Museum Studies

Because grad school produces stationery lust

[dwight-schrutes]

Jameela Jamil on Cancel Culture - The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

[randomramblesofaraven]

👏👏👏🙏

[museumstudyblr]

Jameela Jamil is a treasure.

[museumstudyblr]

I do a MUSEUM PODCAST and talk about PERIODS

for most of the episode

[wearewakanda]

Why museum professionals need to talk about Black Panther

[Spoilers] The seminal film Black Panther has become an international sensation in the week following its release. Notable for its impeccable dialogue, witty banter, and nearly all POC cast, Black Panther provides a platform to discuss a multitude of topics on a national scale.....

[nativenews]

Museum Guide: These items are not for sale.

Killmonger: How do you think your ancestors got these? You think they paid a full price for it? Or did they take them like they took everything else?

[kaijutegu]

I work in a museum- an old one- and during this scene I was nudging my brother the whole time. I clapped a little at that line. Museums need to rethink the way we curate things. If we aren’t elevating the heritage of those objects’ creators, if we aren’t telling their story, if we aren’t making those narratives accessible to the descendants and letting them lead, then what is even the point? Decolonize collections. Practice co-curation. Hire scholars of color, and make the collections accessible to visiting scholars. Involve the descendant community and elevate their voices, not the white colonial narrative.

And for goodness’ sakes, don’t run your museum like a jewellery shop. Have context. Honor the objects for their beauty, but remember that no object is as important as the people who created it.

[heres-lou]

Ummmm,, and like straight up, give things back? Indigenous communities in North America have campaigned for decades to have body parts, ceremonial items and sacred parts of our history returned to their communities.

Ofcourse, Hurd scholars of colour and think critically about your role. But like sometimes, you just have to give things back.

[kaijutegu]

That’s repatriation (what I meant by “decolonize collections”) and it’s actually been federal law in America for almost thirty years. It’s been happening and will continue to happen, but it’s a LOT more complicated than just “give the stuff back.” Obviously you’re totally right- giving the stuff back is absolutely necessary. 

But at the same time, giving ALL the old stuff back to Native groups doesn’t really work, either- for us OR for them. What happens to the stuff when it goes back? Do the modern Alaskan Athabascans really want the 1000+ baskets the museum I work at holds? (No, they don’t. We asked them. They definitely do not want those baskets back.) What about Native groups who don’t want remains back- the Navajo, for instance, believe that the remains of the dead are taboo objects, unclean and best left buried. And there are some Native groups who actually WANT their objects in museums. Not every object has a ritual context- sometimes a pot is just a pot. Even some ritual objects aren’t as spiritually important, and we’ve actually had people from different tribes come in and help rewrite language surrounding an object, or give instructions as to how it should be stored. Some groups really want us to display their cultural artifacts, because it reminds people that Native American cultures are alive and real. 

One thing that works really well in a lot of cases is co-curation, which is when we commission and work with Native artists, leaders, and scholars to reframe the way we display objects. Like, recently, we asked Chris Pappan, who’s a Kanza artist, to come in and draw on the displays from the ‘30s. The juxtaposition of his art with the colonialist view of Native Americans has had a huge impact in visitor impressions- people go to that gallery now to learn and see what’s ACTUALLY happening today with Native Americans. This I think is how these institutions can use their power for good- elevating creator voices and letting them present their own past and own history. The Field does that a lot- we’ve had exhibitions from Rhonda Holy Bear, Bunky Echo-Hawk, and are continuing to work with Native Americans from many tribes to redesign and reframe the objects on display. We’re not doing this for social justice points- we’re doing this because the Field Museum gets something like 1.5+million visitors a year, and we owe it to the Native tribes we stole from to a.) tell their story b.) how they want it. 

If you take all evidence of Native Americans out of the big natural history museums, you’re taking away representation- and education- and a lot of tribes actually don’t want that. What many groups want is the old colonial narratives to go away and be replaced with their own messaging and history. Native Americans are mythologized and what we did to them is sanitized in the US education system. I know that the person who responded is in Canada- and from what I hear, they’re even worse about destroying Native history and sanitizing what the colonists did (and continue to do) to them and their cultures. And this is where I think museums can actually HELP. People only care about things they’re familiar with. If the only image you have of a Native American is a racist football mascot, you’re not going to care about them as a culture- you’re not even going to see them as people. There’s a lot of white people who don’t believe in Native Americans. Like, they legit don’t think that there’s ANY Native groups left, and I know this because I’ve talked to these people at work. It’s baffling, how little Americans know about their own country’s behavior. And it’s totally a global problem- I could go on for days about what the British Museum Needs To Do With Those Fucking Marbles, Give Them Back You Cowards, You Have Enough Money To Ensure Their Care In Greece You’re Just Being Assholes- but I wanted to respond with a Native American context because of the person I’m replying to AND because… well, most Americans don’t know this, and they need to, because knowing about repatriation and why we do it is important. 

Repatriation is so very vital, but it’s even more vital to listen to the Native American groups and ask them what they want to happen- as well as treat each tribe individually. We don’t hold onto Tlingit remains because the Navajo don’t want their remains back. Treating all tribes as identical is wrong- not as wrong as withholding their precious cultural traditions, relics, and remains- but if we’re even going to (as a museum industry) attempt to apologize for the atrocities we’ve sanctioned, the first thing we gotta do is ask people what they want. 

And the next thing we gotta do is listen.

[flordefandom]

I’m starting to work in a Museum, and though my museum is about Natural Science something stuck le about all of this. The museum does not only exhibit but also safekeeps collections and in the introductory course we were given three keys to the basis of a museum: preservating, researching and exhibiting.

And one is worthless without the other. Our collections are meaningless if they aren’t available for investigation. It’s totally encouraged for scientists to come and use our collections. Granted, our collection mostly consists of dead animals, plants and fossils. And part of my own museum’s goal is orientated to reclaiming by mostly having our own collections as otherwise some of our best fossils are exhibited in museums in USA.

In our museum, all a scientists has to do is basically send an email to access the collection.

So what strikes me is that you point that one of the things to get better is “make the collections available to visiting scholars”. Is that not the case? Or is it specifically not available to scholars of color?

[kaijutegu]

It REALLY varies from museum to museum! Some museums it’s really easy to get in- but others, it’s SO. MUCH. RED. TAPE. I had mine in mind when I was writing that, because collections access takes absolutely forever.

[sass-is-my-x]

Anytime something is so precious that a culture wants it back but the museum wants it too, i bet you anything some artist would love the commission to duplicate it.

[kaijutegu]

And sometimes that works out amazing. 

The Field used to have this totem pole. There are many such poles in the museum, and others in museums around the world- but not all poles have the same significance- it depends on context. This pole, in particular, was a 26 foot tall pole that had been stolen from an “abandoned” Tlingit village- of course, the village wasn’t abandoned, and the people who lived there never consented to giving up their totem poles, and they rather wanted them back.

Anyways, the Field had one that was taken from the Cape Fox Tlingit back in 1899, and in 2001, we sent it home.

In 2002, the Cape Fox Tlingit gave the museum a log. A big one, a huge cedar log. They didn’t need to, but they did, and what the museum did with it was this:

A father-son team of Tlingit artisans- Nathan and Steven Jackson- were commissioned to design and create a new totem pole for the museum. They worked with the museum to create a totem pole that celebrated Tlingit traditions and the modern Tlingit people- a totem pole that combined ancient designs with modern ideas. It’s a gorgeous piece with an incredibly pertinent meaning- according to the Jacksons, the hybrid design illustrates the “refraction” or bending of traditional Tlingit culture that occurred during a turbulent history of cultural loss and recovery.

Which do you think tells you more about what it means to be Tlingit today?

[chadchadington-deactivated20240]

*Walks into museum*

“Hey I’m a Spanish Catholic I expect all 17 billion dollars worth of treasure currently on display in your exhibit. It did come from the wreck of the San José, so by keeping it here you are robbing me of my national and cultural heritage. It’s okay though, you can just get an artist to make reproductions of it all.”

[kaijutegu]

Ugh, I told myself I was done responding to this post, but lord help me, I’m back on other peoples’ bullshit. That’s entirely different and you know it, you’re just being obtuse on purpose. 

The Latin in your sidebar translates to (I think, it’s been a while since I took Latin) “Blessed are those who walk the law,” so let’s go over the legal context, because when you actually look into how “a shipwreck from a major military power in international waters” is different from “a (one) totem pole that was taken from people with living descendants (like, great-grandkids),” this little hypothetical holds about as strongly as the Spanish Armada after Queen Elizabeth the First was done with ‘em.

1. The treasure from the wreck of the San José is a modern find, not something that was taken… and also, it’s a shipwreck. While the treasure itself dates back to the colonial period, because it’s a shipwreck, it falls under international maritime law. 

2. According to the UN convention on maritime law, countries control twelve nautical miles out from their coastlines- and anything outside of that is international waters. Decent enough summary here:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/who-keeps-bounty-found-at-sea-1.839631 Warships, however, are considered property of the home state, again per the UN (specifically UNESCO)’s convention on sovereign immunity.

This is important for a couple of reasons. First, Spain is a member of the UN. Unlike Native Americans in the US and any laws regarding the collection fo their material culture and remains, Spain ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. (Also unlike the Native American nations in the US, Spain’s sovereignty isn’t in question, nor is Spain’s history or right to exist. Are other sovereign nations attempting to sanitize their past actions against the Spanish people and are using or have used museums in the past as an attempt to cover up what they did? I’ve never once had a museum guest tell me that Spanish people didn’t exist.) So according to a maritime law convention that Spain willingly entered into, a convention that wasn’t coerced, and a convention that’s benefited Spain, Spain has (at least) partial legal rights to the wreck…

that is, if it’s ever brought up. 

Which brings me to 3.)

The wreck of the San José is currently lying on the seabed off the coast of Columbia. Columbia and Spain have been talking about who gets what for a couple of years now: http://www.dw.com/en/who-will-get-the-san-jose-treasure/a-18903872

So, if that treasure ever gets brought up, what’s most likely based on just sheer practicality of maritime archaeology is that the stuff that’s too fragile to travel- bits of the hull, things that need on-site saltwater conservation, etc.- will stay in Columbia and the Spanish will get a bunch of their stuff back. After all, that’s happened before. That’s literally what Spain has done before- somebody’s found their wreck, it gets salvaged, Spain goes “we’d like those coins back,” legal battles happen… and then Spain gets their coins back. That’s a thing that happens. This thing that you’re describing as a potentially bad hypothetical that you don’t like? This thing happens! Spain gets to keep its gold when it gets dredged up if it wants it!

4. Spain doesn’t go into museums and ask for its stuff from shipwrecks back because it doesn’t need to. Thanks to years of court precedents and UN/UNESCO conventions, Spain’s got the process of “hey, you have our stuff, give it back” down.

From this BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44302476

“When a ship has been discovered, the country where the ship was registered can point to something called sovereign immunity (in addition to claims of ownership). This refers to a specific category of ships that are immune from legal proceedings by another state. Warships and other government ships operated for non-commercial purposes enjoy sovereign immunity… Under the sovereign immunity principle in 2009, a judge in the US ruled the court lacked jurisdiction over a case involving a treasure hunting company called Odyssey Marine Exploration and the wreck of the Spanish ship the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.The US company found 17 tonnes of coins off the coast of Gibraltar and transported them to the US. But the company was ordered to give back the haul - an estimated half a million coins and other artefacts - to the government of Spain. Odyssey said they found the wreck in international waters and claimed salvage rights. Spain said it had never relinquished ownership of the ship’s cargo and the coins were part of the country’s national heritage.“

Also, 5, and frankly the only reason I responded to this:

Comparing a Spanish treasure galleon to Native American items of spiritual significance is horrendously disrespectful and blatantly disregards the history surrounding Spanish and Catholic imperialism. Do you really think that to the Catholic church, gold coins and precious jewels have the same spiritual value as human remains, totem poles, and other objects of religious significance?

Don’t answer that, I’ve been to the Vatican. 

Oh, and the replicas? The museum commissioned that. The Tlingit didn’t say “oh, you can just make a replica.” It was part of an effort to build connections and community and an accurate depiction of a living culture- something that’s infinitely more valuable to a good educational institute than a carved log. 

Tl;dr? The San José stuff isn’t in a museum because it’s underwater. If it ever gets brought up, it’ll very likely go back to Spain due to international precedent and Spanish-Columbian diplomacy. Your argument is weaker than the Hapsburg bloodline and the situation isn’t even remotely comparable to actual repatriation attempts. What would be comparable is if the Peruvian and Argentinian government petitioned for the San José material because it was minted with the blood of their miners- but I’m not sure you’re quite on the academic footing to deal with that brutal history, considering you can’t even come up with a decent example of a potential counterargument.

[museumstudyblr]

Reboogging because super relevant and a wonderfully laid out explanation of how museums are working to heal the colonial wounds.

But damn. "Your argument is weaker than the Hapsburg bloodline."

Fuckin wrecked.

[fumarmola]

[bax16]

@offthebeatenpathtexas

[reluctantpaladin]

Wait for it…..

[nocturna7]

😍

[acurvywoman]

Ehhh ❤❤❤

[russalex]

Your babies have too many legs.

[transdim-taey]

@bettsplendens @gallusrostromegalus

broody mama!

[iphysnikephoros]

@karvinacorp

[museumstudyblr]

I wonder if dinosaurs god broody.

[wolfteethe]

People always ask if your trauma changed you but I was young, I don’t know who I was before my trauma. I don’t know who I would’ve been without it and I never will know.

[primarybufferpanel]

‘But you got over it, right?’

Look, it was the earth on which I grew for my most formative years, I don’t know that there’s any way to leave that behind you.

[museumstudyblr]

Hey I get angry at myself still sometimes for not being over it. There are neural pathways in my brain that have only been strengthened over the last 14 years that were formed because of what I learned in the process. That trauma is written in the shape of my brain.

[inlanguagewedontsay]

The Japanese word for “humans” [“人間 (ningen)”] looks and sounds so similar to the Portuguese word for “nobody, no one” [“ninguém”], and I know they’re completely not related languages, but I think it’s so philosophically deep.

Submitted by @pollinatorgator

[museumstudyblr]

"People" in Japanese is written "人々", with the character "人" meaning "person", and "々" being a symbol which means "repeat previous symbol." Of course "人" can be read phonetically two ways: "ひと", or "にん". And because of the way pronounciation works in Japanese I once read this word "にんじん", which is how you say "carrot", aloud in front of my Japanese instructor.

And I think that's philosophically hilarous.

[nonstop-study-blog]

It really bugs me how the sciences and humanities are pitted against each other, like you are expected to choose only one. I love chemistry but I also love history and writing, but the educational system isn’t set up to be holistic and that makes me sad

[museumstudyblr]

This is true, but there are some schools that don't think that way! Take a look at the History of Science and Technology program at University of King's College, Halifax, Canada.

I have a couple friends who did that program in tandem with hard sciences. One of them is now a pancreatic cancer researcher who is looking at pursuing a master's in the history of vaccinations. There are schools that will let you be interdisciplinary! And we need more people to think in interdisciinary terms!! It's terribly, terribly important to bridge those gaps, and you sound like you would be the perfect person for the job.

And chemistry plus history and writing sounds like the ideal conservator.

[nashscribblings]

House on the Rock Day

Soooo many pictures. Too many for the Twitters, so I’m dusting off the ol’ Tumblr.

In anticipation of next season’s American Gods, my girlfriend and I visited the House on the Rock. It’s a little hard to explain, but here’s the short version: an architect/engineer climbed up a rock and built Frank Lloyd Wright’s worst nightmare. It struck Neil Gaiman so deeply he included it as a critical location in American Gods, and it’ll be featured in season 2 of the Starz series.

So we went. Behold.

This was what greeted us when we pulled up: a ¾ full parking lot, and a big one at that. I was a little surprised; Gaiman’s descriptions of the place gave me a seedier, hole-in-the-wall vibe, but this looked like some mid-level theme park entrance. Hmm. 

We started the tour and ventured around … and I was starting to think we came to the wrong place. Sure, the statue in front was kind of iffy, and some of the rooms looked a little retro, maybe gauche … but not the mindfuck I had anticipated.

Then … then we came to the Infinity Room.

… um. Okay. Hey, there’s a glass floor at the midway point, what’s under ther–

What are those, bushes? Wait … treetops?

HOLY FUCK YOU BATMAN IT’S AN UNSUPPORTED ROOM HANGING OUT OVER A FUCKING CLIFF YOU GO JUMP UP AN ASSHOLE

(It also creaks and sways. I thought it was just an old house, not a FUCK YOU CLIFF OF DOOM.)

Once back on solid ground, we found a door.

After that, shit got … weird.

I call this the Impractical Rejected Weapons from Fallout 3 collection.

Including a literal HAND CANNON. What the what?

Um.

This is getting unsettling.

The pooping dog piggy bank’s eyes won’t stop following me.

Ooohhhkay … hey, look!  Another one of them doors!

I wonder what’s behind this–

… well, I would have never guessed “replica American Main Street inside a house.” You win this round.

“I wish I was BIG.”

And because why the hell not, he’s a goddamned carnival pipe organ.

Then we came to this sign.

What? Bullshit. Bullshit you have a whale in this house. I will *shit myself* if you have a whale in th–

OH FUCK YOU MATE.

NO FUCK YOU THAT IS A THREE STORY TALL WHALE.

THAT IS A THREE STORY TALL WHALE FIGHTING A GIANT SQUID IN YOUR HOUSE YOU HAVE TOO MANY DRUGS

YOU PUT A FUCKING MOTORBOAT IN ITS MOUTH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU

THIS DUDE GETS IT.

“I have seen some shit.”

And after the whale was just menagerie after menagerie of random audacious bullshit.

“Hello, I’ll be waiting in your closet tonight.”

“YOUR SILENCE GIVES CONSENT.”

Okay, this made me smile.

Fun fact: Burma Shave ads were the precursor to WTFIWWY.

Wait, where is that noise coming fro–

Oh yeah! There’s a HUGE assortment of these weird mechanical music machines assembled from real instruments, electronics, pneumatics, and madness.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Then we stumbled on the “Abominations in the Sight of God” section.

And at the very end … this. If you’ve read American Gods, you know *exactly* what this is. If you’re only watching the show, consider this spoilers for season 2.

Then we went outside, and there was a kitty.

I petted the kitty.

The end.

Bonus: Here is a machine that perfectly replicates the sound of Steve Martin falling down a flight of stairs.

[neil-gaiman]

Never doubt me again…?

[museumstudyblr]

I want to go? It is, in technical respects, a kind of museum, and I want to go.

[a-blazing-worldcomic]

A new page just went up on Tapastic!

Things are getting started now…

[museumstudyblr]

New page! 

[sixpenceee]

The following is St. Louis City Museum’s ten story slide. That’s somewhere I need to visit one day. 

For more posts visit sixpenceee

[jamwasp]

THIS PLACE IS FUCKING AWESOME AND THE TEN STORY SLIDE IS JUST A SMALL PART OF IT

THERE’S THE GIANT WHALE

THERE IS A VERY LARGE PENCIL

A SKATE PARK WITHOUT SKATES

A CIRCUS 

SHOE LACE FACTORY FOR ALL YOUR LACING NEEDS

A FERRIS WHEEL ON THE ROOF AND A PRAYING MANTIS AND A SCHOOL BUS

AWESOME CAVE SYSTEMS OF MYSTERY

MONSTROCITY

IT’S A WONDERLAND OF ART AND WHIMSY AND DANGER

I GOT STUCK IN AN UNDERGROUND TUNNEL THERE AND IT WAS AWESOME

[wallflowersperk]

WANT. TO. GO.

[tehnakki]

Every time I hear about this museum I want to go SO BAD! Maybe this is the summer to make it happen.

[copperbadge]

I’ve been there! It’s worth a specific trip to St. Louis. I’m dying to go back because their shoelaces (woven on a 150 year old shoelace weaving machine) are the most durable fucking laces in the world and they don’t sell them online.

The ten storey slide is BRUTAL, both the climb and the slide. There’s a candy store near the giant pencil which sells old retro candy and you can sit in a terrifying carnival room and eat a chick-o-stick.

There is a bar next to a marshmallow roasting pit next to a grownup-sized ball pit.

Prepare to spend the next day horizontal, however. After spending a day there with a friend my own age and a rambunctious five year old, I was bruised from hip to ankle and bleeding in a couple of places. (100% worth it.) 

THEY HAVE THE BIGGEST RIVER FISH I’VE EVER SEEN IN AN AQUARIUM.

[fuckingconversations]

I went last summer - 10/10 would recommend. Make sure you wear long pants, or bring knee pads. Don’t wear loose clothes. The entire building is a massive maze of floors interconnected by climbing tunnels and precarious-looking wire bridges.  A freakin’ airplane mounted 5-6 stories above the ground, and  you can only get there by shimmying up a wire tunnel.  

Sure, you could just walk up the stairs to get to the second floor, but there’s HOURS of climbing available to those who want to explore every nook and cranny. Pretty much all the big sculptures are hollow and multi-tiered. 

There are MANY AREAS that are only accessible if you’re willing to climb through tunnels in weird ways. Beautiful viewing spots to look out over the city or museum that you can’t reach unless you have the determination to find. 

PLUS it’s legit a museum, so you can check out sweet artwork and historic sculptures - they have a whole room dedicated to pinned insects, and another room for vintage electronics. 

There’s a ‘Cave System’ that you can climb through - complete with drippy spots and cool crystals, and little tight spaces that only children can wiggle into. 

A massive Ball Pit. 

THEY HAVE A HUMAN SIZED HAMSTER WHEEL AND EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO PLAY

[lostinhistory]

Road trip!

[allthecanadianpolitics]

ROM scientists name new dinosaur species after Ghostbusters villain

Resemblance to Zuul of the Ghostbusters could not be denied

Scientists from the Royal Ontario Museum have recently discovered the fossil of a 75-million-year-old species of armoured dinosaur, or ankylosaur, which was unusually well-preserved — and oddly familiar to movie buffs.

Meet Zuul crurivastator — destroyer of shins — whose discovery is being discussed in the Royal Society Open Science journal.

The name was inspired by the Ghostbusters villain Zuul, says Victoria Arbour, paleontologist and postdoctoral fellow at the ROM and University of Toronto.

“Me and my co-author David Evans were batting around ideas for what to name it, and I just half-jokingly said, ‘It looks like Zuul from Ghostbusters,’” she said. “Once we put that out there we couldn’t not name it that.”

Continue Reading.

[museumstudyblr]

And the ROM comes through with a slam dunk.

[ahsjdkflgl]

HEY FRIENDS!

So a lot of exciting things are gonna be happening to me this summer, including getting a rad new job, so I thought I’d kick it all off with a giveaway to say thanks to everyone for sticking with me through everything!

PRIZES:

There are two prize packages, which are nearly identical but slightly different!

Package A: Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 instant camera in avocado, a clear instant film photo frame, and a DPM sandalwood and honey scented candle.

Package B: Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 instant camera in blue, a clear instant film photo frame, and a DPM sea salt and lychee scented candle.

And, of course, both packages come with lovingly-written card from yours truly.

RULES:

Every like and reblog counts as an entry! How much you wanna spam your followers is on you.

You do not have to be following me to win, but I’d appreciate if you checked out my blog!

Winners will be drawn using a randomized number generator at midnight on May 10th, 2017. Winners will be contacted immediately after being drawn, and I will wait 24 hours for a response before drawing again.

You must be comfortable giving me your mailing address (which will remain totally private). 

I will ship internationally! I want everyone to be able to get a chance to win!

If you have any other questions, let me know! Otherwise, GOOD LUCK! And thank you again for everything!

[a-blazing-worldcomic]

Anya reference sheet. Though she be but little she is fierce. 

Anya has trained in multiple martial arts, including krav maga, aikido, and karate. And she uses them. 

You’d better damn well believe Anya LeBlanc would punch a Nazi. 

New page of A Blazing World goes up today! Check it out on Tapastic! 

https://tapastic.com/series/A-Blazing-World

[museumstudyblr]

What do you do with a master’s degree in museum studies? 

I don’t know. I got a job and lost it before I signed the contract because they eliminated the position. AFTER offering me the job. 

So I publish a comic online, I guess. And base its entire fictional world on the Age of Sail and European colonialism and its lasting negative effects on various ethnic and cultural communities. 

Museums have made me so much more aware of colonialism. 

[a-blazing-worldcomic]

Anya in the City (test)  Photoshop

I was playing around painting buildings a few months ago, and threw Anya in just for some practice with lighting conditions and fluid perspective, and because I was designing some clothing for her to wear. 

I used Prague as architectural reference. Anya is wearing a dress inspired by 18th century French fashions. While none of the characters wear totally period-accurate clothing, you will notice European fashion influences from about 1500-1900. 

I’m still working on the architecture and fashion for the look of the comic. I want to include elements from other cultures to show a mixing of ideas, but am still figuring out how best to work aesthetic elements in while remaining respectful of the real cultures they originate from - and demonstrating the harm of cultural appropriation. It’s a difficult problem to balance these aims.  Let’s see if I can manage it! 

As always, if anyone from indigenous communities, or who comes from a cultural history of colonialism with European powers, has any advice or opinions, I am very grateful to hear it. 

[museumstudyblr]

New “behind the scenes” post for A Blazing World! :)

[brydeswhale]

If you hypothetically want to cross the border from the USA into Canada, say around Manitoba

This weekend is going to be warmer than most. I mean, if you hypothetically wanted to cross, this would be the hypothetical weekend to hypothetically cross.

Also, you should, if this is your hypothetical plan(I’m sure no one is actually planning this. Just theorizing. It’s a fun thought exercise), hypothetically dress in layers. It’s still cold, after all.

Hypothetically, wool and down are the best materials to wear. Hypothetically, you should also have sturdy, warm boots. Ski pants help, too. Make sure your hypothetical journey include mitts and gloves. Scarves and hats, too, you want to expose as little skin to the elements as possible if the weather turns nasty, or if you get delayed and have to cross next week, or something.

Following this thought exercise, you should have a compass. Stay walking North.

Theoretically it might be best to keep walking, in this game, until you reach a road, then keep going until you reach a town or city. Give your imaginary city a name, like, say, Brandon, or Winnipeg!

Have fun rp-ing, dudes, and stay safe!

[brydeswhale]

Also, hypothetically, you might want to stay away from small towns right next to the border. Just for now.

Your characters lose health points for not taking the following:

-water

-food

You lose a life if you cross creeks and rivers at any point except bridges(of any kind) because if we’re going by this years weather, the ice might not be able to hold your weight.

You have to go back to the start if you cross in Saskatchewan, they have no legal aid for refugee seekers.

Happy larping!!

[geekzyllah]

@allthecanadianpolitics

[quasi-normalcy]

Speaking purely in terms of hypotheticals of course, if you’re planning on braving the snowy prairie, a pair of snowshoes or cross-country skis could make the journey far less arduous than it would be on foot, particularly if you, for whatever hypothetical reason, feel inclined to stay away from roads.

[sophrosynic]

Also, hypothetically speaking, if you’re considering snowshoes/skis, but you find yourself lacking the skill level required to use either implement, consider a really really good sturdy pair of boots as mentioned above. Preferably a pair that are higher than and snug around your ankles.

Hypothetically speaking, if you run across a hypothetical frozen lake or hypothetical frozen river, do take care not to set foot on the ice if at all possible and consider other alternate hypothetical routes, since you can’t be sure if the ice will be sturdy enough to take your weight.

Speaking of hypothetical ice, watch out for black ice and walk carefully. If you’re hypothetically not able to maybe get your hands on a hypothetical jacket, I think stuffing newspaper should be a somewhat okay alternative? ?? Or at least try to get some nice thermal underwear (long johns or something of the like) to prevent against the cold. All of this in the purely hypothetical sense of course, not because anyone would ACTUALLY do this.

[thequintessentialqueer]

hypothetically speaking, a good strategy once in canada would be to seek out a sanctuary city where you will be protected from prosecution for violating federal immigration laws, and will be able to access municipal services regardless of status. there are currently only four sanctuary cities in canada: toronto ontario, hamilton ontario, london ontario, and vancouver BC. several other cities are discussing proposals to become sanctuary cities, including montreal, ottawa, winnipeg, regina, and saskatoon.

in the hypothetical event that you happen to hypothetically cross the border and end up in a sanctuary city, you should keep in mind that regardless of the law, the police are not your friends, and cannot be trusted to follow these directives. police in hamilton and toronto have refused to confirm that they will adhere to sanctuary city laws, and may very well assist federal law enforcement with deportations. these police forces are also infamous for discriminatory carding practices and racist violence. stay safe…..hypothetically

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Newcomer centre in Winnipeg has no more room for border-crossing refugees

Welcome Place worried it will run out of resources if asylum-seekers keep pouring into Manitoba from U.S.

A Winnipeg centre that welcomes and houses newcomers is putting out a public call for help after getting another surge of asylum-seekers over the weekend.

Welcome Place, a temporary home for newcomers in Winnipeg, is full and has no more rooms for refugee claimants who may still be coming to the city Sunday.

21 asylum seekers crossed into Manitoba Saturday: reeve

22 refugees entered Manitoba near Emerson border over the weekend

Many Somalis in Minnesota ‘willing to take the risk’ to sneak into Canada

“That’s a big concern,” said Rita Chahal, the executive director of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council.

At least 21 asylum-seekers were caught by RCMP walking into Manitoba during the wee hours Saturday morning.

The surge is the latest in a trend of refugee claimants fleeing on foot to Manitoba from the United States. Chahal said she’s worried what will happen if more asylum seekers show up at Welcome Place.

“The numbers, if they keep growing, I don’t have the financial resources to hire more staff,” she said Sunday.

Chahal said the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council could use more donations or help from other agencies to find places for refugees to stay temporarily.

Continue Reading.

[museumstudyblr]

To anyone who has ever tried to tell me not to worry about or protest US politics because I'm Canadian, this, and fuck you.

I am worried because vulnerable people are risking life and limb (some have lost fingers to frostbite) to get out of the US and into Canada, because it is no longer safe for them there. And our welcome centres are full, and running out of supplies, trying to keep up with the number of people fleeing the US and the Republican administration's bigoted policies.

And if you're gonna start talking garbage about deporting these people, and risk to security, and financial burden, also fuck you. These are human beings scared for their lives.

[c-aesarion]

Pokemon go for archaeological sites. Stand in the agora and hold up your smartphone and BAM reconstructed temple in front of you.

[museumstudyblr]

I’m on it fam. 

But also: IT EXISTS! It predates Pokemon GO! There are all kinds of examples of AR and VR being implemented in museums and at cultural heritage sites! And I am working my little butt off trying to spread the word and develop more theoretical and practical basis for this technology to become more widespread! 

(No seriously I’m working on stuff like this.) 

More specifically I’m investigating and building the theory behind potentially turning landscapes into galleries through the use of smartphones. Not just “archaeological sites” but the actual landscape itself, which can be used to tell the stories of peoples whose existence has been expressed through non-physical or decomposable forms, or which has been systematically erased from the land. Because colonialism is full of monuments: buildings, statues, plaques, street names, street signs, airport names, architectural styles, and on and on, but indigenous histories - I know most about North American indigenous peoples but also in Australia and South America - are not embodied through the landscapes in the same way anymore because they’ve been paved over, dismantled, and systematically erased. So Imagine, not the agora, but entire First Nations villages. The myths and legends which are so closely tied to the land being enacted or told or shared by the culturally appointed storyteller or keeper. The history of the landscape, not just of its buildings: what came before? How has it changed? 

WE CAN RESURRECT DEAD CITIES, ghost places, places which have been dead for centuries, can be resurrected through the use of your smart phone. The whole idea of place can be altered by the use of AR and VR. We can collapse time, invent new places, and create synthetic landscapes. (By synthetic I mean they synthesize the real and the digital planes, not that they are made of polyester or some crap)

Not only that! Because these hypothetical “galleries” are virtual and don’t require physical production of signage, or objects, you can install multiple galleries in the same space!! So that means multiple perspectives being told, multiple stories, which do not have to be thematically tied in any way, unlike stories told in traditional brick-and-mortar galleries!! AND you can take stuff home with you and read it again later, reference it, and share it with other people. My dude. Pokemon GO was just the BEGINNING of what we can do with this technology! I started thinking about this stuff last year in my museum studies courses, and started production on my master’s project (an app), and then Pokemon GO came out and I was SO JAZZED. 

SO JAZZED.