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the identity of this nameless Oxford don — selectively quoted and accused of “activism” by Tristram Hunt in an op-ed seeking to fuel the fake ‘culture war’ framing in the national press today — is a total mystery
public schoolboys have been accusing me of "activism" all my working life
the real activists here are directors attacking the ethos of beloved institutions like the V&A
and those working to evolve museum ethics for the 21st century? we're museum professionals doing our job
the real activists here are directors attacking the ethos of beloved institutions like the V&A
and those working to evolve museum ethics for the 21st century? we're museum professionals doing our job
in my experience "activist" — when used by posh British men to try to dismiss the arguments of their professional colleagues or peers — is a classist code for the desperate slur "not of the right background"
when I started working in "world culture" museums I was so shocked by how many UK curators (and directors) had close family connections to colonial administrators, as fathers or grandfathers — my father, his father and his father before him meanwhile were Durham coal-miners
for anyone looking for a Guardian op-ed about the fake "culture wars" written by a white forty-something cis-male — but one whose grandfather was *definitely* never High Commissioner of Uganda — you're in luck >> https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/15/the-uk-government-is-trying-to-draw-museums-into-a-fake-culture-war
it's a particular kind of "identity politics" when someone leading such a rich and powerful cultural institution doesn't have the decency to give the name of the colleague and peer whom he is (after a quick google of their book) selectively quoting https://twitter.com/profdanhicks/status/1386224343538077700?s=20
