PERSPECTIVES MATTER
ESSAY
Perspectives Matter Practices of exclusion are not always overt or conscious; they are sometimes implicit and embedded in the structures of our everyday language and may arise simply because we take our own perspective for granted.
Simone Zeefuik is a writer and organizer whose work centers on representation and inclusion.
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BY
Simone Zeefuik and Wayne Modest Whether insidious or innocent, conscious or “unintended,” acts of exclusion achieve similar ends: they challenge the idea that certain people belong to a given group or society. Practices of exclusion are not always overt or conscious; they are sometimes implicit and embedded in the structures of our everyday language, for example, and they may arise simply because we take our own perspective for granted. Museums too enact such exclusionary practices, not only in whom they employ or attract through their doors but also in their use of language. Indeed, many museums still claim that they present objective, scientific or neutral histories, an assertion that is often belied by the assumptions conveyed by their texts, both in exhibitions and in educational and marketing products. Dividing lines are drawn when using words such as “we” and “they,” “our” and “their,” “here” and “there,” all of which define who is regarded as one of “us” and who is one of “them.” Unfortunately, the use of exclusionary language is common in many situations. Think about what might be presumed when a stranger is asked, “Where are you from?” What presumptions are made explicit in a statement like “Go back to your own country”? These statements are so often repeated that “we” have come to think of them as normal or innocent.
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