1.5 Creating a List of Speakers and Moderators (Pt. 2)
Once it was determined that our response to the project brief would take shape as a symposium-style event, it was crucial that we began researching individuals who would be suitable speakers and moderators for the event. Having consulted with Malcolm MacCallum, one of the curators of the Anatomical Museum, he shared with us the work currently being done between the museum and The Sudanese Community in Edinburgh, which was led by researcher Zaki El-Salahi. As a group, we were eager for Zaki to take part in our event, and organised a meeting with him at the start of Semester 2. At the meeting we learned about the work Zaki was currently undertaking, which centred primarily on active justice work regarding the two Sudanese skulls currently residing within the collection. Following on from this meeting and having secured Zaki’s presence at the event, we reached out to Nicole Anderson. Nicole is a current PhD student researching the provenance of the indigenous first nation’s people represented in the collection.
In order to create a well-rounded event, we needed to secure two additional speakers who could approach the collection from a scientific viewpoint and from a museological one. We reached out to Dr. Tobias Houlton from The University of Dundee, who is a lecturer in forensic art and craniofacial identification. After meeting online in January, Tobias expressed great interest in participating in our event, and even had experience in using the Skull Collection for his own teachings in anthropological facial reconstruction. As a group, we struggled to identify a suitable fourth speaker who could approach the collection from a museological perspective. This was a crucial aspect of the event, as we needed to address the part of our project brief which required us to engage seriously with decolonial thought and struggle within the museum setting. Dr. Lizzie Swarbrick, a career fellow at the University who graciously dedicated her time to assisting the group throughout the year, suggested Dr. Marenka Thompson-Odlum as our fourth and final speaker.
Marenka currently works at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, and is involved with the Labelling Matters Project, which seeks to address the outdated and derogatory texts accompanying many of the museum’s displays. Understandably, she had a very busy schedule and we only had the chance to meet once before the event. Originally planning to deliver her presentation in person, the change in our event date meant that Marenka had to share a pre-recorded talk and could no longer attend on the day. Nonetheless, her presentation was incredibly thought-provoking and assessed some of the labels currently on display within the Anatomical Museum.
Speaker and moderator biographies as seen on the event-day hand out for Face to Face.
The final piece of the puzzle was ensuring we had two moderators on the day who could help facilitate conversation, keep time of the presentations and to read out live-questions from our audience. Gaia Duberti, a current PhD student working with the collection and also an alumni of our MScR programme was extremly helpful the entire year in providing us with accurate information regarding the Skull Collection, and was for us a perfect fit as moderator. Our second choice was our programme director, Dr. Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani. Maryam’s research focusses on the postcolonial histories of Black-British art in Britain and beyond. Together, our 6 speakers and moderators perfectly embodied the work that is currently being undertaken within institutional museums in order to promote greater respect, justice and dignity for those within its collections.
