Aboriginal Possessions In The Virtual Museum

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Critical Response Essay Museums collect and display various materials to show the way of life of particular communities. The Aboriginal housing possessions within virtual museums educate people about their culture, and explain how decolonization assimilated them into modern society. This forms the basis of Julia Emberley’s article entitled “(un)Housing Aboriginal Possessions in the Virtual Museum: Cultural Practices and Decolonization in civilization.ca and Reservation X.” Emberley examined an analysis of houses and housing practices based on two virtual museum displays related to Aboriginal culture. Emberley’s article sheds light on how museums use artifacts to depict different communities. In reality, museum

As opposed to unearthing the truths about the skills possessed by the native communities, organizations that put on these shows tend to commercialize these civilizations for their own ends. According to the author, most museums tell teleological stories that progress from periods of barbarity to the modern era (Emberley 388). In addition, museum exhibits tend to approach these subjects with a colonial mindset, bringing along the notions of hierarchical politics and practices associated with mainstream Western society. In the case presented in the article, the analyst of the artifacts depicted the indigenous kinship families in a way that reflected the views and beliefs of non-indigenous people rather than those of the Aboriginals. For example, Aboriginals have kinship societies with a division of labor based on gender lines. For the colonialists, on the other hand, the father is always head of the family and serves as a model of proper governance. Ultimately, such exhibits subtly imply that primitivism—a primary characteristic of the Aboriginal—is a threat to civility that the colonist should

One description of an Aboriginal house from the museum website mentioned in the article presents a structure with big windows overlooking the parliament building (Emberley 393). This portrayal is not factual, and the parliament building just symbolizes the colonial administration. However, animals, humans, and supernatural beings created in primordial times imbue the native literature, art songs, and other cultural materials, but exhibits often fail to include these beliefs in their displays. At best, the exhibit mentioned in the article presents the actual state Aboriginal culture after it was destroyed by colonists for being viewed as