Green Spaces Issue
Issue 3
This quarter's issue is
"Multicultural interpretation of the
environment".
The following article, "Who We
Are" by Judy Ling Wong OBE,
addresses the issue.
We are grateful to the Association of
Heritage Interpretation for their
permission to publish the article, which
was "Who We Are", first
published in their magazine
Interpretation Journal. Volume 7. Summer
2002.
Interpreting
cultural identity
Interpretation does not happen in a
vacuum. It is set in the context of
personal and organisational worldviews.
The approach to interpretation sets
boundaries for what we think and feel.
Who we all are
Who we are and what we can achieve
depends on how we see ourselves against
the enormous pressure of how others see
us. Across the world, no community can
feel this more than the Muslim community
at present, subsequent to the events of
September 11. But issues of social
exclusion and cultural identity is not
just for embattled minority groups. It is
set within the urgency to move towards
social cohesion as the basis for a
democratic society, within which the work
of social inclusion is only part. Threats
to identity, among the supposedly
`secure' and dominant mainstream
population, is also deeply felt. Indeed,
it is the clarifying of what cultural
identity means in our time, for everyone,
that will allow the multiplicity of
minority identities.
In my vision of multiculturalism, the
representation of cultural diversity is
about interpreting the heritage and
potential of the one human race, with
each unique contemporary cultures defined
as unique combinations of multicultural
elements. Of necessity this exercise is
set in the integration of neglected
histories and shared histories.
The acceptance of a multi-cultural
British history as fact changes how all
of us see ourselves here in Britain and
within the world, re-positioning minority
cultural communities in the social
history of contemporary society. This
scenario finds its parallel in any
country.
The inclusion of multi-cultural facets
of sites and collections inevitably
brings them onto the world stage. The
population at large will come into
contact with the reality of people who
are the continuity of world communities.
It is part of the process of the healing
of a society that can contribute to the
re-positioning of inter-cultural
relationships in the world.
The scope of an inclusive heritage
To move interpretive initiatives
towards examining the scope of an
inclusive heritage, we may ask the
following questions:
• What do we mean when we
identify something as `local'? Is this a
spatial definition? If so, what is the
spatial limit of this concept?
• When does an ongoing foreign
socio-cultural influence become local?
• How does someone qualify as a
`local' person in relation to heritage?
Is it through how long one has been
there? Or is it through simply being
physically present in a locality? Is it
through subscribing to the ways of a
culturally dominant group? Or is it
through being a person who has obvious
influence on the evolution of local
heritage?
• Is heritage a fixed quantity or
is it re-assessed and re-constructed for
each period?
A progressive civilised society
consciously takes responsibility to
assess and refine its values. Each
culturally dynamic generation transforms
its heritage in order to take us into a
better future.
For example, often, on the subject of
ritualised hunting, the words `tradition'
and `culture' are used as if anything
from the past is unquestionably valuable.
In particular, certain forms such as
hunting with dogs has recently come under
enormous pressure to be banned. While
recognising hunting with dogs as having
been `traditional' for a long time, the
manner in which it inflicts prolonged
suffering and death is in contemporary
terms no longer acceptable.
º How do we value mythology that we
no longer identify with? Is there a case
for the creation of new mythology?
º Is local heritage conceived as
something which is embodied in concrete
artifacts within a locality or the
manipulated character of a landscape? Or,
on the contrary, is it the unmanipulated
character of the landscape? Is it
considered as being also embodied in the
living memory of local persons, including
those who bring their heritage with them
when they arrive?
º Should a local heritage initiative
take its inspiration from existing
artifacts or landscapes, or seek to
identify and celebrate meaningful
heritage that is invisible through the
creation of new artifacts?
º Does the significance of heritage
have anything to do with how old it is?
º Who decides what is significant and
meaningful local heritage?
º Should a local heritage initiative
involve everyone in a locality?
Putting interpretation and
participation into place
Towards an inclusive expression of
history and heritage in Britain
Significant ethnic communities are
settled here in Britain because of the
engagement of their countries of origin
with Britain. Ethnic communities may be
concentrated within the inner cities but
each one of them is bound to every
British person, even in the remotest
parts of the countryside, through a
common multi-cultural British history.
The time has come for ethnic
communities to visibly express their
presence in the British past and present.
It is time for them to make their
legitimate claim and situate themselves
within the socio-cultural history and
heritage of this country in order to
advance from the position of the normal
social strength of being rooted in a
common history and heritage into the
future.
The significant absence of ethnic
groups from many episodes of official
history means that they cannot begin to
mould their presence and make their
contribution towards an inclusive
heritage. Many ethnic groups have not yet
thought about the significance of
inclusive history and heritage projects
to their communities.
The work of BEN, constantly putting
ethnic participation on the agenda, and
the high contemporary status of social
inclusion has created a climate for
change.
Funding bodies such as the Heritage
Lottery Fund and organisations such as
the National Trust, or the Council for
National Parks, and initiatives such as
the Local Heritage Initiative are now
making important efforts to re-assess the
pivotal concepts which draw the
boundaries of participation for
particular social groups.
It is exciting times. The tasks at
hand are momentous.
A necessary sea change in key
heritage institutions
Good examples of multi-cultural work
and work involving ethnic communities do
exist and are very important. However, if
one looks across the environmental and
heritage sector as a whole - the
statutory and voluntary environmental
organisations, museums and galleries, the
countryside and leisure and recreation
services of local authorities, or major
funding bodies - social inclusion is
haphazard. Access issues are enshrined in
policy, but if you ask institutions and
organistaions if their personnel have the
skills to work effectively with ethnic
communities, or try to look for focused
and consistent positive action, you would
be very disappointed.
It is time that those in power ,
sitting on the boards or management
committees of environmental agencies,
heritage institutions or leisure
services, are asked to stand down if they
are not committed to Equal Opportunities,
because they are out of step with the
contemporary world. They are damaging
social progress. Working with
disadvantaged and excluded groups is not
about doing a favour to small groups of
people. It is about working towards a
vision of an equal society which we can
all be proud of.
We are calling for strategic
organisational awareness raising with the
view to instigating a sea change in the
positions of management boards and senior
personnel, resulting in the necessary
re-positioning of key heritage
institutions:
º Moving away from the domination of
a mythical and exclusive mono-culture
that is no longer relevant to the
contemporary world
º Filling the gap that is the fact of
Britain's multi-cultural history and
heritage
º The recognition of the essential
involvement of ethnic communities in
filling the gap that is Britain's
multi-cultural history and heritage and
therefore the importance of working in
partnership with ethnic groups.
º Re-defining pivotal concepts in
relation to participation in heritage by
ethnic communities, and embodying the
transformed concepts in policies and
strategies.
The nature of the tasks at hand
It is now the time for ethnic
communities to reach, beyond fear,
towards framing the reality of our
belonging in the environment all around
us, with pride, with confidence,
enveloped within the generosity of
wishing to share what we have brought.
Heritage strikes at the heart of the
validation of the historical relationship
of the countries of origin of ethnic
communities with Britain. It should
confirm the legitimacy of our arrival as
part of the web of Britishness across the
globe. Heritage is the big picture
against which everyone situates their
personal reality. This paper is a call
for ethnic communities to step into the
big picture of heritage in order to
complete it.
Action for change by heritage
institutions
Things are changing but at the present
time, special efforts still need to be
made to enable ethnic groups to have the
courage to undertake initiatives which
make them more visible.
Government should, as part of their
social inclusion policy, strategically
enable the concrete expression of
multi-cultural history and heritage. They
should consider requiring key heritage
institutions to undertake, as reparation
, but also with joy at arriving at this
point :
• Initiatives which aim to
uncover the currently invisible
multi-cultural aspects of local and
national history and heritage.
• Initiatives which aim to
encourage, support and assist ethnic
communities in making connections with
the multi-cultural aspects of local and
national history and heritage.
• Initiatives which aim to
encourage, support and assist ethnic
communities in the creation of new
artifacts which embody and celebrate
cultural memory, and multi-cultural
history and heritage in the urban and
rural environment at large.
º Initiatives which enable the
population at large to see themselves
positively in the context of Britain's
multi-cultural history and heritage.
Stimulating new thinking and
supporting ethnic participation
Many apparently vulnerable ethnic
groups are repositories of enormous
strength, which can be switched on
through frameworks of empowerment. There
needs to be focused investment in the
development of ethnic groups:
• Invest resources to strengthen
infrastructural ethnic minority
organisations such as Black Environment
Network (BEN) or the National Museum and
Archives of Black History.
Key ethnic minority strategic
organisations are small in number and
scale. They are true survivors, with
focused skills maximising the barest
resources, set against years of lack of
support from funders, society, and
government. These highly efficient
organisations and networks are the main
actors in the new commitment to ethnic
participation in heritage.
They can enable ethnic groups to:
- Set their agenda and represent their
issues, concerns and wishes
- Pool ideas and join together as
partnerships to take forward initiatives
- Support each other as part of a
network
- Create a forum for debate
- Form a movement working for ethnic
inclusion
They can be funded to undertake
initiatives aimed at new audience
creation for multi-cultural history and
heritage, employing Developmental
Officers to reach out to support ethnic
communities to access and make links with
multi-cultural history and heritage,
stimulate new thinking and engage them in
the production of relevant resources for
intellectual access to heritage
Funding schemes can use such
organisations as delivery mechanisms to
encourage and support projects focused on
cultural memory, multi-cultural history
and heritage to come forward from ethnic
groups
Parallel to this there needs to be
investment which aims to shift the vision
of British history and heritage within
the mainstream population. Mainstream
infrastrutural institutions - schools and
universities, museums and other heritage
organisations such as the National Trust
should undertake to :
• Highlight the multi-cultural
nature of history and heritage in Britain
within the mainstream population
- Identify and integrate
multi-cultural aspects of history and
heritage into all publicity and resource
materials whenever relevant
- Express the ownership of history and
heritage by everyone through the use of
positive images of its multi-cultural
audience in publicity and resource
materials
- Organise special events and
programmes of activities highlighting the
multi-cultural nature of heritage in
Britain
• Strategically develop
multi-cultural interpretation to enable
intellectual access to cultural memory
and multi-cultural history and heritage
by everyone
See associated paper
“Multi-cultural Interpretation and
Access to Heritage” by Judy Ling
Wong re the concept of multi-cultural
interpretation
- Research multi-cultural aspects of
heritage sites and collections of
artifacts
- Undertake the multi-cultural
interpretation of sites and collections
of artifacts
• Undertake initiatives which
enable physical access to multi-cultural
heritage by everyone, and in particular
by ethnic communities enabling them to
catch up on lost time
- Undertake initiatives enabling
physical access to multi-cultural
heritage through the provision of
transport, entry fees and programmes of
activities for economically disadvantaged
groups including ethnic groups
- Re-define significant catchment
areas in the context of access strategy,
according to the special significance
which certain aspects of heritage sites
or collections of artifacts may have for
particular social or ethnic groups
• Undertake initiatives and
produce resource materials which enable
intellectual access to multi-cultural
heritage by everyone, and in particular
by ethnic communities with regard to
aspects with cultural relevance
- Undertake initiatives creating new
socially and culturally relevant
resources to enable intellectual access
to multi-cultural heritage by
traditionally excluded groups including
ethnic groups
- Involve relevant ethnic communities
in the creation of resources relating to
cultural memory, multi-cultural history
and heritage
- Recognise the importance of the
local presence of affordable facsimiles
and replicas of particular artifacts for
various social, cultural or ethnic groups
• Research, document and
celebrate the cultural memory of ethnic
communities and multi-cultural history
and heritage associated with collections
of artifacts, properties or localities
- Work in partnership with relevant
ethnic groups to research cultural memory
and multi-cultural history and heritage
associated with particular properties or
localities
- Create new artifacts in the built
and natural environments of heritage
properties to celebrate and mark the
cultural memory of ethnic communities and
multi-cultural heritage related to
properties or localities.
It is not enough to look only to the
past for landmarks and artifacts. For
many excluded groups, the lack of these
is in itself an expression of the denial
of their role in heritage.
The powerful human urge to leave a
mark or create meaningful artifacts in
the landscape ranges from frivolous
“I was here” graffiti, to the
gravity of war memorials “Lest we
forget”. ( Artifact - An object
made by a human being - Concise Oxford
Dictionary).
It is a natural human need to confirm
one's historical presence through the
minutiae of concrete elements that form
our urban or rural environment. The
absence of artifacts celebrating the role
of ethnic communities in the settings of
history and heritage within which we
should be cradled has left us without
vital points of reference in the
environment.
- Create innovative projects through
the imaginative use of landscape,
properties and artifacts enabling ethnic
groups to make meaningful links to their
cultural memory and heritage.
A local heritage initiative ?
At the present time, the Countryside
Agency is promoting its new funding
scheme for England - the Local Heritage
Initiative.
Without some probing of the key
concepts driving such an initiative, it
can easily become a force for the
reinforcement of a mythical purist and
mono-cultural English history and
heritage.
To move interpretive initiatives
towards examining the scope of an
inclusive heritage, we may ask the
following questions:
• What do we mean when we
identify something as `local'? Is this a
spatial definition? If so, what is the
spatial limit of this concept?
• When does an ongoing foreign
socio-cultural influence become local?
• How does someone qualify as a
`local' person in relation to heritage?
Is it through how long one has been
there? Or is it through simply being
physically present in a locality? Is it
through subscribing to the ways of a
culturally dominant group? Or is it
through being a person who has obvious
influence on the evolution of local
heritage?
• Is heritage a fixed quantity or
is it re-assessed and re-constructed for
each period?
A progressive civilised society
consciously takes responsibility to
assess and refine its values. Each
culturally dynamic generation transforms
its heritage in order to take us into a
better future.
For example, often, on the subject of
ritualised hunting, the words `tradition'
and `culture' are used as if anything
from the past is unquestionably valuable.
In particular, certain forms such as
hunting with dogs has recently come under
enormous pressure to be banned. While
recognising hunting with dogs as having
been `traditional' for a long time, the
manner in which it inflicts prolonged
suffering and death is in contemporary
terms no longer acceptable.
• How do we value mythology that
we no longer identify with? Is there a
case for the creation of new mythology?
• Is local heritage conceived as
something which is embodied in concrete
artifacts within a locality or the
manipulated character of a landscape? Or,
on the contrary, is it the unmanipulated
character of the landscape? Is it
considered as being also embodied in the
living memory of local persons, including
those who bring their heritage with them
when they arrive?
• Should a local heritage
initiative take its inspiration from
existing artifacts or landscapes, or seek
to identify and celebrate meaningful
heritage that is invisible through the
creation of new artifacts?
• Does the significance of
heritage have anything to do with how old
it is?
• Who decides what is significant
and meaningful local heritage?
• Should a local heritage
initiative involve everyone in a
locality?
Multi-cultural participation and
the contemporary world
The acceptance of a multi-cultural
British history as fact changes how all
of us see ourselves here in Britain and
within the world, re-positioning ethnic
communities in the social history of
contemporary society.
The inclusion of ethnic groups in a
local heritage initiative inevitably
brings it onto the world stage. The
population at large will come into
contact with the reality of people who
are the continuity of world communities.
It is part of the process of the healing
of a society that can contribute to the
re-positioning of inter-cultural
relationships in the world.
Collections of key articles and
papers on ethnic environmental
participation available from BEN
Ethnic Environmental Participation
Volume 1 ISBN No. 1 874444 16 1
including the articles “
Multi-cultural aspects of developing
urban schoolgrounds” and
“Ethnic identity and integration in
action”
Ethnic Environmental Participation
Volume 2 ISBN No. 1 874444 41 2
including the paper “The social and
cultural values of plants and
landscapes”
“Multi-cultural Interpretation
and Access to Heritage” by J.L.
Wong. Commissioned by the Heritage
Lottery Fund
BEN publications are free to BEN
Network members.
This paper was written, as a
contribution to the continuing debate on
heritage participation, to coincide with
the BEN Networking Conference in
Birmingham March 2000.
Download
article here
Guidance Paper 3
Organisational Capacity to work
with Ethnic Groups around Cultural
Identity
Black Environment Network - March'03
Action around cultural identity
Aspects for multicultural
interpretation is covered in the paper
“Who we are - Interpreting Cultural
Identity”.
The main themes for action around
cultural identity include:
- Putting into place new features
and activities which recognise
the presence of ethnic
communities in the locality
- Making visible and promoting the
multicultural history of the
green space through
interpretation and education
- Providing socially and culturally
relevant activities specifically
for particular ethnic communities
as part of the green space's
programme of activities
- Providing multicultural and
inter-cultural activities which
bring the mainstream community
and ethnic groups together
- Enabling ethnic community groups
to run their own programmes of
activities in the green space
Successfully engaging with local
ethnic communities
Involving ethnic groups in a range of
actions around the recognition and
expression of cultural identity in a
green space is the most challenging areas
of work in engaging with ethnic
communities. It focuses our minds on the
fact that any organisation new to working
with ethnic communities needs to embrace
organisational culture change and address
organisational capacity to work
effectively with ethnic groups.
Themes around addressing
organisational culture change and
organisational capacity include:
- Promoting cultural awareness
across the organisation
- Promoting commitment to cultural
equality at all levels of the
organisation
- Identifying and putting into
place the skills needed by
organisational personnel
- Identifying and putting into
place the time and resources
needed to engage effectively with
ethnic groups
- Opening up employment
opportunities for ethnic groups
in relation to green space
- Ethnic minority representation on
advisory groups and other
decision making structures
Addressing organisational
culture change and organisational
capacity
1. Promoting cultural awareness
across the organisation
Cultural awareness lays down the
essential basis for all involvement with
ethnic communities. If the organisation
is new to this work, expertise need to
bought in to assist the organisation to
map out its needs in relation to
addressing cultural awareness and to gain
the confidence to visualise and implement
a programme of work which successfully
engages with ethnic communities. Cultural
awareness is as much about aspects of
culture as about social and cultural
needs which stem from the position of
cultural minorities within society.
This can take various forms and
proceed in different ways, including:
- Needs assessment surveys, where
experts are brought in to assist
personnel at different levels of
the organisation to explore and
identify their needs, resulting
in an action plan.
- Various off the shelf forms of
diversity training offered by
different agencies.
- Tailored awareness training,
where an initial mapping of
themes of need direct the design
of awareness training sessions.
- Learning at the coal face through
encouraging organisational
personnel to volunteer for ethnic
community groups. Here the staff
go without their own agenda but
learn about and engage with the
agenda of ethnic communities.
Expert de-briefing of the
experience is needed to enable
staff to read and learn from
their experience properly.
- Seminars/events enabling contact
and dialogue, e.g. a programme
which invites members of various
ethnic groups to make
presentations about their
communities' needs and
aspirations, followed by
facilitated dialogue. It is good
practice to develop these with
ethnic groups.
2. Promoting commitment to cultural
equality at all levels of the
organisation
Many organisations simplistically
believe that commitment by staff working
on the ground is enough. Commitment at
all levels of the organisation is the
basis for long term success:
- Commitment at board level marks
the direction of the organisation
as a whole and informs the policy
and strategy of the organisation.
- Commitment at senior level
ensures that implementation of
ethnic involvement is driven from
the highest level. Their
awareness and understanding of
the issues allow for the
appropriate human and financial
resources to be released. New
work with ethnic groups must be
properly and supported.
Infrastructurally, working with
ethnic groups should be written
into job descriptions where
appropriate, and funding for
specific initiatives earmarked.
- Commitment at middle management
means that ground staff will get
the support needed for their
work. This is particularly
important in the early stages
when ground staff are working for
their first breakthroughs.
Committed middle management will
also play the role of feeding
back upwards through the
organisation, giving senior
personnel and the board a good
understanding of both successes
and emerging concerns which need
to be addressed.
- Commitment by staff responsible
for the organisation's public
image, and the delivery of
information.
- The need for commitment of
project staff at ground level is
obvious.
3. Identifying and putting into
place the skills needed by organisational
personnel
- Properly resourced training and
developmental support is vital.
Everyone who has not worked with
a range of ethnic groups need to
acquire skills.
- Employing someone from the local
ethnic community may work to a
limited extent because of the
inside knowledge of a particular
culture and community carries by
the employee. But, persons from
ethnic communities do not have an
inborn skill to work with a range
of different cultures any more
than a person from the mainstream
community. We all need to be
trained and to learn the generic
skills of how to assess cultural
knowledge and to engage with
different ethnic groups, finally
winning the ultimate prize of the
trust of many long neglected
groups. For mainstream community
members, training may include
facilitating contact with ethnic
groups and de-briefing the
experience. For persons from
ethnic groups, training may
include addressing particular
experiences of discrimination so
that the necessary understanding
and emotional distance from these
experiences free them to work
with clear objective views about
issues relating to ethnicity.
- Training for skills to work in a
socially and culturally aware
manner is the basis for effective
work
- Developmental support is also
vital. Much of the initial
training, done at the level of
intellectual understanding, will
not fully make sense until one is
in the field. Additionally
initial training cannot fully
address the specific focus of the
work of an organisation. It is
only when one is engaging with
ethnic groups that further areas
of training need are brought to
light. Continuing developmental
support for staff new to this
work builds their confidence
quickly and helps them to solve
problems head on with instant
access to expertise and new
learning. Developmental support
can mean buying in a number of
hours of telephone support to
advise on situations arising or
periodic de-briefing.
4. Identifying and putting into
place the time and resources needed
All new initiatives should view their
first outline work programmes as an
indication of possible areas of work. For
any organisation new to the field of
ethnic environmental participation,
periodic review and evaluation of
progress is needed in order to regularly
re-focus the work programme to ensure its
success. Are the following adequate or
are more resources needed ?
- management support
- personnel time
- training and developmental
support (hand-holding)
- expert advice
- facilitation of contact with
ethnic groups
- financing the above
If more resources are needed and can
be found, the work programme may be
expanded. If not, a longer timescale may
be needed, perhaps with the initial
objectives re-designed.
5. Opening up employment
Because of decades of neglect and
rejection, many members of ethnic
communities look inwards for what they
would do for a living, drawing on a
restricted range of jobs. Ethnic groups
need to be introduced to the full range
of jobs available. Young people in
particular need to be able to aspire to
new areas of endeavour. Opening up
employment will the subject of another
paper in this series.
6. Representation
Unless one is very lucky (and it can
happen that someone comes forward
immediately from an ethnic group),
representation from ethnic communities on
advisory groups and communities is the
ultimate expression of success in the
long process of nurturing interest,
winning trust and building the capacity
of ethnic groups to participate fully in
decision making alongside everyone else.
Representation will be the subject of
another paper in this series.
Useful Information
- The article “Who we are -
Interpreting Cultural
Identity” appears under
Issue 3 of this section - Green
Space of the Month - on the BEN
website. It is downloadable from
the Resources Section as part of
Ethnic Environmental
Participation Volume 4, a BEN
publication
- There are funding bodies which
will give grants for training
which strengthens the
organisation in its ability to
engage with communities. These
include the Baring Foundation's
“Strengthening the Voluntary
Sector scheme”
www.baringfoundation.co.uk and
Charities Aid Foundation's fund
for consultancies aiding
organisational development
www.CAF-online.org. NCVO can help
with identifying others
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk. Freephone
for information 0800 2 798 798
- A computer programme called
“Funderfinder” is
really useful.
www.funderfinder.org.uk It costs
a voluntary group £150 to buy
the software. Just type in the
subject matter and the amount
needed and it will print out
possible funding sources. You do
not need to buy your own. Many
local authorities and libraries
have this. Their website also
have some useful free software in
relation to finding funding.
- Diversity UK Ltd. 01234 881 380
can advise on accessing a range
of diversity and equality
trainers and consultants
- Training and consultancy
Information pack on the BEN
website www.ben-network.org.uk.
- Training programmes of the
National Council for Voluntary
Organisations www.ncvo-vol.org.uk
- Training programmes of the
Community Development Foundation
www.cdf.org.uk
- Range of consultants with
expertise in using participatory
techniques to involve ethnic
groups. Some of them will train
others to use these techniques.
NCVO can advise re contacts
- Common Ground's ABC project - a
springboard for involving any
community group to discover and
map the local distinctiveness of
their local environment.
www.commonground.org.uk
- General reading on ethnic
environmental participation -
Ethnic Environmental
Participation Volumes 1-4 on the
BEN website in the Resources
Section www.ben-network.org.uk
Download
Guidance Paper 3
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