we have to keep fighting
we have to keep fighting
a review of robert r. janes’ museums and societal collapse : the museum as lifeboat
Note: you can listen to my narrated version of this posting here.
My first book review of this 5th season of the conscient podcast was Alice Irene Whitakker’s e196 alice irene whittaker (part 2) - homing, a book review, which is a literary kindred spirit to this book by Robert R. Janes’ Museums and Societal Collapse : The Museum as Lifeboat.
In my mind, both are essential reading about the role of culture as the ecological crisis deepens.
I had the pleasure of meeting with archaeologist and former museum director and CEO Robert (Bob) R. Janes, his wife Priscilla and his son Peter, who is a farmer these days, on September 16, 2024 at their permaculture farm, TreeEater Farm and Nursery, on Denman Island, BC.
Chickens and Geese, TreeEater Farm and Nursery, Denman Island, BC
Our conversation and soundwalk will be published as part of season 6 of the conscient podcast sometime in 2025. I will draw excerpts from our exchange in this review.
For example, I said :
It has filled in so many gaps for me. So many things that I wanted to know or thought I knew but then you did all the hard of the references. I recommend it but it's something people have to be ready for. It’s not light reading
The book is quite devastating, especially at the beginning, when you lay out very clearly all of the things that are happening to us and what we've done to … ourselves.
The book had a cathartic effect on me.
I was mesmerized, and terrified, by the book’s ability to articulate the full story of how we got here and what is required from arts and cultural institutions, to survive… ourselves.
No punches are held back, however, Robert or Bob, is a generous and affable person, makes a strong case for the ‘museum as lifeboat’:
The only effective response to ecological and civilizational overshoot (the core problems) is the comprehensive contraction of human activities. This will mean reducing the size of the global population, ending our unbridled consumption in the West, and rejecting once and for all the crippling belief in unlimited economic growth. Perhaps the greatest challenge is accepting that real renewable energy consists of biomass (wood, plant-based material), wind and water power, passive solar, and human muscle power. None of these energy sources will allow life as we know it now to continue, and MTI (Modern Technological Industrial) civilization will cease when we stop using fossil fuels. And stopping the use of fossil fuels we inevitably must. Such radical change and contraction will require a new kind of society that includes the restoration of ecosystems; resettlement from dense urban areas; and a return to decentralized, smaller communities. Relearning essential skills will also be paramount and museums are the storehouses of such knowledge as noted numerous times throughout this book.
Peter Janes, TreeEater Farm and Nursery, Denman Island, BC
I was also moved by this section of the book outlining the role of museums:
As these dreadful events unfold, it is time for the global museum community to seek clarity and purpose in what they intend to do. Will it be to carry on collecting, preserving, and entertaining? Or will it be to inform, engage, and assist their communities in addressing the critical issues that are foreshadowing collapse. Although the future is not knowable, as the links between cause and effect are complex (especially now) and mostly lost in the detail of what actually happens in between (Stacey 1992: 12–13), this does not preclude deep reflection on what collapse will mean if we are forced to abandon our conventional lives and assumptions. If we can sense the shape of things to come, all of society, including museums, will be better able to undertake the essential preparations, utilizing the precautionary principle.
His conclusions cut right through any bullshit and positions the dilemma that we face in stark terms (though there are sprinklings of hope here and there):
In summary, we are confronted with two narratives that embody the warp and weft that will define the future of our species – antithetical yet interwoven. One narrative embodies the values of the dominant MTI society, and the other a commitment to the well-being of the More-Than Human World. These narratives will either destroy the future or sow the seeds for its recovery. These conflicting choices confront us every day, whether it be what we eat, what we wear, what we buy, where we go, and what constitutes meaning in our lives. In essence, what we value.
Now that’s a good question : what do we value?
Janes’ is clear about the steps required to avoid collapse but also how to navigate collapse and how to move beyond it.
It’s a quick but rather intense read that is well worthwhile.
I recommend this book for anyone who believes in the transformative power of arts and culture, including museums.
However, a bit of a warning: It will likely be most impactful and relevant for those who are aware or accept that societal collapse has already begun.
Robert R. Janes at this cabin at TreeEater Farm and Nursery, Denman Island, BC
Bob elaborated on the role of art and culture during our conscient conversation :
We have to keep fighting. We have to resist. And that's where the artistic community comes in, because they've often resisted incredible things. I mean, just think of paintings like Picasso's Guernica, where he's told the world, this is what the Nazis did to that city. He resisted and he protested. And I think it's incumbent upon all of us now to assume that responsibility by action, not just walking in a march. And I have that in my book, too, the difference between real action and just protesting.
This shift, this transformation, if we can use that word, is largely mental. It has to happen within the mind of the artist and the artistic community. I think along with that, telling the truth and that mental shift, each artist and each one of us as a human being now has to ask some really important questions. What changes are we trying to affect? What solutions do we propose? What are our non-negotiable values?
What kinds of solutions?
Reflecting on the issues in this book is a step in the right direction.
Consulting with your local museum or art gallery might also be a good idea. .
Bracing for impact is also well advised.
This book is full of prescient and devastating facts.
Thankfully, Bob leaves us with many questions and possibilities to consider as we sort our way through these complex times. Here are 7 of them:
Who am I?
Why am I here?
Who do I want to be in this time of polycrisis?
What am I here to do?
What can I learn from others?
What stories shall I tell?
What legacy shall I leave?
I invite you to ponder them.
Hint: these 7 questions will make most sense after you’ve read the book.
Thanks to Routledge Press and the Taylor and Francis group for a review copy of the book and to Bob, his wife Priscilla and his son Peter for their ongoing collaboration and generosity.
Please note that use of the term ‘we’ in this review does not necessarily include everyone (in particular those who have been victims of the climate emergency and colonisation).