Prof Fanie Vermaak, Heidi Celliers, Dr Matjila, Prof N Saule, Mr Christo Rabie, Ms Nell-Marie de Klerk, Prof MJ Mafela, Ms Africa Matshayana (front left) & Mr Reuben Phasha (front right) |
International Museum Day celebrations were held at the African Languages Literary Information Museum on Tuesday 18 May 2010 to highlight the role of museums in the integration of societies.
While welcoming guests, Prof MJ Mafela, Deputy CoD of the Department of African Languages, said it was a special day for the Department of African Languages because “the celebration of Museum Day coincides with the revival of the African Languages Literary Information Museum”. He then posed a question for the audience: “Is the African Languages Literary Information Museum a museum for social harmony?” He suggested that social harmony encompasses harmony between cultures of different social classes.
Dr Matjila, Director for the Centre for PAN African Languages and Cultural Development, said that the museum was started in 1999 in the Department of Languages as a collection of documents and the aim was to establish a resource centre for research. He also said the artefacts of the museum are literary or the “imaginative and creative writings in African languages of Southern Africa.” Dr Matjila added that the principal function of the museum is to collect material evidence pertaining to South African literature in African languages.
Ms Nell-Marie de Klerk gave a brief overview of the importance of the course in Cultural Policy and Management 7070X for those interested in working in museums. Mr Christo Rabie, from the Pretoria Cultural History Museum, then gave a presentation entitled “Museums for social harmony”, which highlighted the role of museums in bringing people together. He stressed a need for highly knowledgeable tour guides to enhance the education process in the museums. “Your tour guides must be informative and well trained to have all the information.” He added that after three to four years, tour guides become specialists in providing information during museum walks.
He stressed the need for museums to communicate information that shows the past, present and possibly the future. “We need to put context to all items in the museum so that people can begin to understand where we come from,” he said. “Traditional initiation goes back a long way and if people began to understand it, they will accept and embrace it,” he said. “If we want to live in harmony we must know about other people’s cultures.” He concluded by saying that people need solid ground under their feet in this changing world and museums will provide that.
Prof Fanie Vermaak, a lecturer in the Department of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, then gave a presentation on the role played by museums in the reconciliation after the war in Beirut. He said that during the war, the National Museum in Beirut became a hiding place for people in that area. Some people who worked at the museum saw the need to protect the museum, “They built concrete walls around the art work inside the library and the artwork was protected,” he said. After the end of the war, people from both sides joined forces and rebuilt the museum.
Two poets, Mr Reuben Phasha and Ms Africa Matshayana, then recited poems. |
