Inclusive Indigenous Australian voices in the semiotic landscape of the National Museum of Australia

ABSTRACT

Inclusive and broad research stresses the need for museums to be socially responsible in the representation of the various communities it represents. This article examines the curator’s representation of source communities presented in two exhibitions in the First Australians Galleries at the National Museum of Australia – investigated through the concepts of multi-voicedness, semiotic landscape, and agency. The qualitative methodologies applied include semi-structured interviews with curators, and image- and document-based analyses. Findings revealed that the exhibition’s semiotic landscape was strongly framed by the collaboration of voices between museum curators and Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander communities. The curators emphasized the moral value of their work in consulting with Indigenous communities; this suggests that the curators have positioned themselves as change agents, which empowers the source communities as well as strengthens the museum’s standing within those communities.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Curators
• source communities
• semiotic landscape
• social language
• social responsibility

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Anne J. Cole, Ph.D., Centre for Design, Learning, and Innovation, Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Denmark. Current research focuses on curators meaning-making process within the context of the representation of a nation’s Indigenous peoples in an inter-national museum environment. Primary concern is the degree of mediation and relational agency between museum curators and the how the museum/curator incorporates source communities, i.e. as one of consultation or partnership. Her research examines whose voice is represented via the social and semiotic landscape in national museums that create an informal learning environment. Other academic areas of interest include problem based-learning and the representation of rock art and toys as intangible/tangible cultural heritage in museums.

Eva Brooks, Ph.D. and Professor with special responsibilities in Learning and Information Technology. She is co-founder and Director of Centre for Design, Learning, and Innovation, Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Denmark. Her research interests center on technology-mediated play and learning, which is conceptualized as “playful learning designs.” Her interests are in investigating complexities and potentials of using contemporary digital resources for play alongside those traditionally used for children’s learning and progression through play across formal, informal, and non-formal contexts. Her research makes such practices explicit and visible and identifies how specific resources shape opportunities for how people learn.

ORCID

Anne J. Cole http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6693-7072

Eva Brooks http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7286-0876

Notes

1 The process of the adopting DRIP began in the early 1970s through advocacy by Indigenous peoples worldwide. Four countries initially did not accept the agreement, Australia, United States, New Zealand and Canada (all countries colonized by Great Britain). Australia did accept two years later (2009) followed by the other three in 2010. A PDF of the Declaration can be found at this link; http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

2 The term Indigenous Australians refers collectively to Indigenous Tasmanians, Torres Strait Islanders, and Aboriginal Australian peoples: each group has numerous communities with a distinct cultural culture and history unto itself; thus, the use of plural terminology. According to several Australian Universities in 2015, the term “Aboriginals” is considered inappropriate, as is the term “indigenous” used in lower case letters, which implies a collective worldwide identity. Currently, the accepted terminology is Australian Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and the use of Aboriginal as an adjective, for example, Aboriginal people, art, or culture. The most appropriate naming is by identification of the specific community where the person is from. The present authors are not responsible for any terminology or abbreviations used by the museum in publications, by the curators interviewed, or any other quoted sources that incorrectly name Indigenous Australians.

3 In 1967, The Councillor for Aboriginal Affairs began collecting works of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders art. In 1990 after many transitions became The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Commission (ATSIC). The ATSIC Amendment Bill repealed provisions of the ATSIC Act and abolished the ATSIC councils, which ceased operation in June of 2005 (Pratt & Bennett, 2004).