Museum Madness

Once upon a time, museums existed to educate visitors about the past. But not all now see that as their primary goal. Some museums believe it is also their mission to lecture and hector the public in the stupidities of history, distorted through the lens of identity politics.

Take, for instance, the Brighton and Hove Museums (yes, the name is in the plural). In a blog post by Simone LaCorbinière, the Joint Head of Culture Change at the Museums, Santa Claus is a problematic figure because, you guessed it, he is an old, white male.

LaCorbinière informs us that according to Western myth, Santa flies around the world in his sleigh on Christmas Eve and as he visits each nation, he judges the children on whether they have been naughty or nice and rewards the nice children with presents. Prima facie, this story appears very innocent and no doubt was a way in which parents have encouraged good behaviour in their offspring. As my mother sometimes said to me when I was very young: “If you don’t behave yourself, Father Christmas won’t come.”

But for LaCorbinière, Father Christmas is an egregious example of colonial attitudes. He is someone who is white, set up as a moral judge of children in cultures other than his own. He is therefore a symbol of white supremacy, who ignores cultural diversity by assuming that his culture’s moral standards apply to all. But there is more.

Santa Claus is also guilty in LaCorbinière’s eyes of not only being white, but of all three of identity politics’ deadliest sins: he is, as she calls him, an ‘old white man’. His age and sex mean that he is a patriarchal figure who oppresses those who work for him – the elves – who represent in LaCorbinière’s imagination marginalised communities, and who regard father-figures with disdain. Furthermore, the elves challenge the cultural norm as they are not white, male and able-bodied.

LaCorbinière has obviously missed a trick for she does not mention that Father Christmas is a brutal exploiter of the reindeer, who in one night must pull his sledge around the entire globe. But at least Just Stop Oil will be happy as there are no fossil fuels consumed.

Thus, Santa’s patriarchal and neo-colonial authority must be deconstructed and his narrative retold in an inclusive, non-judgemental way.

LaCorbinière makes a number of suggestions as to how. For example, she recommends that Santa is re-educated by having him learn about other cultures rather than judging them. Santa is to cease using the Western binary of naughty/nice and bring joy to children of all cultures. Other recommendations include Father Christmas working in the factory alongside the elves to demonstrate their equality, and that Father Christmas is portrayed as Mother Christmas.

Where does one begin with this revisionist rubbish?

Let us begin with who Father Christmas originally was. Unfortunately for LaCorbinière’s right-on retelling, he is based on the third century saint Nicholas of Myra, who lived in what is now Turkey. Rather than being a Western cultural imposition, he represents the influence of a non-Western culture on the ancient West through the Christianity that they shared. Hardly a colonialist imposition then.

St Nicholas was renowned for his generosity to the poor and their children, and eventually was canonised as the patron saint and protector of children. Santa’s gift-giving therefore comes from St Nicholas’ indiscriminate kindness to those at the bottom of the social pile. His practice of dividing children into nice and naughty was an addition to the myth sixteen centuries later by the American political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who also politicised Santa during the American Civil War by drawing him giving gifts to Union troops.

But even if Father Christmas judges children’s behaviour across the world, are human cultures so different that it is impossible to make universal moral judgements? To believe so, as LaCorbinière does, is an extreme and untenable form of cultural relativism that fails to recognise cultural commonalities. It is reasonable to suggest that verbally abusing and physically assaulting one’s parents and elders is universally condemned in all cultures. Moreover, anthropologists do recognise seven moral rules common to all cultures throughout time and space, and the control of children’s conduct would be included in those seven moral rules. The distinction between naughty and nice is not a Western moral binary, but something encoded in all human moral thinking. Santa is therefore on firm ground when deciding who the nice and naughty children are.

Finally, it must be said, and let it be said again and again, there is nothing inherently wrong in being old, white and male, whether those traits are seen as singulars or in combination. To say so is to be guilty of discrimination and therefore a profound shame.

James Anderson is a freelance writer

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