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REISERAPPORT
A Useful Conference Participation ICOMs generalkonferanse i Wien august 2007 I am very thankful for the generous gesture of ICME and ICOM- Norway of the 750 euros and 5000 Kroner from ICME and ICOM-Norway respectively. The grants enabled me to travel to the conference and participate in the deliberations of the conference. I arrived on the 19th of August in time to participate in the welcoming ceremony and left on the 23rd of August after having participated in the presentation of papers and the elections. The Conference The conference was very educative and a worthwhile trip as it was an eye opener to various achievements, challenges and indeed solutions in the museum professional world. Particularly the special workshop on Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights was very educative as the issues raised were very practical and matters of real concern to the national museums of Zambia. Copyright and intellectual property rights are concerns that museums in Zambia have not yet started addressing and yet the general populace is discussing and questioning these matters. The papers on visual anthropology by Zvjezdana Antos and Cyber Museology by Leif Pareli on the Sami case were also educative on my part considering that Livingstone Museum is just venturing into the new technologies ICT were we have more questions than answers. Antos’ paper was of particular interest to me personally because in my department an audio-visual section has just been created and I am in charge of that. Film material and sound recordings have become part of the Livingstone Museum collection and visual anthropological research has found its place in the department. Learning from what others are doing else where can be of help to a new section like ours. I was also happy to present a paper and share the experiences of Livingstone Museum with other participants. Museums in Zambia have a long history of colonial thought and presentation, which is not very appealing to the locals and to us, as museum professionals in the postcolonial era when the “other” is “us”. This brings out the challenges of presentation/ self presentation which can be a difficult line to take. ICME’s arranged visits were also educative. The visit to the ethnographic collections of the Mechitarist congregation was very educative especially to us participants from Zambia were private collection is not yet very common. Another visit, which was of interest, was the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Benin collection exhibition. The huge and rich collection of this exhibition gave us a glimpse of the debate that is going on in the world on the repatriation of foreign heritage to their places of origin. I was also honoured to be elected Secretary of ICME. This gives me a chance to work at an international level with people from various backgrounds and experiences and for a cause that am so passionately involved in - ethnography. ICME and ICOM-Norway Grants The grant offered by ICME was a good gesture for ICME members, especially from developing countries like Zambia were members find it difficult to secure funding to attend important meetings such as ICOM Conferences and Assemblies. The National museums Board of Zambia has no financial capacity to fund such activities nor does the regional ICOM- Zambia committee. It was therefore very difficult to find additional funding within my country to enable me attend the conference. Therefore, ICOM-Norway’s offer of the additional grant of 5000 Kroner enabled me to travel. However, the money exchange (from euro to US dollar, to Zambian Kwacha and back to euro again) meant a loss of some money, but still my stay was managable. I would like to take this opportunity to thank ICME and ICOM-Norway for contributing to my trip, which was worthwhile. I also want to thank Mr. Per Rekdal for taking his time to do all the logistics and planning for my travel and stay in Vienna. |
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