Material Knowledge in Crisis? Ceri ASHLEY

Material Knowledge in Crisis?

Ceri ASHLEY
Head, Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, The British Museum

Introduction : Olivier Gosselain, Nicolas Nikis

In this seminar, I will discuss the work of the Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, which was launched in 2018, and based at the British Museum. Intended to provide grants globally to researchers, communities and specialist knowledge holders, the programme supports work on the documentation of contemporary material knowledge systems that are in danger of being lost or disappearing. Defining material knowledge as "understanding of the resources, skills, technologies and social values necessary to create and maintain the material world around us", EMKP has over the last 5 years supported 82 projects in 44 countries, on topics as varied as brazil nut orchards in Brazil to Chinese umbrella making. All successful projects document the material practices digitally, with these records being published to an open access repository hosted by the British Museum. In this seminar I will reflect on the last 5 years of EMKP and its vision and methodology. This is an opportunity to ask fundamental questions - what is material knowledge? Why is it relevant? (is it relevant)? Is the material world really in crisis? How can practice be captured in digital records? How can we balance the rights of knowledge holders with the demands of open access?