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Pacific History, Museums and Cultural Centres A Guide for History teachers
Branson Gideon Thomas Marakitere Kipson Niespo Enneth Nimbwen Roy Pakoasongi Max Quanchi Benson Raptigh Hambert Sige Asofou So’o Georges-Matthias Tabeliu Eliane Tallet Elvie Ransen Tamata Yollande Roy Tamata
HistoryCOPs And the Pacific Islands Museum Association Apia, Samoa 2002
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Published by The Council of Presidents of Pacific Island History Associations (HistoryCOPs) a regional professional development project funded since 1995 by the Sasakawa Pacific Islands Nations Fund, Japan. Endorsed by the Pacific Islands Museum Association (PIMA) Edited by Max Quanchi
Printed in Brisbaen, Australia. @2003 A French Language edition is being prepared for publication. This material may be copied freely, with appropriate acknowledgement made to HistoryCOPs. The manuscript was prepared at the Vanuatu Social Studies and History Teachers Association (VSSTA) workshop, held at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and Museum, Port Vila, Oct 23-26 2001. The workshop was supported by the Vanuatu Education Department, the VSSTA and HistoryCOPs. Cover illustration; Brett GRAHAM "Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia" Collection ADCK / Centre Culturel Tjibaou. Copies may be obtained from; Dr Asofou So’o, Director, HistoryCOPs National University of Samoa PO Box 5768, Apia, Samoa Tel: 685-20072 ext 117 FAX: 685-20938 or 2137 Email;
[email protected]
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Contents Museums and History 1. Using local museums and cultural centres as a resource to teach History 2. Fragments of the distant past – learning about ancient history 3. Fragments of the recent past – learning about contemporary history 4. Museums and Cultural Centres – what do they do? Using the Museum and Cultural Centre 5. Pre-visit activities 6. Arranging a visit by Museum staff to your school 7. Student Question sheets – key ideas and concepts to investigate 8. Student question sheets – an example 9. Activities inside the Museum and Cultural centre 10. Post-visit activities 11. Evaluating how effectively a Museum/Cultural centre presents the past 12. Special displays and exhibitions; Evaluating their effectiveness
References Acknowledgements for illustrations Cover; Brett Graham, "Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia", Collection ADCK, Centre Culturel Tjibaou. Page 9; Palau Museum, Koror, Palau Page 12; Art Gallery and Cultural Centre, Honiara, Solomon Islands; Page 19; Cultural Centre, Port Vila, Vanuatu (all photographs by Max Quanchi)
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Using your local museum and cultural centre as a resource to teach History
A student in Grade 7 or 8 might answer the question “why did you go to the Museum” by saying - for entertainment. (and learning should be fun!) They might also say it was to find out how many different types of canoes were made by their ancestors, what patterns were used on traditional shields or if coloured feathers were used in mask making. (and learning should be programmed so students can learn from objects – and about objects) The reasons why History Teachers incorporate museums and cultural centres in the History curriculum are; • • • • • • •
So students can see and feel actual things from the past To enhance student’s pride in their nation, community, district or island To learn about their ancestors and the traditions of past societies To learn about fragments from the past (about the objects) To learn from objects (why events happened, who was involved) To compare the present (the known) with the past (the less well known) To learn about special periods in the nation’s history
An excursion to a museum or cultural centre, or arranging a visit by a staff member to your school, provides first-hand evidence. Museums are full of “old stuff”. They offer evidence of the very first cultures in Oceania, but because Museums and Cultural Centres are modern (for example, only built in the last fifty or less years) they also tell students about what people value today as important. Museums and Cultural centres can be used for teaching both ancient (before 1500) and contemporary history (since 1970). There are also new museums and cultural centres that celebrate special aspects of the past – a World War 11 Museum in Port Moresby, a Maritime and Voyaging Museum in Honolulu, a City Museum in Noumea, a Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in Apia – and many are being located outside the capital cities. Learning through Museums and Cultural Centres, and investigating them, is an important skill for students in towns and capital cities, (removed from their own culture and history), and students in rural villages still under the organization of kastom, chiefs and elders. A visit to a Museum and Cultural Centre is easier for town and city students, but efforts should be made so rural students benefit from this opportunity. For the History teacher a visit to a Museum or Cultural centre is part of you responsibility to foster life-long learning – from K-14, and between your school, your community and your museum.. The History teacher is the link person - the negotiator – that engages students with their communities, institutions (museums) and the past (History). Museums are designed for visitors. They are supported and funded by National Governments, Provinces and by their communities – and they arrange objects, displays and exhibitions in ways that are entertaining, educative and easy to access. History Teachers should take up this opportunity.
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Fragments of the distant past; Learning about ancient history
Museums and cultural centres are full of objects and “old stuff” from the earliest through to recent times. Ancient History deals mainly with the very distant past. It is the science of understanding and interpreting the very earliest times. The ancient past remains more or less hidden and hard to imagine. At the same time it seems to have great continuity with recent events. Evidence in Museums and Cultural Centres - such as documents, artefacts, weapons, utensils, art and technology – clearly show the links between between past and present. The past is divided into periods but these may be different from country to country. In Pacific History textbooks a line is usually placed to separate the periods before and after European contact began (say, around 1500). Students need first-hand experience with evidence from the distant past. They need to practice identifying artefacts and fragments from the past and to place them in their historical context – how and when they were made, who used them, traded it, and when and why it was broken or discarded. What does a fragment or object prove or suggest about the distant past? How does it provide a better understanding of the distant past? Ancient history will come alive as students wander around a museum seeing and feeling the shape, colour and texture of ancient objects. Senior students can also examine fragments from the distant past and ask when and why they were included in the Museum collection, and what meanings curators, anthropologists (and politicians) now give to these fragments from the past. A visit to a Museum or Cultural centre will help students appreciate that people in Oceania are in a living culture with continuing historical links between the distant past and present times. Here is a typical timeline showing the main periods in History; Distant past (Ancient History, Pre-History)
Recent Past Contemporary (Contact History, History Modern history) _____________________________I_____________________I_________________
