
emphasize with the people who made used and owned them…
objects can inspire drama and creative writing. Objects provide
endless opportunities for art and design-related work, and can also
be used as a stimulus for dance and movement activities…
To ensure that museum education impacts meaningfully and
practically to learners, objects are used in both permanent and
temporary exhibitions. Keeping faith with the new mandate, museums
have become more visitor-oriented and are therefore making their
collections in ways which support and increase learning opportunities
for all users, such as the families, pre-school, school children,
students, clubs and societies, adults, community groups, etc.
Supportive teaching aids like computer, micro-clips devices and ICT
driven gadgets are used. These help in stirring knowledge. At present,
emphasis on museum education is put on learning (now e-learning
too) and since learning is also “about consolidating or re-orientating
9
previous experiences, what is learnt during a museum visit will depend
on the individual” and on his objective for the visit. Museums provide
good environment for learning which is ‘more diverse, informal and
culturally richer than formal education’. Museum collections, as
already pointed out constitute real evidence which can inspire,
motivate and stimulate curiosity as well as inform and:
i) Provide a physical and social context for learning;
ii) Offer social experiences that can stimulate and support learning;
iii) Provide activities that are memorable and appeal to all senses;
iv) (Provide) non-threatening surroundings where public people can
learn through exploration and discovery.
v) Provide visitors with personal choice and rewards at a variety of
levels, and opportunities for problem-solving and decision
making and;
vi) Combine learning with enjoyment and entertainment (Swift,
1999a:48).
Museum all over the world is aligning itself with the modern society
driven by the ICT World. The traditional roles of museums are currently
being revisited in such a way to mainstream technological innovations
engendered by the ICT. As such, the era is unbundling great
opportunities with the attendant challenges and inspirations.
Opportunities arousing curiosities, opportunity of reaching out to the
people the more through the ICT facilities, opportunities to provide
better services as dictated by contemporary realities, opportunities
unlimited by distance and location, but yet increases and sustains
museum visitorship and audience. Today, we now hear of eco-tourism
museum, open air museums, e-museums and all of such kind. These
are products of technological ingenuities of our time.
10
Simply put, museum services are fastly aligning itself with the NEED of
the people. They are opening up avenues for more public participation,
more public enlightenment using ICT, more responsible to public
necessities other than the old posture. But for the museum to guide
and shape its work, identify its priorities which are useful in
contemporary museum practice, some provisions are imperative.
SUGGESTIONS FOR A BETTER MUSEUM
Making museum practice more proactive in a vision shared by
museums all over the world. Particularly in Nigeria, certain measures
are considered apt:
1) Museum should be made market-oriented: This includes being
responsive to the visiting public; providing enhanced services
and products; increasing prices for access to museum collections
(prices must be reasonable) and enhancing the professionalism
of curators and museum workers.
2) Increased Funding: Since museum rely on government’s grants
and subventions for its sustenance, more funds should be made
available. A lot of museums are dire needs of infrastructures, ICT
gadgets, computers among others. Besides, some dont even
have galleries where objects are kept and exhibited to the public.
I wonder what museum is without a functional gallery.
3) There is need for periodic training and re-training of staff of
museum. The challenge of I.T, encompasses update of technical
skills and knowledge. This challenge is crucial.
4) Broadening ethnographic and archeological researches are again
other vital areas of importance. Since museums collections are
products of research, it therefore means that constant but
11
efficient researches are important to update museum collections
in tandem with contemporary realities.
These are just some of the highlights.
CONCLUSION
The present realities as dictated by modern technology put museum in
a motion. Museum services and practices are responding to this trend
by imbibing the culture of innovations in its core practices – Research,
collection, conservation, exhibition and education. Though, Nigerian
museums have not been fully ICT powered, but there is steady
progress towards this direction. Some new museums like Owerri and
Calabar museum have a touch of modern technology. It may not be far
before we start having e-museum in Nigeria.
Be that as it may, we observed in this paper that museum services are
embodying the concept of people. They are innovating their services
to meet the existential realities ostensibly informed by modern
technology. New or modern society is such that is dynamic and ICT
driven. Museums here are being responsive to this albeit, with certain
challenges which undoubtedly engenders new inspirations. I need
admonish us here, to visit a museum near you, for your history and
culture are religiously kept in the museum.
Thank you.
REFERENCES
Abun, M.S (1987) The Role of Museums in Tourism Development in
Nigeria. Nigerian Tourism VOL.1(2).
12
Afigbo, A. E. (1985) The Museum and Nation Building in Afigbo. A. E
and Okita, S. I (eds). The Museum and Nation Building. Owerri:
New African Publishing Company.
Ambrose,T. and Paine, C.(1993) Museum Basics. London.Routledge
11,New Fetter Lane.
Archibong. M (2010) Museums in Nigeria and Other Lands. Nigeria. Blast Forward Enterprises
Hudson, K. (1977) Conservation in Museums for the 1980s: A Survey of
World Trends. Paris: UNESCO.
Nzewunwa, N. (1984) Nigeria; Approaches to the Archeological
Heritage Management (ed) H. Cleere. Cambridge University
Press.
Okpoko, A. I. (2006) Fundamentals of Museum Practices Nsukka: Afro-
orbis Publishing Coy., Ltd.
Swift, F. (1999a) Museum and Education: Museum Practice. Part 1.
Issue 10. Vol. 4. No. 1.
13