MUSEUMS, ETHNICITY AND DEMOCRACY: A Proposal for a Project - The National Museums of Kenya

Mohamed Isahakia

1. Introduction

The proposal covers a 3 year programme of activities designed to facilitate the National Museums of Kenya's (NMK) role in establishing a partnership with local communities to revive traditional knowledge on conflict resolution. The proposed budget is US$250,000.00. The programme will focus on developing the regional Museums as forums for cultural dialogue among different ethnic communities. Key activities will include training in traditional conflict resolution, use of indigenous knowledge information for wider advocacy on key issues affecting the scope of peace in the region and enhancing the recognition of traditional elders as peace makers at community level. Through the shared experience of developing community based multi-ethnic exhibits on traditional conflict management in the Museums, local communities will be encouraged to work closely among themselves. These activities aimed at utilization of cultural resources as a basis for promoting ethnic harmony will allow the Museum to assume a more prominent role in nation building by educating and mobilizing the local communities to minimize conflict while making new choices.

2. Background

Ethnic conflict and democratisation emerged as two major trends in politics in the world upon the end of the cold war. After its role as an arena of cold war conflict came to an end, global attention to Africa is awakened mostly by famine relief or a sudden cross border refugee crisis. Yet Africa continues to demonstrate a range of political vectors with regard to ethnicity and democratic trends in politics which are no less challenging than in other parts of the world. The spectrum of political manoeuvrings of the past few years in African countries illustrates, not unexpectedly, ambivalence in dealing with ethnicity in an open and competitive political arena. Governments demonstrate wide divergence: the urge towards abolition on the one hand and group representation on the other. But the spectrum also spans positions in between: the attempt to overcome ethnic division by banning expression of ethnicity in politics, the practice of representing ethnic groupings when faced with the necessities of governance, the fear of ethnic domination by other groups or groups with monarchical status, the rewarding of ethnic group supporters, and the manipulation of ethnic connection as a ticket to power.

The urgent need is to develop a formula that can politically, economically, socially and culturally utilize the values and institution of traditional societies (which we subsume under the label of indigenous knowledge) by recognizing them and building on them in a manner that reconciles these societies and makes them partners with the forces of modern science and technology. Many African countries have rejected ethnicity as an organizing concept in the process of nation building. The challenge to many cultural institutions then is whether it is possible to reverse the mindset so that ethnicity which is an African reality can be seen as a resource or a building block that can provide a sound foundation for sustainable political and socio-economic development from within.

Africa today is facing a crisis of immense proportions as democracy and the quest for pluralism has unleashed ethnic consciousness in the minds of many Africans. This crisis in one way or another reflects the apparently conflicting needs to build a global society in which all ethnic groups can participate while preserving specific cultural values and identities.

Museums are products of their social context and it is proper that they should be so. If we accept then that their purpose is to be of service to society, then it is vital that they be responsive to their social environment in order to remain relevant to changing social needs and goals. Changing social environments in Africa demands that Museums that used to be historically eurocentric in their outlook henceforth need to foster the systematic inclusion of diverse cultural elements in their interpretive and educational activities. If Museums in Africa can make this cultural shift, they could have the opportunity to do even more than continuing to be only centres for the exchange of cultural ideas. They can have the potential for assuming a new role that ascends to an extremely new plane - to become more pivotal to the continuing evolution of culture and to be genuine instruments of cultural reconciliation that African society so desperately needs. Part of this shift involves transferring Museums from being temples for an elite which enjoys the status of a privileged caste into a place that fosters multicultural dialogue.

Culture is central to conflict (and therefore to conflict resolution) as well as to development both by determining the identity of the peoples involved as groups and individuals and by shaping the techniques and mechanisms that they evolved over a long period. It is in this area that Museums can play a crucial role in serving as fora for discussion and exchange of cultural ideas among different ethnic groups.

Encouraging the mutual recognition of cultural differences is therefore a major challenge for our Museums. Exhibitions that are cross-cultural have a tremendous potential to inform the community about themselves by setting their culture and history side by side with others.

In a multi-ethnic society such as Kenya the problem facing a national museum such as NMK is to reflect an identity that has a national validity yet one that is relevant to all individual ethnic groups. NMK's hope therefore is that through acquiring an understanding of other cultures, all Kenyans will appreciate the inner logic of social systems that are different from their own and hence develop an appreciation and respect for them that will combat prejudices. Mutual appreciation and co-operation among the cultural groups that make up Kenyan society is seen as the necessary foundation for Kenya to remain a single nation in the face of democratic change.

3. Key Issues to be Addressed by NMK

The NMK believes that a rich culture constitutes a cornerstone in a vital democratic system. Every society is stimulated and enriched by, and dependent on, the fact that humanistic and creative forces have the opportunity to live, survive and develop. Creative thought is needed to find unconventional solutions in situations of chaos and conflict. Culture can have many missions in the process of democratisation; for example to build bridges between different groups; to put forth peace aspiration and reconciliation; and to heal traumatized minds. Cultural experiences infuse the will to live and provide an opportunity to treat traumatized experiences.

These are some essential ingredients in efforts to strengthen civic society as an important part in a vital democracy. Museums as social institutions are a potential force in forging consciousness within specific historical contexts and as part of a political process of democratization. As national legacy, their collections can promote national identities and common national agenda. As part of a national agenda, their objects stand for nation state and embody the "idea" of the state for a people - for example the Old Testament for Israel. They are spaces in which elites and competing social groups express their ideas and views. Unlike churches and other public institutions, there is no hereditary or ordained monopoly of access, possession and display of symbols of power. On the contrary, museums accommodate diverse contents and ideas. Access is tolerated and even encouraged among a large and differential population making accumulated knowledge widely available.

The focus of this project is to use the Museum as a forum to discuss the values and institutions of traditional societies (indigenous knowledge and culture) in the process of democratisation and sustainable development. It is hoped that this project will facilitate the role of Museums in promoting cross-cultural understanding, participatory and sustainable approaches to democratic development and the realization that indigenous knowledge systems represent a critical resource base for the process of building nationhood.

NMK has therefore several functions relevant to the project under discussion:

The overall strategy is to make relevant the role of culture in promoting cross-cultural understanding and therefore peace and harmony through the medium of musuems. In particular NMK aims to support and consolidate traditional cultural components that can be made part of decisions for national economic and political development and to establish understanding of the significance of material culture and indigenous knowledge and their arrangement and use in museums as the embodiment and reflection of the accumulated knowledge and values of nationhood.

Therefore the intention is to promote African cultural components as tools for decision making for national economic and political development taking into account what is indigenous and useful. For example traditional institutions of leadership have for long regulated successfully relations between those exercising authority and influence and the governed. African judicial processes have traditionally stressed equity and reconciliation as opposed to confrontation and the assignment of blame which is a characteristic of western legal systems.

Our concerns as a Museum are then to suggest answers to the following questions:

In finding answers to these questions, the NMK will undertake the following activities.

In the effort to consolidate the role of NMK as a forum for promoting public advocacy on the subject of Culture, Ethnicity and Democracy, the Museum intends to host a two day workshop that will bring together local communities, NGO'S, civic institutions, religious organizations, museologists, social and cultural anthropologists, politicians and people from the local administration.

The workshop will have five main objectives:

NMK will also seek to bring together different communities to work on the theme of Traditional Conflict Resolution Management by providing a forum at the regional level.

This project will have several objectives:

4.3 Establishing and Building Links Between African Museums and

Other Institutions

One of the main purposes of the project is to increase, what we call, NMK Community Voluntary Action in order to encourage a strong culture of tolerance and responsibility for social harmony. NMK believes that this depends upon developing a practical approach to the building of linkages between regional museums, local communities and key institutions to increase the scope for conveying community needs to the general public and policy makers in particular.

In order to achieve this the NMK will aim to bring together NGO's, religious organizations and local communities. This will provide experience for other communities and public officials throughout Kenya. Such experience will also be available to other regional Museums within East and Central Africa. Through information and communication work, it is also intended that the experience of NMK will be of active interest to international organizations involved in peace. Some of the institutions envisaged to take part in this work are the Global Network of Indigenous Resource Centres, (IKC), and Museums both in Africa, Europe and North America. We are pleased to announce that they have also expressed interest in the Project.

6.1 Democracy and Conflict Prevention and Resolution

Sultan H. Somjee

Division of Ethnography

National Museums of Kenya

The NMK addressed three areas of concern within the parameters outlined by the goals of New African Initiative. These are social concerns pertaining to ethnicity, religion and race.

In the area of ethnicity we have been working with twelve pastoralist groups and more recently we have initiated work among three agriculturalist groups. The focus has been on learning about and strengthening cultures of peace of the various groups rather than attempting to solve present crises. The East African Cultures of Peace have been overlooked if not ignored by academics as well as by the governments, NG0s and the media. Yet this unacknowledged resource of indigenous knowledge is the counterpart of a tradition that also gives rise to ethnic conflicts. Looking at the other side of the coin has been our approach. Our purpose as a museum is to explore and give greater exposure to the positive image of Africa, to challenge the warrior image and promote dialogue, democracy and peace.

The second concern relates to dialogue and understanding between different faiths and especially between Christianity and Islam. There is untapped potential in religious understanding and tolerance for appreciation and practice of good relationships, among the diversities of beliefs and values cherished by East African societies.

The third concern that the NMK addressed has been the history and representation of non-indigenous cultures in East Africa whose presence has been here for several centuries. The differences of racial, religious and cultural backgrounds have created suspicion and uneasiness that easily lead to tension and violence. The focus of concern has been Asian Africans, whose ancestral roots like those of African Americans, are in one continent but their homeland is in another continent.

The three concerns create situations of social ill feelings that are sometimes manipulated and escalated by complexities of national and international politics and business interests. The NMK working within its mandate of research, collection, documentation, training and public education initiated programmes that address the three concerns at both the academic and community levels.

The following are the specific results of our activities:

1. Research

Dr. Somjee is currently working among several ethnic communities comprising both the pastoralist and agriculturalist groups. The focus of his research is on understanding concepts, rituals and artifacts associated with reconciliation processes. Our initiative has laid a foundation for further research which will enhance the resources of the Division of Ethnography and open up new areas related to democracy and reconciliation from view points of different social structures. The research out-put has drawn the attention of NGOs, the UN and other bodies to the relevance of African indigenous modes of conflict resolution.

Two other areas that are currently researched are Cultures of Peace of Muslim Societies and Asian African Cultures of Eastern Africa. The following paragraphs on Workshops, Exhibitions and Public Education, Training and Capacity Building, Publications and Documentation elaborate on the outcome of the initial work which constitutes actually fundamental research for establishing the direction for developing our component of New African Initiatives.

2. Workshops

Two workshops were held this year. Confluences of Peace Traditions (Nairobi: March, 1998) had a participation of twenty five pastoralists representing eight ethnic groups. The workshop was held at National Museums of Kenya for five days and it included a field trip to a Maasai area where there is a collection of peace artifacts. The format of the workshop was such that the different groups exchanged their views and traditions and peace building experiences.

The second workshop was on Cultures of Peace of Muslim Societies which was held in September this year. This was a one day forum where discussions on the practice of peace were shared among five different Islamic groups. The Somali group included five clans. (See Appendix I).

This forum turned out to be timely and well prepared. There is a general feeling of uneasiness among Muslims in Kenya following the Nairobi bomb blast and de-registration of Islamic NG0s. The discussions were well received and participated.

Dr. Somjee attended the International symposium on Culture of Peace in Germany in August this year. He gave a slide presentation on the East African research experience and outcome of the Museum's project. As a follow-up, Dr. Somjee is now invited to make a case for an East African Peace Museum at the International Conference of Peace Museums in Osaka, Japan in November this year[1998].

3. Exhibition and Public Education

We assembled an exhibition of some 200 artifacts used in reconciliation rituals and other non-ritual objects of material culture that are respected by various public communities as symbols of their peace making traditions.

We invited artists from Nairobi to study and reflect on them and present their conclusions in painting and sculptures. Thirty artists, mainly of agricultural backgrounds, participated in the exhibition. There were awards for the best artworks which were judged by pastoralist representatives whose peace traditions were being exhibited.

Nairobi Museum records show that about 80,000 visitors passed through the exhibition entitled Heritage of Peace and Reconciliation between March and August, 1998. We received hundreds of very encouraging comments. Many were written down in the visitor's books. (Appendix II for some samples of comments).

Dr. Somjee also gave a number of lectures on Indigenous Modes of Conflict Resolution.

4. Training and Capacity Building

Dr. Somjee has been guiding postgraduate students of anthropology to pursue studies in Peace Heritage of ethnic groups, Islamic Peace Cultures in Eastern Africa and Asian African Studies. He has supervised three students at Masters level in each one of these areas. Two students have succeeded in getting places at reputable universities in England. One of them recently left to study at the University of London. (MA proposals see Appendix III).

5. Publications

A book Honey and Heifer, Grasses, Milk and Water: A Heritage of Diversity in Reconciliation compiled and edited by Dr. Somjee, was launched in March, 1999 at the Nairobi National Museum. About 300 people from all walks of life - ambassadors, NGO personnel, ethnic people, professionals and lay people attended the launch and the opening of the accompanying exhibition. Since then we have been receiving many positive comments and requests for more information on the project.

There have been five newspaper and magazine articles on the research and public education work undertaken by the National Museums of Kenya with reference to Conflict Resolution. (Appendix IV).

6. Documentation

The Ford Foundation funding has enabled us to document the project activities and Reconciliation Workshops in great detail. This has become a tremendous resource material for future work for academic, public and school education. The Division of Ethnography has produced ethnographic study materials in conjunction with the Audio-Visual Department of the National Museums of Kenya. The anthropological material in the following six categories reflects the diversity of cultural perspectives on conflict resolution and its great potential for guiding future activities :

Category 1

Video recordings of the workshops include:

Kitale Peace and Conflict Resolution meeting where ten ethnic groups shared their concerns and experiences relating to conflicts.

Nairobi Peace of Conflict Resolution meeting which was attended by twenty five ethnic participants.

Cultures of Peace of Muslim Societies, a forum where representatives of five different Islamic community's participated.

Category II

Rituals of Reconciliation opening ceremony at the exhibition.

Category III

Ethnography programme especially produced for school and public education

KBC, Africa Journal (Reuters) and BBC have shown interest in using these productions and other footage material.

Filming of actual ceremonies in the field in Kajiado and Narok District.

We have a collection of approximately 300 images of our research and workshop activities on Reconciliation and Peace in Eastern Africa.

Material Culture Collection

Approximately 200 peace and reconciliation artifacts have been documented. For the broad society that is non-literate, material culture embodies wisdom, knowledge and traditions that cannot be expressed otherwise by the people. We are now working on a museum catalogue to publish this collection which is probably the first African collection of peace artifacts. (Appendix V on this section is prepared by Mr. Kimotho, Audio-Visual Department).

The Museum has approached the New African Initiative Project at two levels. One is the level of academia which has resulted in publications, workshops and training of graduates. In all, this has greatly enhanced the capacity of the Division of Ethnography. The other level addresses public awareness and education. This has resulted in public exhibitions, school progammes, media articles and public lectures.

The project focuses on three concerns which have been the subject of research and subsequent activities. The concerns pertain to issues of ethnicity, race and religion. A vast body of material, knowledge and experiences accumulated by the project during the year presents strong evidence for a need to establish an African Peace Museum. Most significantly, an African Peace Museum would promote and show how Africans have historically handled their own conflicts and in that it would contribute towards World Peace Traditions.

Participants enquired into the capacity of the Museum to undertake the project particularly if it involves research. Moreover, it was asked whether chiefs and other traditional community leaders could be used in the process of cultural development and preservation of natural heritage as well as in the democratisation process. The presenters were also asked whether or not communities participated in the formulation of the project. The question of the role of the youth was raised in several forms- the most important form being that of accessibility of museums to students in both the formal and informal educational processes. Last but not least was the query that was related to the very substance of the presentation: how could museums help in the resolution and management of conflict?

To all these questions satisfactory responses were given. There was a rich and diverse discussion which, it was hoped by participants, would help in the enrichment of the project.

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