What's the point of museums? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC

Learning English. I’m Neil.

And I’m Beth.

London has many tourist attractions, from

Big Ben to Buckingham Palace. Would it

surprise you to hear that many tourists’

top destination is actually a museum?

The British Museum contains thousands

of important artefacts – objects of special

historical interest, including ancient

Egyptian mummies, an Aztec serpent,

and the Rosetta Stone. In fact, London

has museums on every subject,

from trains to fashion.

But recently many museums have been

criticised for stealing ancient treasures

during imperial times – the age of the

British empire. Many argue that these

treasures, such as the famous Parthenon

marbles and Benin bronzes, should be

returned. In this programme, we’ll discuss

the controversial role of museums in

the 21st century, and as usual, we’ll be

learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first, I have a question for you, Beth.

Another of London’s most visited museums,

The Natural History Museum, features a

grand entrance hall which, for decades,

contained an impressive life-size model of

a dinosaur. But what was this iconic

dinosaur’s name? Was it:

a) Dippy the Diplodocus?

b) Terry the Terradactyl? or,

c) Tyrone the Tyrannosaurus?

Ah, I think the answer is Dippy the Diplodocus.

OK, Beth. I’ll reveal the answer later in the

programme. Anthropologist, Professor

Adam Kuper, has written a new book,

The Museum of Other People, which

discusses the idea that many museum

artefacts were stolen and should be

given back. Here he speaks to

BBC Radio 4 programme, Thinking Allowed,

about two sides of the debate: one which

saw European culture as superior,

and another which didn’t.

These are the two great ideologies of the

imperial age. One is that all societies begin

from a very rough base… We're all…our

ancestors were hunter-gatherers at one

stage, and then they go through the stage

of farming, industry… all  this while they're getting

smarter and smarter, their brains are

getting bigger and bigger, and they’re

moving from primitive magic to

sophisticated religion, then maybe on

to science. So, it's onwards and upwards.

And that's the imperial idea… and we're

going to help these other poor

benighted people up the ladder with us.

And opposed to this there's this other

19 century ideology which says, ‘no, this

is an imperialist myth. We have our

own culture. There are no better or

worse cultures, there are just national cultures’.

Imperialists believed that mankind

progressed through stages, starting as

hunter-gatherers – people who lived

before the invention of farming, and

survived by hunting and collecting food

in the wild. According to this view, white

European culture was best because it

was the most advanced, so it was their

duty to help local cultures up the ladder,

meaning to advance or make progress.

Adam Kuper uses the phrase, onwards

and upwards to describe a situation where things

are improving, becoming better and better.

Of course, things didn’t get better for

everyone, especially the people whose land

and possessions were stolen. An opposing

view argued that each culture is unique

and should be valued and protected.

The legacy of colonialism is now being

publicly debated, but the question of

returning stolen artefacts remains complex.

Firstly, since many of these treasures

are hundreds of years old, to whom should

they be returned? What’s more, the

history behind these objects is complicated.

In the case of the Benin bronzes, for example,

questions can be asked about the actions

of local leaders, as well as

the European powers.

So how can museums display their

artefacts to reflect this complex history.

Here’s Professor Kuper sharing his

ideas with BBC Radio 4’s, Thinking Allowed.

I want to see a lot more temporary

exhibitions and the kinds of exhibitions

that I would be interested in are not about

one particular tradition, but about the

relationships between different

cultural traditions. Everything is

interconnected. Of course, these

connections are sometimes violent,

sometimes oppressive, sometimes

very difficult, sometimes very painful.

But things are changing.

An exhibition is a display showing a

collection of artefacts. Adam Kuper wants

exhibitions to tell truthful stories by

showing the relationships between

cultures, and how events are

interconnected – connected or related

to each other. And these stories must

include all cultures, going back

almost to the dinosaurs.

And speaking of dinosaurs, Neil, it’s time

for you to reveal the answer to your

question: what was the name of the

famous dinosaur which greeted visitors

to London’s Natural History Museum?

I said it was Dippy the Diplodocus.

Which was the correct answer!

The 26-metre-long dinosaur was displayed

from 1905 until 2017 when it was

replaced by the skeleton of a female blue whale

promisingly named, Hope. OK, let’s recap

the vocabulary we’ve learned starting

with artefact – an object

of historical significance.

Hunter-gatherers were people who lived

by hunting and collecting wild food

rather than farming.

If someone moves up the ladder, they

advance or make progress.

The phrase onwards and upwards describes

a situation where things are

getting better and better.

An exhibition is a display of

artefacts in a museum or

paintings in an art gallery.

And finally, the adjective interconnected

describes separate things which are

connected or related to each other.

Once again, our time is up. Join us again

soon for more trending topics.

Goodbye, everyone!

Bye!