Power, power, power

I never really gave much though to how power plays out in the world around me. People have always told me it does, and I believed them but as I start actually reading and researching for my papers this year it has really become clear just how pervasive it is in places that are traditionally regarded as institutions of 'truth'.

I am writing two papers at the moment, one on the South African archives after apartheid and the other on the place of the 'other' in museums (specifically looking at the ROM's exhibit Into the Heart of Africa) and I keep finding examples of how power plays out in practical ways.

The first one made me aware of the idea of archival authorship, which questions the notion that archives simply hold the past, in its true form. Instead, this paper has begun to show me how people and institutions actually construct our knowledge of the past. They can direct information into the archive, (and by the same authority, prevent other records from entering the archive). It makes me question how this knowledge was selected, and makes me wonder what else was prevented from becoming knowledge.

The other paper is still in its formative stages, but what is interesting to me is how this exhibit, in talking about the experience of colonialism in Africa, is not even really about the African experience. The exhibit is actually about the missionaries and soldiers who were in Africa and imperialist ideology. Interesting then that the exhibit was showcased as a "historical journey through sub-Saharan Africa". The problem with this is that the museum is in a position of authority but doesn't offer any counter-narrative against the ideology so it almost seems like they are endorsing it (which I don't think they were).

I am still percolating my ideas in my brain, but I will see what I find when my papers are finished.