Rural life museum tackles idea that green spaces are too white

THE Museum of English Rural Life is to tackle the “whiteness of the countryside” in a new project.

Curators at the museum, dedicated to the history of England’s countryside, have launched a £100,000 scheme to dispel the perception that rural Britain is a “white, heteronormative” place.

The project will aim to increase the representation of ethnic minorities and “LGBTQ+ rural people” in displays about life in the country.

The museum, managed by the University of Reading, receives Arts Council England funding for its artefact collection, including ploughs, tractors, and Women’s Institute handicraft.

A report submitted to an all-party parliamentary group suggested the British countryside is a “racist colonial” white space, with green spaces governed by “white British cultural values”.

Tim Jerrome, collection researcher, wrote on the museum’s website: “It is easy to fall into the trap of viewing the countryside as a white, heteronormative and able-bodied place.” He added in a blog post explaining the new project: “The whiteness of the countryside is heavily tied to traditional romanticisation of farming and rurality, with assumptions that the same families of farmers have owned and worked the same land for decades or even centuries.” The blog claims that this perception “ties people of colour to towns”, along with LGBTQIA+ people who are “pigeonholed as being ubiquitously urban in residence”.

The museum will work with “groups who have been historically underrepresented in the countryside” to “redress the balance” of representation, and create more diverse content and displays about rural Britain. Mr Jerrome explained: “Our ultimate aim is to give people from historically marginalised communities a platform to add their chapter to the story of English rural life, in whatever form that may take.”

The Further Afield project will be supported by a £99,000 grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the Museums Associations, and will work with groups focused on increasing ethnic minority access to the countryside, and the LGBTQ+ staff network of the Forestry Commission.

The project will also address the lives of disabled people in rural areas, who face “significant barriers”.

The Museum of English Rural Life was founded by experts from the Department of Agriculture in 1951, and in 2022 secured £304,499 in annual funding from the Arts Council to support its work telling the story of farming and country life.

The focus comes after charity umbrella group Wildlife and Countryside Link, whose members include the RSPCA, WWF and the National Trust, claimed that the British countryside is a “racist colonial” white environment.

‘This perception ties people of colour to towns, along with LGBTQIA+ people are pigeonholed’