Request from Elaine Gurian

Network News Fall 2008
(back to table of contents)

Request from Elaine Gurian

As I am preparing to go to Argentina on my Fulbright from July 21 until Oct 21, I am hopeful that you will find my project interesting and want to get involved. I am interested in gathering access to four things –

1. Museum material that has already been translated into Spanish.
2. Museum material written in English that you would recommend be translated into Spanish because of its importance to museum work. This could be either philosophical writings or practical. It could also be a useful example or check-list for some museum activity. It might represent the best practice or something that you think of as a foundational document.
3. Museum material that was originally written in Spanish that you would love to have access to in English.
4. Contacts you think I should know in Latin America or in the Anglophone world who might be interested in this project.

My project is evolving but it seems that creating files of material that are available in both English and Spanish might prove helpful to museum practitioners whose first language is one and who would wish to have a common basis of communication with speakers of the other language. It might also prove helpful to those who teach in one language (i.e. English) but have students whose first language is the other (i.e. Spanish). My colleagues in Argentina are also interested in a kind of electronic self-help program for museum practitioners who wish to have access to Spanish-language museological material on the web. This material could have originated in either Spanish or English and would allow for a broader curriculum then one just generated by one language group. I am seeking to facilitate a cross-boundary conversation in places where language has kept us apart.
You can reach me at egurian@egurian.com
www.egurian.com
in Vieques: 787-741-1769

The Museum Education Roundtable
P.O. Box 15727, Washington, D.C. 20003
info@mer-online.org, www.mer-online.org
tel: 202.547.8378, fax 202.547.8344