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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System Date: 08 Aug 2008 Title: SA's museums reflect values of a democratic society -------------------- By Shaun Benton Cape Town - South Africa's museums are gradually becoming open public institutions that reflect the multiple, intersecting histories and constituencies of the country and the continent it shares, says President Thabo Mbeki. Mr Mbeki was speaking on Thursday at the opening of an exhibition titled "Timbuktu: script and scholarship" at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. The exhibition is a small collection of 40 of the rare Timbuktu manuscripts. He said the Department of Arts and Culture had worked relentlessly and systematically to change the representation of South Africa's heritage and transform the country's museums to reflect the values of "our young democracy". Apart from speaking on the value to the country and the continent of understanding the "tradition of prodigious intellectual production" emanating from that part of West Africa, the President spent time elaborating on the now progressive nature of the country's museums. "Our museums have moved from being old and outdated bastions representing past, racist ideologies to being part of a new, non-racial, non-sexist society," he told a packed hall at the 350-year-old castle built by Dutch colonialists. After more than a decade of work at transformation of the country's heritage sector, South Africa has made significant advances in making our museums reflect the values of our young democracy, said the President. "Our heritage sector is working in much more dynamic and creative ways in our new South African context yet learning and interacting with international trends and innovations". Iziko Museums of Cape Town, headed by the Chairperson of the Iziko Board, Dr Eltie Links, have progressed far along the path of transformation often under difficult conditions, President Mbeki said. Challenges Iziko has faced included bringing about a dozen separate units under the Iziko umbrella, while transforming all the structures, policies and most importantly the displays in the museums, which reflect the times and the past in a manner that opens the prism in a progressive way to include the views of a majority of the country's citizens. Such changes point to "the seriousness with which we take our museums and heritage sector". "Many museums may seem to be inert, beautiful old buildings holding the old silver of the ruling dynasties of the past and the art of the old masters. "But there are other ways of conceiving of museums, for they are in fact spaces of tremendous potential for democratic reflection and civic education. They are spaces open for continuing change and interpretation of the past, present and future." More collaboration with museums in other countries is needed, to bring the wealth of artifacts and art of the continent to the people, to represent the creativity of our continent in all its richness and complexity. As such, the best exhibitions are grounded in systematic research and make connections between past and present, opening up possibilities for thinking about the world in new ways, said Mr Mbeki. The manuscripts from Mali provide South Africa with just such an opportunity, "to look at history afresh". "The libraries of Timbuktu force us to think anew about the very notion of a library and an archive. "They help us to take a closer look at the manuscripts as documents reflecting human effort and communication, and as documents with genealogies that include other works produced elsewhere." The significance of the Timbuktu exhibition is that it shows there is an "urgent need to rethink African history, there is an urgent need to do more research and produce a new body of knowledge about Africa and there is an urgent need for Africa to define herself," President Mbeki said. - BuaNews |
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