Professor Amareswar Galla on 'Social Harmony'

Governments have made various attempts to minimise the inequalities within the complexity of cultural diversity using access and equity strategies and affirmative action initiatives. Public policy responds to the notions of ‘harmony’, ‘social cohesion’, ‘social justice and connectedness’, ‘social inclusion and exclusion’ and so on, but not actually ‘social harmony’. Does this term infer that there are other harmonies that are lower priority, such as intercultural or religious? Or that harmony is less important in these areas, being the result of a secularist position which implies that it occurs mainly in the civil and political fields without necessarily covering economic and cultural domains?

> Harmony, a musical term, to the human ear may be pleasing. What is perceived as harmonious may change with time or differ in different cultural contexts. If melody and rhythm are horizontal, harmony is vertical with multiple assonant or dissonant variations. Great musicians interpret harmony in different ways: the scales differ, narratives vary, tempos shift — it is challenging to achieve the balance. Harmony is the pleasing combination of sounds.

Diversity is promoted and valued as an end in itself

> Social harmony is about maintaining a level of equilibrium in economic terms in civil society. The natural tensions that exist within any plural human collective are ameliorated through cross cultural understanding, respecting, iteratively renegotiating and maintaining a level of balance in the power relations, resources, functioning and capacities between potentially conflicting groups, whether these be based on broadly economic, political, social, racial and religious or cultural distinctions.

 > The term social harmony infers a rather passive attitude towards civil society. That is, that ‘tolerance’ is accepted, rather than diversity being promoted and valued as both an end in itself, as well as something that adds different forms of ‘value’ to society.  That is, that ‘tolerance’ is accepted, rather than diversity being promoted and valued as both an end in itself, as well as something that adds different forms of ‘value’ to society.

> For an ecomuseum, social harmony is important because it then represents the bare ‘minimum’ civic standard upon which one can then hope to build the social, economic, cultural, political and other architecture that is necessary, within local communities, to find a sense of shared purpose that is necessary for ecomuseums to function in any practical or sustainable kind of way.

> If museums are civic spaces that hold up a mirror to society reflecting its good, bad and ugly aspects, as spaces for interpretation, reflection and negotiation, as well as a repository of information, resources, artefacts etc. that relate to ‘social harmony’ museums, then, have a role to play.

Engaging curiosity

> How, then, are museums to interpret such a  role, which, if we accept that it infers a degree of political and social conservatism, then we must also accept that there is an inherent risk in the notion. Blind acceptance that social harmony is a goal that must be pursued at all costs, if made by museums, would mean that their roles have evolved into agents of conformity. A role, I hope, few would want to accept.

> If museums are generally seen as civic spaces where all members, ideally of a civil society, may come together, albeit in different configurations, they should be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the diversity that is naturally part of society as a whole. This, hopefully, is not just about being so bland as to be generally innocuous, but about engaging curiosity: visitors may not agree, may not be comfortable, but so long as they are entertained and informed while also feeling that they are respected, or not patronised, this is another important starting point as a site to consider important social issues.

Harmony should not be prescriptive

> Clearly, museums, in some places may find social harmony a necessary goal behind their didactic functions and, in some sense this may be helpful. But this also depends upon the definition used. If it means transforming disadvantaged communities and their physical environments into more stable, more prosperous, safer zones, then social harmony ‘values’ may function as a stepping stone, or an idea, within a wider armoury of ideas, that helps with these goals. If museums are merely the handmaidens of government to achieve conformist agendas under the banner of “harmony”, this then comes at a risk.

 > Museums, as a critical plank within the knowledge “industry” generally including universities, media, creative institutions, and so on have an interpreting and quizzical function as well as a reflective one. Therefore, interrogating and critiquing ‘social harmony’ should be integral to their function. Harmony should not be prescriptive but it is a means to interpret and balance assonance and dissonance. In the global community of ICOM, it is about sharing, about connectivity and building on the complexity of the cultural diversity of the world without minimising this richness.

Amareswar Galla

Chairperson, Cross Cultural Task Force, ICOM, Paris

Convener, Pacific Asia Observatory for Cultural

Diversity in Human Development (UNESCO)

Professor at the School of English,

Media Studies and Art History,

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

a.galla@uq.edu.au

If you would like a copy of the original document by Professor Galla or would like to read more about Social Harmony or ICOM click here.

Professor Amareswar Galla

Image courtesy University of Queensland.