Thoughts on.. a Centre for Museology Seminar

Last Wednesday, October 19^th, I attended a very interesting seminar put on by the Centre for Museology as part of their Autumn 2011 Research Seminars. The seminar, which was entitled, Exploring Museum Spaces and their Collections as Tools for Interdisciplinary Education for Sustainable Development, was given by Dr. Ian Fairweather, a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. The seminar was based on a series of research projects with students from Anthropology, Art & Design, and Material Science and queried how museum spaces and their collections might contribute to interdisciplinary study on sustainable development.

The research that Dr. Fairweather presented posed a number of very interesting questions concerning a multitude of issues and disciplines: learning theory, museum studies, social anthropology, sustainable development, interdisciplinary pedagogy; these were just a few of the contexts that informed his research and questioning.  Questioning such as:

How might interdisciplinary workshops stimulate the production of new ideas and expand perspectives?

What are the benefits or limitations of museum spaces as a platform for debate?

How can the alignment of higher education with museums facilitate learning?

How can these factors contribute to our understanding of and research on sustainable development?

Dr. Fairweather’s research found that although difficult to measure the extent to which it occurred, museum spaces do indeed provide a powerful platform for discussion and meaning making among interdisciplinary students on the subject of sustainability. Furthermore, a key factor in the generation of new ideas was both the coming together of varying perspectives and the novelty of the museum space, rich with opportunities for discussion.

Dr. Fairweather’s research substantiated numerous experiences I have had throughout my academic career. I have found that those moments in which I have had the opportunity to work with peers from other disciplines (and in this I include debates with friends over a pint) to be conducive to both refreshing and enlightening conversation.

All in all, I found the seminar both insightful and thought provoking and from the point of view of an Art Gallery and Museum Studies student it raised some very interesting questions.

How do museums fit in with sustainability literacy? What are the unique ways in which museums can inform sustainability? Can caring for the past help us better understand how to prepare for the future? And as Dr. Ian Fairweather poses, how can museums provide a platform for the exchange of thoughts and perspectives necessary for change?

Call up your friends from Anthropology right on through to Zoology and we may be able to find an answer to these questions… and more.

P.S. Don’t forget about the upcoming Centre for Museology Research Seminars:

Wednesday 23^rd November 2011, 5-6.30pm, Mansfield Cooper 4.10

Creating the new Museum of Liverpool 

Janet Dugdale, Director, Museum of Liverpool, National Museums Liverpool.

Wednesday 7^th December 2011, 5-6.30pm, Mansfield Cooper 4.10

Re-shaping the world? The new ‘World Cultures’ displays at the National Museum of Scotland  

Henrietta Lidchi, Keeper, Department of World Cultures, National Museums Scotland.