Survey on conservation of sacred objects

    **** Moderator's comments: Please respond directly to the
    author.

I am a MA conservation student and am conducting research on the
conservation of sacred objects. I am placing emphasis on gender
issues, such as how female conservators deal with objects that are
generally not touched or seen by women from the original
cultural/society. eg. I have been given examples of women being
turned into men by the original culture for the duration of their
involvement with the objects. Or other cases where there were no
issues except for the object being touched by a female who was
menstruating.

I am hoping to establish a clear sense of the issues involved and
the variety of ways in which these are dealt with. This would be the
first stage in attempting to discuss what best practice might be in
this area. I am trying to get in contact with as many ethnographic
conservators as possible to have their experiences, to create a
foundation as well as possible working solutions for these objects.
Information that is given will be held in the strictest of
confidence.

    Questionnaire Relating to the Conservation of
    Sacred/Ethnographic Objects

    Date:

    1.  How long have you been working as a conservator?

    2.  How many female and male conservators work in your studio?
        Female:
        Male:

    3.  In your experience do you believe there to be more female
        conservators to male in ethnographic conservation?
        Yes:   No:

    4.  Do you believe there are gender issues involved in the
        conservation of sacred objects? (If yes continue to 5, if no
        skip to 8.)
        Yes:   No:

    5.  Have you experienced any while researching/conserving an
        object?
        (If yes continue to 6., if no skip to 8.)
        Yes:   No:

    6.  If possible could you state an example?
        (If yes continue to 7., if no skip to 8.)

    7.  Could you say how you dealt with the object with regard to
        the issues of gender?

    8.  As professional conservators how much time do you have to
        conduct research into the cultural context of the objects?

        A lot of time  ___
        Fair amount    ___
        Minimal amount ___
        No time        ___

    9.  How flexible/encouraging is the Museum with allowing time to
        research the objects?

        Very flexible    ___
        Flexible         ___
        Inflexible       ___
        Very Inflexible  ___

    10. Is consultation with the original culture encouraged?
        Yes:   No:

    11. How realistic is this?

    13. Would you mind being contacted for further information?
        (If yes please leave contact details below)
        Yes:   No:

Please send responses by email or post to:

    Anne Bancroft
    33 Soane House
    Roland Way
    London SE17 2JF
    anneb28 [at] hotmail__com


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:62
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 12, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-15-62-015
                                  ***