Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

I. THE EXHIBITION
you describe them, what you claim
them—how
how they fit in the world and how you
about
when referring to objects coming
Especially
material cultures you are not familiar
from
you should be respectful of the
with,
traditions they are embedded
knowledge
and the limitations of your own
in
One of the prompts (14) even
understanding.
“Does some knowledge belong only to
asks
communities of knowers?” When
particular
objects, consider what is your role
selecting
intention in having this object represented.
and
the story of the Ma-taatua Wharenui, a
Let
Maori meeting house (figure 12.6),
carved
as a lesson. In the 1870s, it was
serve
and packed onto a steamship
disassembled
from what is now known as New
travelling
to the British Empire Exhibition in
Zealand
trains across multiple destinations
and
the Empire, and was even trimmed to
in
inside museum buildings. It would be
fit
100years before this meeting house
another
returned home. On its first stop
ultimately
Sydney, the Ma-taatua was reassembled
in
the intricate carvings facing the outside,
with
full view of the visitors, but also in full
in
of Maori protocol. By way of this
disregard
the Mataatua went from being
transformation,
culturally significant gathering site to being
a
ethnological curiosity for strange people
“an
look at the wrong way and in the wrong
to
(Te Runanga o Ngati Awa 1990). Don’t
place”
like the British Empire. In the exhibition the
be
to represent objects is inseparable
opportunity
the responsibility to do it well and
from
accurately.
terms: Mataatua Visitor
Search
History
Centre
12
explain their relationship to the prompt.
Sydney. The Ma-taatua was hauled on ships
Mataatua Wharenui in Sydney 1879. Notice how the entire structure has been reassembled so that the interior carvings are now
Figure 12.6
on the exterior.
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