Representation matters. Authentic representations of women matter. I think that too often, our public representations of women are enveloped in the language of the extraordinary. The first American woman to become a self-made millionaire: Madam C. J. Walker ... The dresses of the first ladies of the United States ... Shirley Chisholm, the first woman to seek the US Democratic party's presidential nomination --
呈現很重要。 女性的真實呈現很重要。 我認為,我們的女性公眾呈現 太常使用非凡的表意方式來包裝。 第一位白手起家成為 百萬富翁的美國女性: 沃克夫人…… 美國第一夫人的服飾…… 雪莉西斯霍姆,第一位尋求美國 民主黨總統候選人提名的女性——
(Applause)
(掌聲)
As a museum curator, I understand why these stories are so seductive. Exceptional women are inspiring and aspirational. But those stories are limiting. By definition, being extraordinary is nonrepresentative. It's atypical. Those stories do not create a broad base for incorporating women's history, and they don't reflect our daily realities. If we can collectively apply that radical notion that women are people, it becomes easier to show women as people are: familiar, diverse, present. In everyone's everyday throughout history, women exist positively -- not as a matter of interpretation, but as a matter of fact. And beyond a more accurate representation of human life, including women considers the quotidian experiences of the almost 3.8 billion people identified as female on this planet.
身為博物館策展人, 我能了解這些故事為何如此誘人。 出色的女性能夠鼓舞、激勵人心。 但那些故事很有限。 就定義來說,非凡的意思 就是沒有代表性。 不是典型的。 那些故事無法成為 女性歷史的廣大基礎, 無法反映出我們日常的現實。 如果我們大家都能採納 「女性是人」的基礎概念, 就會比較容易展現出 這些身為人的女性 是常見的、多樣的、當前的。 在整個歷史上, 在每個人的日常生活中, 女性都以正面的方式存在—— 這並不是詮釋,而是事實。 將女性納入,除了讓人類生活有 更正確的呈現之外, 也是考量了地球上 近 38 億女性的每日經驗。
In this now notorious museum scene from the "Black Panther" movie, a white curator erroneously explains an artifact to Michael B. Jordan's character seen here, an artifact from his own culture. This fictional scene caused real debates in our museum communities about who is shaping the narratives and the bias that those narratives hold. Museums are actually rated one of the most trustworthy sources of information in the United States, and with hundreds of millions of visitors from all over the world, we should tell accurate histories, but we don't. There is a movement from within museums themselves to help combat this bias. The simple acknowledgment that museums are not neutral. Museums are didactic. Through the display of art and artifacts, we can incite creativity and foster inclusion, but we are guilty of historical misrepresentation. Our male-centered histories have left our herstories hidden. And there are hard truths about being a woman, especially a woman of color in this industry, that prevents us from centering inclusive examples of women's lives. Museum leadership: predominantly white and male, despite women comprising some 60 percent of museum staffs. Pipelines to leadership for women are bleak -- bleakest for women of color. And the presence of women does not in and of itself guarantee an increase in women's public representation.
《黑豹》電影中這個博物館的 橋段現在惡名昭彰, 一位白人策展人向畫面中 麥可 B. 喬丹的角色 錯誤地解釋一項文物, 這項文物來自他自己的文化。 這個虛構的橋段在我們的 博物館圈內引發了真實的辯論, 爭論是誰形塑了那些說法 以及說法背後的偏見。 在美國,博物館被評為 最值得信賴的資訊來源之一, 有數十億來自世界各地的人造訪, 我們應該要訴說出正確的歷史, 但我們卻沒有。 在博物館自己內部有一項運動, 就是在協助對抗這種偏見。 坦率承認博物館並不中立。 博物館是在說教。 透過藝術和文物的展示, 我們能夠激發創意,培養包容, 但歷史的錯誤呈現, 確實是我們的過錯。 我們的歷史以男性為中心, 讓女性的故事被隱藏起來。 女性有一些難以理解的事實, 特別是這個行業中有色人種的女性, 這使我們無法將女性生活的 包容性例子集中在一起。 博物館領導職位: 明顯都是白種男性, 儘管博物館員工 有 60% 左右是女性。 女性通往領導職位的 管道十分嚴峻—— 且對有色人種女性是最嚴峻的。 單單有女性存在,並不能表示 女性的公眾呈現會增加。
Not all women are gender equity allies. In the words of feminist theorist bell hooks, "Patriarchy has no gender." Women can support the system of patriarchy just as men can support the fight for gender equity. And we often downplay the importance of intersectionality. Marian Anderson was one of the most celebrated voices of the 20th century, and the Smithsonian collected her 1939 outfit. After the white Daughters of the American Revolution denied her access to sing in Constitution Hall, because she was black, she famously sang instead on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, to a crowd of over 75,000 people.
並非所有女性都是 性別平等的盟友。 女性主義理論家 貝爾霍克斯就說過: 「父權制沒有性別。」 女性可以支持父權制度, 就如同男性可以支持 性別平等的奮鬥。 且我們通常低估了交織的重要性。 瑪麗安安德森是二十世紀 最被讚揚的歌手之一, 而史密森尼收藏了 她 1939 年的服裝。 因為她是黑人, 白人的美國革命女兒會 否決了她在憲政大廳演唱的申請, 之後造成了她在林肯紀念堂 階梯上演唱的著名事件, 當時的觀眾有七萬五千人以上。
And in libraries all over, including museums, you can still find the groundbreaking 1982 anthology, entitled "All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave."
在各地的圖書館,包括博物館, 你仍然可以找到開創性的 1982 年選集,名為 《所有的女性都是白人, 所有的黑人都是男性, 但我們有些人則是勇敢的》
Demands for the increase of women's representation does not automatically include Afro-Latinas like me ... or immigrant women, or Asian women, or Native women, or trans women, or undocumented women, or women over 65, or girls -- the list can go on and on and on.
希望增加女性呈現的要求 並不會自動包含 像我這樣的拉丁裔黑人…… 或是移民女性,或亞洲女性, 或原住民女性, 或變性女性, 或無正式文件的女性, 或 65 歲以上的女性,或女孩—— 我還可以繼續不斷列下去。
So what do we do? Targeted initiatives have helped incorporate perspectives that should have always been included. I arrived at the Smithsonian through a Latino curatorial initiative whose hiring of Latinx curators, mostly women, by the way, has raised the profile for Latinx narratives across our institution. And it served as a model for our much larger Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, which seeks to amplify diverse representations of women in every possible way, so that women show up, not only in the imagery of our contemporary realities, but in our historical representations, because we've always been here. Right now though, in 2018, I can still walk into professional spaces and be the only -- the only person under 40, the only black person, the only black woman, the only Latina, sometimes, the only woman.
所以我們要做什麼? 有針對性的計畫已經協助納入了 過去本來就應該要被納入的觀點。 我透過拉丁策展計畫到了史密森尼 (美國國立自然史博物館), 他們要僱用拉丁美洲策展人, 順便一提,大多是女性, 他們這麼做,讓整個機構中的 拉丁美洲呈現形式受到更多關注。 它是個模範, 供後來更大型的史密森尼 美國女性歷史計畫做參考, 該計畫的目的是要 用各種可能的方式 來擴大女性呈現的多樣性, 這麼一來,女性就不只會 出現在我們當代現實的意象中, 也會在我們歷史的呈現中, 因為我們一直都在這裡。 不過,現在,2018 年, 我仍然會走進專業的空間中, 然後發現我是唯一一個—— 不到四十歲,唯一的黑人女性, 唯一的拉丁美洲裔, 有時還是唯一的女性。
My mother is African-American and my father is Afro-Panamanian. I am so proudly and inextricably both. As an Afro-Latina, I'm one of millions. As an Afro-Latina curator, I'm one of very few. And bringing my whole self into the professional realm can feel like an act of bravery, and I'll admit to you that I was not always up for that challenge, whether from fear of rejection or self-preservation. In meetings, I would only speak up when I had a fully developed comment to share. No audible brainstorming or riffing off of colleagues. For a long time, I denied myself the joy of wearing my beloved hoop earrings or nameplate necklace to work, thinking that they were too loud or unscholarly or unprofessional.
我母親是非裔美國人, 我父親是巴拿馬黑人。 我無可避免有這兩邊的 血統,而我很驕傲。 我只是數百萬名拉丁裔黑人之一。 我卻是非常少數的 拉丁裔黑人策展人之一。 把我整個自己帶到 這個專業領域中, 感覺像是個很勇敢的舉動, 我向各位承認,我並非 一直都準備好面對那個挑戰, 不論是怕被拒絕的恐懼 或自衛的本能。 在會議上,我只有在我的意見 很完善的時候才敢發言分享。 同事間沒有能聽見的 腦力激盪或是辯論。 有很長的時間, 我都不容許我自己 享受戴著我最愛的 環形耳環或名牌項鍊 去工作的喜悅, 認為它們太炫耀了, 或不像學者,或不夠專業。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I wondered how people would react to my natural hair, or if they viewed me as more acceptable or less authentic when I straightened it. And anyone who has felt outside of mainstream representations understands that there are basic elements just of our everyday being that can make other people uncomfortable. But because I am passionate about the everyday representation of women as we are, I stopped presenting an inauthentic representation of myself or my work. And I have been tested. This is me pointing at my hoop earring in my office --
我不知道大家對我天然的 頭髮會有什麼反應, 或者,若我把頭髮弄直, 他們會比較接受我 或覺得我不夠真實。 任何覺得自己 在主流呈現之外的人, 都能了解光是我們 日常生活中的一些基本元素 就可能造成其他人不舒服。 但因為我對於女性真實 日常生活的呈現抱持著熱情, 我停止不再為我自己 或我的工作做不真實的呈現。 我受到了考驗。 我是我在我的辦公室中, 指著我的環形耳環——
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Just last month, I was invited to keynote a Latino Heritage Month event. The week of the presentation, the organization expressed concerns. They called my slides "activist," and they meant that negatively.
上個月,我被邀請到 拉美裔傳統月的活動做主題演講。 在演說的那一週, 該組織表示有些憂心。 他們認為我的投影片很「激進」, 他們是指負面的意思。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Two days before the presentation, they requested that I not show a two-minute video affirming natural hair, because "it may create a barrier to the learning process for some of the participants."
在演說的前兩天, 他們要求我不要播出一段關於 肯定天然頭髮的兩分鐘影片, 原因是「它可能會對一些參與者的 學習過程造成阻礙。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
That poem, "Hair," was written and performed by Elizabeth Acevedo, a Dominican-American 2018 National Book Award winner, and it appeared in an award-winning Smithsonian exhibit that I curated. I canceled the talk, explaining to them that their censorship of me and my work made me uncomfortable.
那首詩《頭髮》,由伊莉莎白 阿斯維多撰寫和表演, 她是多明尼哥裔的美國人, 2018 年美國國家圖書獎得主, 它出現在我所策劃 且得獎的一項史密森尼展覽中。 我取消了那場演說,向他們解釋, 他們針對我和我的作品 所做的審查讓我感到不舒服。
(Applause and cheers)
(掌聲和歡呼)
Respectability politics and idealized femininity influence how we display women and which women we choose to display. And that display has skewed toward successful and extraordinary and reputable and desirable, which maintains the systemic exclusion and marginalization of the everyday, the regular, the underrepresented and usually, the nonwhite. As a museum curator, I am empowered to change that narrative. I research, collect and interpret objects and images of significance. Celia Cruz, the queen of Salsa --
體面政治和理想化的女性氣質 會影響我們如何展示出女性, 及我們選擇要展示哪些女性。 且那種展示會偏向成功、非凡、 聲譽好、令人滿意的女性, 這就讓一般人、 沒有得到足夠代表的人, 且通常不是白人, 繼續被體制給排擠和邊緣化。 身為博物館策展人,我有能力 可以改變那種表述方式。 我研究、收集、詮釋 重要的物品和影像。 希莉亞庫茲,騷沙女王——
(Cheers)
(歡呼)
yes -- is significant. And an Afro-Latina. The Smithsonian has collected her costumes, her shoes, her portrait, her postage stamp and this reimagining ... by artist Tony Peralta. When I collected and displayed this work, it was a victory for symbolic contradictions. Pride in displaying a dark-skinned Latina, a black woman, whose hair is in large rollers which straighten your hair, perhaps a nod to white beauty standards. A refined, glamorous woman in oversized, chunky gold jewelry. When this work was on view, it was one of our most Instagrammed pieces, and visitors told me they connected with the everyday elements of her brown skin or her rollers or her jewelry. Our collections include Celia Cruz and a rare portrait of a young Harriet Tubman ... iconic clothing from the incomparable Oprah Winfrey. But museums can literally change how hundreds of millions of people see women and which women they see. So rather than always the first or the famous, it's also our responsibility to show a regular Saturday at the beauty salon, the art of door-knocker earrings ...
是的,她很重要, 且是拉丁裔黑人。 史密斯尼收集了 她的服裝、她的鞋子、 她的畫像、她的郵票, 還有這幅重新成像之作…… 作者是藝術家東尼佩拉塔。 當我收集並展示這件作品時, 它是象形性矛盾的勝利。 很驕傲地展示出一名 暗色皮膚的拉丁美洲裔, 黑人女性, 她的頭髮上有大髮捲, 是用來將頭髮拉直用的, 也許是在向白人的美麗標準致敬。 一位優雅迷人的女子, 戴著過大的大塊金飾。 這件作品被陳列後,成為我們在 Instagram 上最熱門的作品, 訪客告訴我, 他們能夠和她褐色皮膚、 髮卷,或飾品的日常生活元素連結。 我們的收集品包括希莉亞庫茲 及年輕哈莉特塔布曼的 一幅稀有畫像…… 無與倫比的歐普拉·溫芙蕾的 標誌性服裝。 但博物館真的可以改變 數億人看待女性的方式, 以及他們看見哪些女性。 所以,不能總是只展現出 最先的或最有名的人事物, 我們也有責任要展現出 平凡星期六的美容院, 門把式耳環的藝術……
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
fashionable sisterhood ...
時髦的姐妹之誼……
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
and cultural pride at all ages. Stories of everyday women whose stories have been knowingly omitted from our national and global histories.
以及各種年齡的文化驕傲。 平凡女性的故事, 我們國家以及全球的歷史 都故意遺漏了她們的故事。
And oftentimes in museums, you see women represented by clothing or portraits or photography ... but impactful, life-changing stories from everyday women can also look like this Esmeraldan boat seat. Esmeraldas, Ecuador was a maroon community. Its dense rainforest protected indigenous and African populations from Spanish colonizers. There are roads now, but there are some parts inland that are still only accessible by canoe. Débora Nazareno frequently traveled those Ecuadorian waterways by canoe, so she had her own boat seat. Hers personalized with a spiderweb and a spider, representing Anansi, a character in West African folklore. Débora also sat on this seat at home, telling stories to her grandson, Juan. And this intangible ritual of love in the form of intergenerational storytelling is common in communities across the African diaspora. And this everyday act sparked in Juan the desire to collect and preserve over 50,000 documents related to Afro-Indian culture. In 2005, Juan García Salazar, Débora's grandson, and by now a world-renowned Afro-Ecuadorian scholar, traveled to Washington, D.C. He met with Lonnie Bunch, the director of the museum where I work, and toward the end of their conversation, Juan reached into his bag and said, "I'd like to give you a present." On that day, Débora Nazareno's humble wooden boat seat became the very first object donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture. It is encased, displayed and has been seen by almost five million visitors from all over the world.
通常,在博物館中, 你會看到女性是用 衣著、畫像,或照片來呈現…… 但平凡女性的那些有影響力、 能改變人生的故事 也可能看起來像是 埃斯梅拉達斯的船上座椅。 厄瓜多的埃斯梅拉達斯 是逃亡黑奴聚集的地方。 那裡的雨林很茂密, 能保護原住民和非洲人, 不受西班牙殖民者侵犯。 現在有道路了, 但內陸有些地區還是只能 靠獨木舟才能到達。 黛柏拉納沙雷諾常常靠獨木舟 走厄瓜多的那些水路, 所以她有她自己的船座椅。 她的座椅被個人化,特色是 一個蜘蛛網和一隻蜘蛛, 代表阿南西,西非 民間傳說中的一個人物。 黛柏拉在家時也坐在這個座椅上, 向她的孫子胡安說故事。 愛的這種無形儀式 採用的形式是跨世代訴說故事, 在非洲僑民的社區中很常見。 這種日常的小動作,點燃了 胡安的慾望,他想要收集和保存 和非裔印度文化相關的 超過五萬份文件。 2005 年,胡安加西亞薩拉查, 黛柏拉的孫子, 也是現在世界知名的 非裔厄瓜多學者, 前往華盛頓特區。 他見到了盧尼布區, 也就是我工作的博物館的館長, 在他們談話接近尾聲時, 胡安把手伸到他的袋子中,說: 「我有一個禮物要給你。」 那天,黛柏拉納沙雷諾的 簡約木製船座椅 成了第一件被捐贈給史密斯尼 國立非裔美國人歷史 和文化博物館的物品。 它被罩起來,展示出來, 已有來自全世界 近五百萬訪客看過它。
I will continue to collect from extraordinary historymakers. Their stories are important. But what drives me to show up today and every day is the simple passion to write our names in history, display them publicly for millions to see and walk in the ever-present light that is woman.
我會繼續向創造歷史的 非凡者收集收藏品。 他們的故事很重要。 但讓我今天,每天, 出來露面的動因, 則是很單純的一份熱情, 想要把我們的名字寫入歷史, 將它們公開展示, 讓數百萬人看見, 走在永遠存在的女人的光芒中。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause and cheers)
(掌聲和歡呼)