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

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