Gem News
Cultural Diversity
Attitudes of ethnic minority populations towards museums and galleries
BMRB International, commissioned by the Museums and Galleries Commission
Reviewed by Eilean Hooper-Greenhill
Museum visitor figures suggest that people from ethnic minority populations are under-represented in museums and galleries. This piece of research set out to discover why this might be the case. Focus groups were held in London, the Midlands and the North of England which discussed the concept of a museum, the experience of museum visiting, how museum visiting fitted into patterns of leisure time use, and how museums could better meet the needs of the participants.
Focus group members were all aged between 25-50, all had children of school age, half were non-museum visitors (defined as not having visited a museum or art gallery within the previous twelve months), and half were museum or gallery visitors. The ethnic populations included in the research were Black African, Black Caribbean, Indian (Hindu and Sikh), Bangladeshi (Moslem), and Chinese men and women. A control group of white respondents of UK origins was also included to help with assessing the differences between minority communities and the general population. Group discussions were stimulated through a range of materials such as brochures and posters, and were structured through a topic guide. All groups were conducted by researchers from similar ethnic backgrounds, drawn from the multi-ethnic five-person team carrying out the research. The work with the Chinese and Bangladeshi groups was conducted in mother tongue (Cantonese and Sylheti).
This research will be of enormous value to the museum and gallery field. The findings confirm many of the issues that have arisen elsewhere, but also highlight others. Some matters are common to all groups, and some are specific to ethnic populations.
The image of museums was common across all ethnic groups. ‘The Museum’ is still the way that museums are perceived; an old building with an imposing appearance, like the British Museum. Typical contents include ‘Kings and Queens, crowns, suits of armour, weapons, and "broken pots and rocks"’. The atmosphere was described as quiet, reverential and un-welcoming to children. Not surprisingly, this rather unpleasant place was felt to be for intellectuals, and posh people. Art galleries were perceived as even more distant and elitist. There was a real fear that the displays would be too difficult to understand.
It is depressing to see that this image is still so entrenched. It was held less strongly by those who visited more regularly. For some, this view was informed by memories of school visits they had experienced long ago. These negative effects of school visits were also discovered by The Susie Fisher Group in focus group work with non-visitors in Manchester. There is still a great deal of work to be done by marketing officers to raise awareness of how (some) museums have changed, and the report offers a range of useful suggestions, but where convictions are held so strongly and are so deeply embedded in individual psyches and memories, it will take more than an attractive leaflet to effect change.
Black and Bangladeshi respondents were more likely than Indian and Chinese participants to perceive museums and galleries as ‘white people’s territory’. Ethnicity, class and educational level were all brought up as important factors in influencing the wish to visit. In addition, the actual experience of visiting was sometimes discussed, with some Bangladeshi women, for example, pointing out how uncomfortable and out of place they had felt in museums.
Curiously, given the strength of the negative attitudes, there was a general consensus across all groups that society needed museums. People were reassured by the existence of museums, even if they didn’t visit them. This feeling has also been expressed in other research, and does offer some comfort, in that it suggests that goodwill does to some extent exist and that the potential to change attitudes remains. The main roles for museums were to preserve the past, to educate (mainly children), to broaden horizons and increase mutual tolerance, and to offer places to engage emotionally with beautiful things. There is a great deal of useful material here to develop arguments for the continuation of museums within society.
Barriers to participation were investigated, and reinforce findings of previous research. They include lack of time, cost, lack of interest, lack of awareness, effort, and the fear of not understanding.
The report brings out those issues that particularly relate to the attitudes of ethnic minority communities, and it is here that some new issues emerge, and others are given a new importance. Black, South Asian and Chinese people want to see things that relate to their own lives, cultures and histories. Where this has happened, they describe the sense of closeness, of personal relevance and personal interest which they experienced. Where exhibitions or events were perceived (in advance) to be related to their own culture, and especially religion, people were willing to make great efforts to visit.
However, a stronger theme to emerge was the disillusionment many people felt about the view of history that museums present. This was seen to be constructed from a white perspective that made little acknowledgement of the achievements of people or communities from ethnic minority populations. In some instances, it is difficult to separate the cultural representations to be found in museums, from those in other mass communication media. It was felt for example, that Africa is frequently represented as associated with dirt, disease and famine, with few positive images. This is a general statement about the way that British society as a whole (as in the TV news, for example), represents Africa, and here museum display are inseparable from these more general perceptions. Museum-specific dissatisfaction was expressed in relation to both the objects displayed, and their interpretation.
One theme that emerges very strongly from the research is the common perception that material and objects from outside Britain were looted from their countries of origin during the colonial period. Although in some cases this is of course true, it seems to be much more broadly assumed than might have been expected. The lack of accessible information about provenance enables these assumptions. For some, museums evoked images of colonial violence, domination and theft. However, where museums had indicated that collections had been purchased or donated, this was appreciated.
The potential of museums (as we have seen, often unrealised), was perceived as enabling greater awareness and experience of the cultures of ethnic minority groups. This would be of value for families, who could take their children and show them their cultural heritage. People did not want collections to be returned or repatriated, they wanted more accurate information about provenance and background, greater recognition of the role that their cultures played in past and present British society, and greater acknowledgement of non-British perspectives on historical events. Some examples of relevant current initiatives are given.
In five years’ time, this research could be seen as a landmark in raising awareness and in initiating more sensitive museum practice, or it could be another of those reports that gather dust in over-stuffed filing cabinets. It’s up to you.
For a copy of this report send a cheque for £5.00 made payable to the Museum & Galleries Commission, to the addres below. Non-UK orders, please contact the MGC before ordering.
MGC Publications,
16 Queen Anne’s Gate,
London SWIH 9AA
Related publications
Hall, 5. (1997) Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices, Sage Publications.
Hooper-Greenhill, E. (ed) (1997) Cultural diversity: developing museum audiences in Britain, Leicester University Press.
Jordan, G. and Weedon, C. (1995) Cultural politics: class, gender, race and the postmodern world, Blackwell.
Karp, I., Kreamer, C.M., and Lavine, S. D. (1992) Museums and communities: the politics of public culture, Smithsonian Institution.
Selwood, S., Schwarz, B., and Merriman, N. (1996) The peopling of London: fifteen thousand years of settlement from overseas. An evaluation of the exhibition, Museum of London.
This article appeared in GEM News No 69, Spring 1998 pp 10-11
© GEM 1998