Papers by Tom Jeffery
Journal of Critical Realism, 2022
Museum practice remains rooted in its historical ontology of nature-culture dualism. This article... more Museum practice remains rooted in its historical ontology of nature-culture dualism. This article moves beyond this dualism by combining Bhaskar’s dialectical MELD schema with cultural historical activity theory. It therefore provides an iterative, practical pathway towards a new, ecological-decolonial mode of museology that potentially disrupts normalized practice and generates new possibilities for museums to offer people agency. A situated turn for museum practice is thus envisioned, with a focus on people as complex social-ecological entities. Specifically, this involves a dialectical relationship between peoples’ stories, or intangible heritage, and the core museum activity of collecting.
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Museum and Society, 2021
New forms of museum practice that explore the dynamics of social and ecological processes as inte... more New forms of museum practice that explore the dynamics of social and ecological processes as interlinked systems are increasingly urgent. Critical realist philosophy is used to consider the emergence of tensions between museological processes of decolonization and ecologization, and potentials for their resolution into a new form of practice, which is conceptualized as eco-decolonial. The analysis is focused on South African museums, but is contextualized within international theory and practice. An exploration of the ontology of museum work surfaces a core tension in that trends towards a relational and emancipatory practice are paradoxically embedded within neoliberal ideology. Neoliberalism depends on and perpetuates the problematic human-nature dualism of the colonial era, and constrains the development of progressive social-ecological forms of museum practice. The analysis explores potentials for the resolution of this tension, in a contribution towards the transformation of the philosophical and theoretical frameworks of museum practice.
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Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 2021
South African museums face multivalent, simultaneous crises. The MELD dialectical framework of cr... more South African museums face multivalent, simultaneous crises. The MELD dialectical framework of critical realist philosophy can be used to explore potential for a deep reimagining of museum theory and practice that may generate a new, relational mode better able than persistent dualist modes to respond to complex, emergent crises. This has been conceived by the author (Jeffery, 2021) as an ecological-decolonial, or eco-decolonial, mode of museology, and is further developed in the present analysis. At 1M, the MELD analysis surfaces the implicit neoliberal ontology of South African museum work and the emergent paradox of 'emancipatory neoliberalism'. This paradox is generative of a number of constraints on practice and agency, including commodification of heritage, a restrictive form of official memory, and quantitative management practice. These limit potential for museums to respond to complex crises that require relational capabilities. 2E explores the potential negation of these constraints. To disrupt the principle of collection as the grounding ontological activity of museum practice may disrupt the implicit neoliberal ontology. This may contribute to emergent, sophisticated socialecological trends in museum practice, both in South Africa and internationally. At 3L, a dialectical view on the concept of cultural landscape offers a relational frame for an eco-decolonial museum practice that may better respond to the crises faced by museums. The practical implications of the eco-decolonial approach are considered at 4D.
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Samantics, 2022
This is a popular article that brings together social and ecological justice in a new way of thin... more This is a popular article that brings together social and ecological justice in a new way of thinking about museums and of going about museum practice: the ecological-decolonial, or eco-decolonial. We live in a time of global social-ecological crisis which will increasingly impact on every aspect of human life. For the decolonisation of museums and museum practice to be effective, decolonisation must be contextualised, adapted to, and carried out within this broader crisis context. The eco-decolonial is a mode of museum philosophy, theory and practice with specific capacities to enable museums to decolonise in this time of social-ecological crisis.
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South African Museums Association Bulletin, 2019
To ensure its contemporary relevance, the need for the redefinition of "The Museum" is widely ack... more To ensure its contemporary relevance, the need for the redefinition of "The Museum" is widely acknowledged, and drives the present redefinition process called for by the International Council of Museums. This paper explores potential contributions from the conceptualisation of cultural landscape in the 2016 ICOM-SA / ICOMOS-SA 'Declaration on Cultural Landscape', for the context of a decolonial South African museology in a time of social-ecological crisis. The analysis is influenced by Fiona Cameron's conception of a post-humanist museum practice (2015) that potentially disrupts traditional, dualist museological ontologies. The discussion looks towards potential contributions to the relevance and social sustainability of South African museums, to the understanding of museums' relationships with their physical surroundings, and to museums' agentive capacity in interactions with communities. The conception of Cultural Landscape may contribute fresh perspectives to museums' social, ecological and political sustainability, and help integrate these concerns into a relational framework of ideas and role players that may underpin an emergent museum practice suited to the entangled decolonial and ecological contexts. This may enable Cultural Landscape to contribute towards a revitalisation of museological theory and practice for the South African context.
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South African Museums Association Bulletin, 2017
This paper addresses the question of why South Africa’s cultural museums and the South African Mu... more This paper addresses the question of why South Africa’s cultural museums and the South African Museums Association (SAMA) should take action on climate change. What is the relevance of climate change to the future of cultural museums and to SAMA? A literature survey of research on the predicted impacts of climate change on South Africa demonstrates its sociocultural effects. Museological work is considered in support of the argument that museums are social institutions with social responsibility at the core of their mission. These premises motivate the argument that cultural museums have a responsibility to engage with the impacts of climate change in their public programmes and that to do so is crucial to the social sustainability of museums in the medium to long term. The article considers why climate change has so little presence in the work of South Africa’s museums, and concludes that this is due to what Pendlebury calls the “authorised heritage discourse”. This paper contends that the development of an ecological model of heritage practice is an appropriate means through which to adapt the authorised heritage discourse to encompass climate change work. To do so is concomitant with the present socially-oriented goals of the heritage sector, and is in fact crucial to the success of the sector’s transformation project. The broad character of such a model to be developed in future work is outlined in the final part of the article, drawing on the ecocritical work that has been done in cultural studies and on the concept of cultural landscapes.
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The aim of this book is to explore novelistic representations, by white writers in English, of ac... more The aim of this book is to explore novelistic representations, by white writers in English, of acts of social unrest during the period 1906-1956. As such, it is not concerned with examining history per se, but rather with the imaginative treatment of historical events in the novels of this ...
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... William Shakespeare: The Tempest. New York: Norton, 2004. Kauer, U. “European Images of Afric... more ... William Shakespeare: The Tempest. New York: Norton, 2004. Kauer, U. “European Images of Africa from H Rider Haggard to David Lambkin.” Current Writing 12.2 (2000): 85-95. Lambkin, D. Night Jasmine Man. Johannesburg: Penguin, 2002. Mebane, JS. ...
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Laura Chrisman is the author of Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory: A Reader, published ... more Laura Chrisman is the author of Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory: A Reader, published in 1993, and described as the first anthology of postcolonial cultural studies to appear in print. This latest volume builds upon her earlier work and consists of Chrisman's ...
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English Studies in Africa, 2012
This article discusses the recent transformation of the way in which the National English Literar... more This article discusses the recent transformation of the way in which the National English Literary Museum (NELM) uses its exhibition space, in the context of the development of the museum's new permanent exhibition, This is what I'm made of: Landscape in South African Literature. The article starts with a discussion of the reasons why there was a need for redevelopment of the exhibition space, specifically in terms of the difficulties of exhibiting intangible heritage and the museum's social context. The discussion moves on to consider the motivation for the choice of the theme of landscape in South African literature, outlining the ways in which this choice enabled and broadened the museum's visitor engagement strategy. The second half of the article discusses the activities undertaken in the refurbishment and development process, and particularly describes two community engagement initiatives through which the museum involved the Grahamstown community in the development of the exhibition.
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Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00138398 2012 682468, Jun 19, 2012
This article discusses the recent transformation of the way in which the National English Literar... more This article discusses the recent transformation of the way in which the National English Literary Museum (NELM) uses its exhibition space, in the context of the development of the museum's new permanent exhibition, This is what I'm made of: Landscape in South African Literature. The article starts with a discussion of the reasons why there was a need for redevelopment of the exhibition space, specifically in terms of the difficulties of exhibiting intangible heritage and the museum's social context. The discussion moves on to consider the motivation for the choice of the theme of landscape in South African literature, outlining the ways in which this choice enabled and broadened the museum's visitor engagement strategy. The second half of the article discusses the activities undertaken in the refurbishment and development process, and particularly describes two community engagement initiatives through which the museum involved the Grahamstown community in the development of the exhibition.
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Thesis Chapters by Tom Jeffery
This study introduces dialectical critical realism into museology as a philosophical underlaboure... more This study introduces dialectical critical realism into museology as a philosophical underlabourer for the development of new theoretical potentials for the transformation of museum practice. The idea of the museum is in a moment of fluidity evident in emergent decolonial and ecological perspectives and in the International Council of Museum’s process of redefinition of the museum. The potential to reimagine the museum lacks a coherent philosophical and theoretical foundation. The persistence of museological dualism separates the social from the ecological and absents the emergence of relational modes of thinking and practice. This study conceives an ecological-decolonial or eco-decolonial mode of museology that is disruptive of dualism and generative of relationality, and is thus generative of agency for deeper, more effective and enduring social-ecological justice.
The core of this thesis is the development of the eco-decolonial mode of museology through the DCR onto-axiological chain or ‘MELD’ schema. At 1M a depth ontological analysis augmented by interviews with key informants establishes a dialectic of society and ecology in the museological context. 1M surfaces capitalism and the implicit neoliberal ontology of museology as deep causal mechanisms of the 2E persistence of museological human-nature dualism. The paradox of ‘emancipatory neoliberalism’ is a policy-practice contradiction that absents potentials for transformation of the museum and that is held in place by the grounding ontological activity of museology, collection.
The 2E perspective on absences enables the emergence of new transformative pathways towards the 3L vision of the eco-decolonial mode of museology as a (4D) new way of thinking and working to resolve neoliberal restrictions. The fundamental 4D change envisioned for museum philosophy, theory and practice is an ontological transformation from traditionalist human-nature dualism to a progressive human-nature dialectic. A case study considers instances where museum workers exercised the agency to expand practice in this way.
Future work using the expansive learning methodology of Change Laboratories will develop and implement the potentials generated by the onto-axiological chain for the eco-decolonial mode to bring real change to traditional, dualist museum practice, in order to ensure the relevance and the agency of the museum as a social structure in and for a changing world.
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Conference Presentations by Tom Jeffery
Amazwi 'Literature, Heritage, Ecology' Conference, 2022
We live in a time of global social-ecological crisis which increasingly impacts on every aspect o... more We live in a time of global social-ecological crisis which increasingly impacts on every aspect of life in South Africa and the world. It is clear that social justice is closely entangled with ecological justice, and that new forms of museum thought and practice that explore the dynamics of social and ecological processes as interlinked systems are increasingly urgent. It is argued that the decolonisation of museums and museum practice can be more nuanced and impactful if decolonisation is framed and carried out within this broader crisis context. The eco-decolonial is conceived by the author as a mode of museological philosophy, theory and practice that has specific capacities to enable museums to decolonise in a time of social-ecological crisis. This paper overviews the value that an eco-decolonial mode of museology potentially offers museums in relation to their relevance to society and their impact on people's lives.
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Papers by Tom Jeffery
Thesis Chapters by Tom Jeffery
The core of this thesis is the development of the eco-decolonial mode of museology through the DCR onto-axiological chain or ‘MELD’ schema. At 1M a depth ontological analysis augmented by interviews with key informants establishes a dialectic of society and ecology in the museological context. 1M surfaces capitalism and the implicit neoliberal ontology of museology as deep causal mechanisms of the 2E persistence of museological human-nature dualism. The paradox of ‘emancipatory neoliberalism’ is a policy-practice contradiction that absents potentials for transformation of the museum and that is held in place by the grounding ontological activity of museology, collection.
The 2E perspective on absences enables the emergence of new transformative pathways towards the 3L vision of the eco-decolonial mode of museology as a (4D) new way of thinking and working to resolve neoliberal restrictions. The fundamental 4D change envisioned for museum philosophy, theory and practice is an ontological transformation from traditionalist human-nature dualism to a progressive human-nature dialectic. A case study considers instances where museum workers exercised the agency to expand practice in this way.
Future work using the expansive learning methodology of Change Laboratories will develop and implement the potentials generated by the onto-axiological chain for the eco-decolonial mode to bring real change to traditional, dualist museum practice, in order to ensure the relevance and the agency of the museum as a social structure in and for a changing world.
Conference Presentations by Tom Jeffery
The core of this thesis is the development of the eco-decolonial mode of museology through the DCR onto-axiological chain or ‘MELD’ schema. At 1M a depth ontological analysis augmented by interviews with key informants establishes a dialectic of society and ecology in the museological context. 1M surfaces capitalism and the implicit neoliberal ontology of museology as deep causal mechanisms of the 2E persistence of museological human-nature dualism. The paradox of ‘emancipatory neoliberalism’ is a policy-practice contradiction that absents potentials for transformation of the museum and that is held in place by the grounding ontological activity of museology, collection.
The 2E perspective on absences enables the emergence of new transformative pathways towards the 3L vision of the eco-decolonial mode of museology as a (4D) new way of thinking and working to resolve neoliberal restrictions. The fundamental 4D change envisioned for museum philosophy, theory and practice is an ontological transformation from traditionalist human-nature dualism to a progressive human-nature dialectic. A case study considers instances where museum workers exercised the agency to expand practice in this way.
Future work using the expansive learning methodology of Change Laboratories will develop and implement the potentials generated by the onto-axiological chain for the eco-decolonial mode to bring real change to traditional, dualist museum practice, in order to ensure the relevance and the agency of the museum as a social structure in and for a changing world.