Museums matter of discussion for Lectures

Museums matter of discussion for Macmillan Brown Lectures

The marvels and manifestations of museums are the theme for this year's Macmillan Brown Lecture series, to be delivered by Canterbury Museum senior curator and Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies Adjunct Associate Professor Roger Fyfe.

Professor Fyfe will deliver three lectures as part of the prestigious annual public lecture series on the topic "The World Under One Roof - who owns the past?" The lectures are one of the highlights of month-long celebrations commemorating the 75th anniversary of John Macmillan Brown's bequest to the University.

The first lecture in the series, titled "Temples to Science", will take place at 7pm on Thursday 4 November in the Carter Auditorium of the Christchurch Art Gallery, which will be the venue for all three evening lectures. In his opening address Professor Fyfe will explore the burgeoning worldwide phenomenon of museums, which come in a myriad of sizes and guises.

"Today it seems no community is complete without one or more. But how many of those amongst us who flock to museums in every increasing numbers, both at home and abroad, stop to ask ourselves where this peculiar notion called a museum comes from?" he said.

"Many people will be surprised to find that the modern museum has its genesis in some rather inspired 18th century intellectual vision and values."

The second lecture in the series, on Thursday 18 November, will focus on museums in the colonies.

"It is frequently pointed out by historians that the great natural history and encyclopaedic museums of Europe arose in tandem with the establishment of colonial empires.

"So what happened when newly arrived colonial communities in the so-called 'source countries' - for example North America, Australia and New Zealand - set about establishing their own museums? Were the inspired ideals of European museums diluted or compromised?"

Professor Fyfe will look at the foundation years of Canterbury Museum to shed some light on such questions.

The final lecture on Thursday 2 December will be devoted to a discussion on indigenous heritage and museums today.

"Encyclopaedic museums were institutions born of Enlightenment values and committed to a belief that through the study of things from all over the world, truth would emerge. A corollary belief was that museums would broaden cultural horizons and foster greater understanding of cultural diversity.

"For the last quarter-century however, emerging social forces have called these principles into question. A worldwide rise in ethnic assertion and ever intensifying debates surrounding cultural property issues have converged on museums - even raising questions over legitimacy and public mission," said Professor Fyfe.

Professor Fyfe has been with the Canterbury Museum since 1992 when he was appointed curator of ethnology. Since 2005, the same year he was appointed an adjunct in UC's Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, he has been Senior Curator of Anthropology.

Prior to his Canterbury roles Professor Fyfe was deputy director of Taranaki Museum (now Puke Ariki) from 1979 to 1992.

All three Macmillan Brown lectures are free and open to the public. They are all being held at the same venue, the Carter Auditorium of the Christchurch Art Gallery, and all commence at 7pm.

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