Cambridge to ‘explain’ white plaster casts
Anti-racism strategy to address colour of material used to make replicas of ancient marble sculptures
Cambridge University’s archaeology museum is to add signs to explain the “whiteness” of sculpture plaster casts as part of the Classics faculty’s anti-racist strategy. Plaster casts of Roman and Greek sculptures on display at the Museum of Classical Archeology and in lecture rooms give a “misleading impression” of the “absence of diversity” of the ancient world, the Classics faculty has said. It has faced a backlash from dons after it said it would install the signs later this year.
‘The idea that this has been approved by the faculty is as terrifying as it is comical’
CAMBRIDGE’S archaeology museum is to add signs to explain the “whiteness” of sculpture plaster casts as part of the classics faculty’s anti-racist strategy.
Plaster casts of Roman and Greek sculptures on display at the Museum of Classical Archeology as well as around lecture rooms give a “misleading impression” of the “absence of diversity” of the ancient world.
The classics faculty has said it will “turn the problem into an opportunity” by drawing attention to the diversity of those figured in the casts, to the ways in which colour has been lost and can be restored, and to the “role of classical sculpture in the history of racism”. The new information panels are due to go on display later this year.
Ancient statues, and therefore the plaster casts, are predominantly white because white marble was the main material sculptors had access to.
But the plans have prompted a backlash among dons who say the move is “unhinged” and “extraordinary”. One academic told The Daily Telegraph: “The idea that this has been approved by the faculty is as terrifying as it is comical. It is so easy to laugh at this but in laughing it is easy to overlook how extraordinary it is that one of the finest humanities departments in the Western world is putting this stuff out with an official institutional stamp.”
Another academic pointed out that since the museum’s 600 plaster casts of Roman and Greek statues are largely depictions of Romans and Greeks, the opportunities to highlight their diversity would be limited. Academics in the faculty are understood to be aghast at the proposals published last month as part of an “action plan” to combat accusations of racism.
The plan was drawn up in response to an open letter written last summer to the chair of the classics faculty board which called for “public acknowledgement of the problems of racism within classics and the need for active anti-racist work within our discipline”. The letter, signed by dozens of students, alumni and some staff members, made a series of demands including “an acknowledgement of the existence of systemic racism within classics”.
From the start of this academic year, dons will be encouraged to include “content warnings” in material on courses and lecturers will be encouraged to include these before lectures.
From October, new training will be rolled out to classics tutors in how to discuss sensitive topics and a review will be launched into all language used in course titles and materials.
All new and existing courses will be reviewed to ensure there is sufficient “diversity” on reading lists and bibliographies.
The action plan also contains a pledge to work on promoting awareness of “harassment and micro-aggressions and how to combat them” by running a series of “race awareness” sessions.
All classics faculty members should be given “implicit bias training” every three years and this should be monitored through the appraisal process, the document adds.
The action plan notes that engagement with the “problematic past and present of classics” has been insufficient, in particular its relationship to “imperialism, colonialism and entrenched racism”.
Dr Arif Ahmed, a fellow at Gonville and Caius and lecturer in philosophy, said the “only criteria” for putting something on a reading list should be its academic merit. “I have a general concern that actually there is a threat of diluting the academic interest and value of an issue because of current political trends,” he said. “Universities don’t exist for any political purpose, even a laudable one like anti-racism.”