Hey guys, I just want to raise awareness for the work being done by one of the coolest people I know, my cousin Morgan (aka The Reptile Goth). She’s a university biology student and research scientist who loves snakes, ecology, extravagant goth Looks™, and educating the public about science.
On her YouTube channel she makes videos about conservation news, weird & wild animal facts, and even a whole series on basic biology concepts for beginners.
This girl is a total badass who is pouring her heart into her dream of being a science communicator in spite ofsometimesextremely limiting circumstances as a working-class, self-supporting student in a global pandemic. She deserves every opportunity to grow her skills while sharing her enthusiasm for science, and I would love it if you’d check out her videos (any engagement helps!), give her some feedback and encouragement, or even consider joining her shiny new Patreon.
The worst trick a childhood anxiety disorder pulls is, you spend your early years being applauded for being so much more mature than your peers, because you aren’t disruptive, you don’t want any kind of attention, you don’t express yourself, you keep yourself to yourself - this makes you a pleasure to have in class, etc etc - and you start to believe it’s virtue. But you’re actually way behind your peers in normal social development, and who knows if you can ever catch up.
Incels and other sexist men can’t see a woman doing something incredible without fuming and trying to discredit her. They’re now dissing on Katie Bouman, who helped write one of the algorithms that got us the black hole picture, saying she was just an assistant (they don’t know what assistant professor is), and using Andrew Chael, her colleague in the Event Horizon Telescope team who helped write one of the codes, as ~the true person behind the codes who is being erased by this anti-men society~ or whatever. They’re even saying crap like “lmao women really don’t do shit”. Andrew took to Twitter himself to call bullshit on that.
If y'all can spread this thread to counter such narrative it’d be great.
bitch if you think african dictators wouldn't wipe their asses with any returned ancient artefact or sell it to the Chinese and keep the money for themselves, you're out of your mind. colonial theft was a terrible thing, but giving those objects back would ensure they're destroyed and lost forever. many Western museums fund the training of archaeologists in Africa and elsewhere - that's the only reparation that makes sense.
Wow, my first anon hate! This means I’m starting to make it big, right?
So many racist assumptions here I don’t know where to begin. Let’s list them, shall we?
Colonialism is over
All of Africa is a war zone
Western-taught academia is necessary for archeology
Non-Western countries are incapable of being responsible
Non-Western countries are only interested in money and have no desire to connect with their heritage
Only the Chinese buy black market artifacts
I think I got most of them? Feel free to point out any additional racism I missed.
Now, the only reason I am not just ignoring this is because this does bring up complex, important issues that many people genuinely do not have a complete knowledge or understanding of. I did not want to get too in-depth when I made my original post, but I have decided that at this point I do not care how lengthy this ends up being. So I am going to address those issues right here and now. Namely, the belief that Western countries should hold onto objects for the sake of preserving them and how it is thinly veiled racism.
To begin, I would recommend watching Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk, The Dangers Of A Single Story. It’s making big waves in the academic community as it clearly articulates to a general audience how our views of the wider world are shaped by narratives we are told, rather than the lived realities people experience.
You imply that the entire continent of Africa is ruled by corruption. Firstly, it’s not. Here’s a few pictures of modern day Africa:
They look like real hives of scum and villainy, the lot of them.
These people have a stable government. Artifacts would be just as safe here as anywhere else.
It’s true that not all regions of Africa have political stability. But those issues are the legacy of colonialism. People in Africa (and other parts of the world) had stable societies for thousands of years before Europeans came along and destroyed any semblance of Native political structure. And yes, while societies rose and fell, and artifacts didn’t always survive, it was only 75 years ago when WWII almost caused the complete collapse of European society. Plenty of incredibly important artifacts were lost because of it, yet for some reason I don’t see anyone arguing that Western museums aren’t “safe” enough for artifacts.
Here’s a comparison: Let’s say you have a priceless family heirloom, passed down for generations. It has important cultural significance, and you could sell it for a high price to private collectors (which, according to our current laws, you would be within your right to do so). You keep it, not only because it’s valuable, but because it has a special meaning to you. Now imagine someone broke into your house and stole that heirloom and put it in a museum. You know exactly the person who stole it, and you have ample evidence of how they violated your rights. So you go the court and present your evidence and ask if you could have your heirloom back. But now the court says that no, you can’t have it back, because clearly you weren’t responsible enough to prevent it from being stolen in the first place. Plus, the court argues that it’s an important piece of art and shouldn’t be hidden away in your house. Maybe, just maybe, if you build a fancy glass case for it and allow people to come see it they will give it back. But you don’t have the money to build the case because when they broke into your house they stole all your money too. You can’t even go see your family heirloom in the museum; the entrance fee is too high. And funny enough, you might have considered donating that heirloom to the museum eventually. If the museum had waited, and asked politely, and offered to let you help tell your family’s story with that heirloom, all parties might have been happy. But I’m willing to bet that now you’re not really feeling in a charitable mood.
The point of all this is, and I can’t emphasize this enough, Western museums do not have the right to dictate what other cultures do with their artifacts. We lost that right when we took them by force.
Sometimes an Indigenous community will be the bigger person. They’ll say hey, we don’t have the resources right now to preserve our history in the way we want to, since you took all economic power from us as well. Please keep our artifacts safe until we’re able to. Sometimes, they decide to build bridges and give a museum a selection of artifacts they want to be displayed. But whether or not they do this is entirely up to them.
Have any other arguments? Feel free to bring them up. I’d love to discuss them with you. Try to be less defensive, it’ll help your case. And this time, try not to use anon. I can’t really take you seriously this way.
x-ryssa-x
In a perfect world, we could just say “Because it’s not yours!”.
The idea that everything in a museum is in the public domain and must be preserved at all costs is the biggest colonial lie of all. The world won’t end if these items can no longer be viewed by the (predominantly white) public; even the museums won’t end.
Generations ago a totem pole of the Haisla people (their traditional territory is just west of where I live) was stolen and displayed in a Swedish museum. Haisla leaders tried for decades to get the pole returned, and in 2006 they succeeded. The totem pole was returned to its people, marked by ceremony and celebration.
It was displayed for several years, until the decision was made to return pole to the earth. It now lays on the ground in a graveyard, slowly disintegrating as so many totem poles have before it.
In response to this, many (mostly non-Haisla, predominantly white) people proceeded to throw a shit fit. But the important thing to remember is that they don’t have a say, because that totem pole doesn’t belong to them. So what if they let it decay in the woods? So what if they want to sell it? It’s theirs, they can do what they want with it!
Claiming that you can’t return an item to the people who rightfully own it because they might do something you disapprove of with it is just another insidious colonial way of robbing Indigenous peoples of their agency. Basically you’re saying that entire communities are not ‘mature’ or ‘capable’ enough to be trusted with things they made in the first place, which is bullshit.
Theft does not make you the rightful guardian of the things you steal. Give people back their shit. Stop acting like you get to unilaterally decide that the value you put on something overrides the value the people it rightfully belongs to put on it.
P.S. my usual ‘go google it’ policy for sourcing applies to this. If you’re really interested in the topic you’ll look for more info anyway, and if you just want to argue I’m not doing your work for you when it only takes you 30 seconds to look it up.
To the people in the comments saying that “calling African countries corrupt isn’t racist if it’s true, parts of Africa are bad”: Yes. Parts of Africa are bad. I said as much in the post. But you are judging an entire continent based on the worst parts of it. It’s the height of entitlement to claim that you have the right to control what people create because the political system it comes from is corrupt. Heck, if we use that logic, museums in the US shouldn’t be allowed to have anything either.
The only thing I’ll add to this is that I think saying “we lost that right when we took them by force” is inaccurate because we (as westerners/outsiders) never had a right or have a right to cultural artifacts or how culture’s use their own items.
This is a nice, accessible summary of the issues though.
I’m really glad you mentioned this - I only noticed it myself after reading my own post for the tenth time, and by then it was too late to edit. I’m always looking to improve and learn, so thank you for pointing it out.
Revised statement: Western museums do not have the right to dictate what other cultures do with their artifacts. Full stop.
So I am attending a conference with my lab and presenting a poster. This is my first conference ever... ugh sorry if this is a weird question but what do you wear? We are just undergrads but like what do we expect to happen?
Hello! Aahhh congrats on getting this amazing opportunity to attend and present a poster! As an undergrad!!!!! Super impressive. You’re goin places anon, I just know it.
Depending on the size of the conference, there may be a gajillion talks and workshops and events happening at the same time, and you’ll have to pick and choose which ones you want to go to. I recommend downloading the conference app (if available) to help plan your day. Or you can check the schedule online, or in person at the conference when you get your programs at check-in.
Some talks are in a series (grouped together by topic). Feel free to move around in between talks; you definitely do not need to stay for the entire series if something else across the hall interests you. You’ll notice many people moving to and fro. Just try to do it after the current speaker is finished to cause minimal disturbance.
Regarding check-in, you’ll get a badge that you’ll have to wear while at the conference site (it’ll be your ticket in and out); and maybe a nice conference bag to hold your stuff. I recommend finding someone who’s been to this specific conference before and asking them what the quality of the bag is, because not having to bring your own backpack/messenger bag can be a plus!
Some conferences can have 10 hour days, but you definitely do not need to stay the entire 10 hours. In fact, if the conference is being held in a different city, take at least one afternoon off to explore!!
Conference goers can get WILD in the evenings. I literally know some PIs who spend almost every evening smashed out of their minds. So prepare to see lots of well-dressed attendees at the nearby bars lol. You definitely don’t need to participate of course (especially if you legally can’t drink yet). My favorite way to spend an evening is alone in my hotel room watching HGTV and going to bed by 10.
Oh, but going off the whole alcohol thing.. many of the conference events (like networking sessions) may have free alcohol (and food). I’m not endorsing anything, but just a head’s up! (Like if you prefer not to be near alcohol).
Take some time to visit the vendors and get free swag!!! This is sometimes my favorite part lol.
Know the rules of your poster presentation, such as when to have your poster up, how long to stand there, when to take it down, etc. I’ve also never been to a conference where push-pins weren’t provided, so you may not need to pack those. But I always do, just in case (I put them in a small plastic container; 50 ml tubes from the lab work great!)
I love book nerd vs. Marie Kondo crap because she thinks that it’s silly to just keep books because you want to impress hypothetical people who might possible come into your house and notice what a smart person you are to own smart person books that you didn’t even like.. And there are people who are forced to confront how much that is their entire personality.
It’s the mid-90s, and you work in a Blockbuster Video. The soundtrack of your shift is that month’s trailer tape, which contains approximately one hour of trailers for whatever new releases are out that month. You will listen to this tape again and again for the entire month. One month, embedded in between Die Hard 3 and Mall Rats, there is this:
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