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!