CUL 2300: Cultural Aesthetic Understanding

Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation

Cultural Appreciation

Directions:

You are a Research and Partnership Associate at Global Metal Suppliers, Inc. Your supervisor, the Director of
Partnerships, is meeting with a new potential international client, who is interested in using your company’s metals to
craft railings, sculptures, light posts, roofing, frames, and other surface and structural elements that will be visible on
their regional customers’ homes.

Before the meeting, your supervisor wants to know as much as possible about the cultural and aesthetic values of the
client’s region, which will help your supervisor better speak to the possibilities of shaping Global Metal Suppliers, Inc.’s
raw metals into culturally significant objects that your client’s regional customers would feel comfortable putting on
their homes.

Your supervisor has asked you to tour a museum in the client’s country to examine its culture (including its history, art,
and values) and report back on some of the artifacts and aesthetic preferences of the country.

Complete this worksheet using the directions within to guide you. Submit your completed worksheet in the
“Assignment and Grades” tab in your course menu. When you have submitted this assignment for grading, please
return to your module for a wrap-up.
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Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation

Museum Virtual Tour

Note: The location of the museum you select will be the country of your potential client. Choose a museum in a country other than
your own.

Conduct a virtual museum tour Name of Museum: The British Museum

by selecting from one of 10
Museum’s Physical Location: Great Russell St, London, United Kingdom.
virtual tours. and examine a
collection of your choice.
Collection Name: Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

URL of virtual tour: http://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1177199742298383/

Location of Your Country of Residence: Africa

Why was the museum The British museum was established with an aim to own a collection representative of the world
established? cultures and ensure that the collection is housed, conserved, curated, researched, and exhibited
in safety, for the benefit and education of humanity.

The museum originated with the death of Hans Sloane, a prominent physician, who in his will,
asked the British parliament to buy his collection for 20,000 pounds and set up a public museum
that anybody, British or otherwise, would be able to enter free of charge.

What makes this museum Housing over eight million objects from all continents, the British museum is the world’s oldest
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Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation

important to patrons or its national public museum and one of the world’s largest museums of human history and culture.
country? The museum plays a pivotal role in making human history accessible with its impressive
collections that illustrate and document the story of human culture from its beginning to the

present. It allows for exploration of the extraordinary diversity of human cultures, from small

communities to vast empires, to discover ing of the many forms and expressions human beings

have given to every aspect of life, and to realizing how closely they are interconnected.

Include anything else you think The United Kingdom comprises of the Island of Great Britain- which contains England, Wales,
is important about the history and Scotland, as well as Northern Ireland and has made significant contributions to the world
and cultural evolution of the economy. The United Kingdom’s cultural traditions are reflective of th e country’s heterogeneity
country or region. and its central importance in world affairs over the past several centuries.

After the independence of its colonies, Britain became the foreground for immigration with
immigrants settling throughout the country and leaving lasting imprints on the British culture.

Britain’s prominent contributions to the world especially since World War II has been cultural

contributions like language, film, literature, television, and music that draws on all parts of the
country.
The English language is one of the leading international mediums of cultural and economic
exchange.

Review of Cultural Artwork


What is the cultural context of
each artwork?
CUL 2300: Cultural Aesthetic Understanding
Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation
Artwork Item 1
Item Name: Akan Drum
The drum is carved in wood
and covered with what is most
likely deer skin- native to North
America. It is theorized that
the drumskin must have been
replaced in North America
seeing as the drum itself was
carved with wood indigenous
to West Africa.
Made in the Akan region in
Ghana, this “talking drum”
would have played a vital role
in the Akan culture. Drums
were used as musical
instruments on social
occasions or during religious
Artwork Item 2
Item Name: Haida House Pole
From top to bottom, the pole
features crests of a chief
holding a talking stick, a sea-
grizzly (sea monster), a
shaman holding two rattles
made of puffin beaks, a large
whale, and a sea-grizzly
between tail fins of a killer
whale. Clan crests are
ancestral beings that mark
identity and assign families
with rights to stories and
property. The first story
depicted on the crests on the
Haida house pole is
associated with a raven
Artwork Item 3
Item Name: Head of Queen
Idia
The head of Queen Idia is a
Benin Bronze sculpture that
was created in the mid 1500s
in recognition of queen Idia’s
contribution to the Kingdom
of Benin. She was the first
woman to be conferred with
the title and political office of
‘Iyoba’ (Queen Mother).  Her
power, influence, and
leadership were such that she
has been referred to as ‘The
Hidden Oba of Benin’.

What is the intellectual context
of each artwork?
CUL 2300: Cultural Aesthetic Understanding
Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation
ceremonies, as well as for
communication. Skilled
drummers could replicate the
tones, punctuation, and
accents of the Akan language
to send messages from
village to village. In this way,
Akan people could be called to
a celebration or to war.
Carved from hollow woods,
drums were not only used as
musical instruments but also
for communication and
announcements. The power of
an instrument like the Akan
Drum to communicate, unify,
and provide a sense of group
identity and self-esteem is
disguised as a chief
attempting to retrieve his
beak, which he lost while
stealing halibut from people’s
hooks. The second story
refers to a son who atones for
bad behavior and evades
criticisms from his shaman
mother-in-law by calling a
whale ashore and hiding
inside its body.
Totem poles are monuments Made with Brass, this piece of
created by First nation of the art was created to capture the
Pacific Northwest to represent essence and depict the
and commemorate ancestry, leadership and influence of a
histories, people, or events. powerful woman.

What is the historical context
of each artwork?
CUL 2300: Cultural Aesthetic Understanding
Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation
endearing.
Collected in the early 1700s in
the Colony of Virginia, now
part of the United States of
America, the Akan Drum is
one of the oldest surviving
African American objects.
It was made in the Akan
region of Ghana and probably
travelled across the Atlantic
on a slave ship where it may
have been used to exercise
the enslaved Africans to keep
them healthy as was common
practice in those times.
The Haida House Pole was
originally in front of a clan
house in the village of Kayang
on Graham Island in British
Columbia, Canada.
After the village of Kayang had
been abandoned for almost
15years due to the epidemic
devastation, Haida chief Wiah
sold the pole to the British
medical doctor C.F
Newcombe in 1900.
The 16th century bronze head
of Iyoba (queen) Idia
originates from the Kingdom
of Benin (now part of present-
day Nigeria).
Queen Idia was the mother of
Oba (king) Esigie who ruled
the kingdom of Benin from
1504 to 1550. She was hailed
for providing the Oba with
exceptional political counsel,
spiritual guidance, and
medicinal knowledge that
enabled the Oba to conquer
enemies and unify the
kingdom.  She also fought as
a warrior against the
kingdom’s enemies.
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Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation
How does each item express Drums were used as musical
the human experience? instruments on social
occasions or during religious
ceremonies, as well as for
communication. The Akan
Drum was likely used in the
practice known as ‘dancing
the slaves’- an act which
turned music and dance into
tools of subjugation. The use
of African music, dance, and
instruments on the slave ships
although intended as a tool of
subjugation, allowed slaves to
Most totem poles display
beings, or crest animals,
marking a family’s lineage and
validating the powerful rights
and privileges that the family
held.  people’s lives.
The array of different totem
pole styles and designs reflect
the rich diversity of the First
Nations histories and cultures
that produced them. 
After her death, this bronze
was placed at altars or in the
queen mother’s palace to
commemorate her service to
the kingdom.
Monuments are part of visual
culture that continually
reminds us of something or
someone important. They play
an important symbolic role in
The bronze head of Queen Idia
provides an exceptional
example of commitment,
leadership, courage, influence,
and service to ones’ people.
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Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation

preserve homeland traditions

The Akan Drum is a powerful
instrument used to
communicate, unify, and
provide a sense of group
identity and self-esteem, a
power which persisted from
Africa to North America.

What do you think the artists
are trying to say through the
works of art?
The artists that created the
Akan Drum were probably
trying to create an object for
the purpose of entertainment
in social occasions and
religious ceremonies.
The creators of the Haida
House Pole were documenting
familiar stories and histories
particular to their clan
members.
The artists of this beautiful
sculpture wanted to correctly
capture and portray the
essence and distinct facial
features of a powerful woman.
They were able to capture and
depict intricate details of her
such as her distinctive hair
style called the” chicken’s
Beak”

Cultural Similarities
 CUL 2300: Cultural Aesthetic Understanding
Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation

Note: You are assuming that the company you work for, Global Metal Suppliers, Inc., is located in your own country of residence.
The location of the museum you selected is where your potential client is located.

Identify and discuss three Museum’s Country: United Kingdom

similarities between the
client’s culture (the country of Your Country of Residence: Nigeria
your museum tour) and the
culture in your current country
Three similarities between the culture of your current country and the culture of the
of residence.
museum’s country.

These similarities can be

modern or historical. 1. Language:
The language of communication of both Nigeria and the United Kingdom is the
English Language, majorly due to the colonial influence of the British in Nigeria.

2. Multinationalism
Multinationalism is defined as the presence, involvement, or partnership of many
countries or nationalities. Both Nigeria and the United Kingdom have strong
multinationalism. The United Kingdom is comprised of England, Scotland, Wales,
 CUL 2300: Cultural Aesthetic Understanding
Module 1 Worksheet: Cultural Appreciation

and Northern Ireland, while Nigeria is comprised of Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani,
and many other ethnic groups.

3. Media
The media in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom uses similar languages and
has almost always been relatively free, with very little control from the
government.