The main aim of the booklet was to encourage the sensitive analysis of objects from unfamiliar cultural settings. It was partly developed to support the loan and use of cultural artefacts which were being loaned in capsule collections by the Centre for Multicultural Education. We had noticed that very often these loan boxes instead of encouraging a positive and well-informed dialogue, they were being treated like
curiosities, of little significance.
The framework aims to take the viewer through a directed dialogue/interrogation of the object, the maker and the culture from which it originated. A list of considerations and questions take the viewer through a directed 'dialogue' with the object, the maker and the culture from which it originated.
The diagrams on pages 3 and 4 (shown below) look at the overlaps and disparities in the cultural, linguistic, technological and aesthetic considerations which shape an object through the maker and which in turn filter the viewer's perceptions.
The booklet was developed in my role as Advisory Teacher for Curriculum Development, in Leicester. The book was co-written with Alison James from the Leicester Museum service and Roger Wheeler, a primary Headteacher who was seconded to the Centre for Multicultural Education.
The full publication can be found here: https://www.academia.edu/36082967/Evaluating_Artefacts_Complete.pdf
Though curricula and methodologies have undergone substantial changes, the aims of this resource and its content remain current. I welcome feedback from readers.
