Knowing What Is Important: Rethinking collections with Maasai cultural leaders
In January 2020 a group of Maasai activists and cultural spiritual leaders from Kenya and Tanzania were hosted in Cambridge by the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) during a two-week visit to museums in Oxford and London. The encounter between Maasai men and women and their ancestral artefacts was emotional for visitors and museum staff alike, but from pain…
Uncovering LGBTQ+ history at the Sedgwick Museum
Being able to ‘look things up on the computer’ is something that all of us rather take for granted. Even in a Museum where the size and scope of the collections is such that full digitisation is a daunting task, it is still hard to think back to being entirely reliant on drawers of catalogue cards and hand-written indexes. As…
Bridging Binaries in the Animal Kingdom
There is so much to be gained from looking at the animal kingdom at large from a queer perspective. Not only does it throw our own behaviours into sharp relief but also shows up the shortcomings of our human obsession with categories and identity says The Museum of Zoology Bridging Binaries volunteer, Kate. The best bit for the LGBTQ+ community…
