Disentangling the History of Blood and Othering: A Relational Materialist Approach to Decolonising Medical Museums

口述历史是剖析过去的一项重要工作。它确保人们的历史通过他们自己的记忆和经历得到准确的反映，使他们能够控制自己的叙述。作为一名文化历史学家，口述历史对于理解人们的经历至关重要。它也创造了一个在当代关于历史的讨论中被“看到”的相关性和想法的机会。在我的第二个硕士学位期间，我参加了许多口述历史研讨会和研讨会，并选择将我的论文重点放在口述历史的来源上。当我在写关于第二次世界大战的文章时，不幸的是，我无法自己进行采访，不得不依靠公共领域的口述历史采访。我认为，重要的是要利用这些采访来强调二战期间受伤士兵对待女性的经历。这不是一个经常被讨论的历史方面，我认为它需要澄清和更大的关注。因此，由于我对这一经常被忽视的历史领域的欣赏和理解，我理解了为什么口述历史适合这个项目，因为少数民族的血腥经历被听到和倾听是很重要的。在批判性地评估围绕治疗和输血的种族主义先入之见时，这些声音很重要，因为许多人会亲眼目睹不愿治疗属于少数民族的人。从威廉·哈维（William Harvey）发现循环系统开始，对血液所有权的不同态度一直是历史上充满政治色彩的辩论话题。口述历史开启了对话，让人们关注博物馆对血液的歪曲，也为以积极的方式展示少数民族的历史提供了机会。医疗物品的力量在展示丰富多样的医学史上是独一无二的。物品具有揭示历史和唤起当时熟悉它们的人回忆的强大力量。文物也为人们提供了一种方式，让人们可以三维地想象历史是什么样的，而不是简单地讲述。它们经常被用于博物馆，因为它们提供了一个理解和反思的空间。近几十年来，博物馆里一直充斥着殖民征服时期的藏品，从而产生了以白人为中心的历史再现。利用萨克雷收藏的医疗物品，这个项目将使我们能够确保少数民族和他们的故事更好地融入我们对历史的理解。这一点很重要，因为历史需要代表所有人，而不仅仅是当权者的普遍共识。萨克雷与血液有关的医疗物品以及使用（或不使用）这些物品的困难情况将强调，对历史的种族偏见的想象是不可避免的。我们需要进行艰难的对话，因为我们鼓励人们质疑自己对历史的看法，以及种族偏见的治疗和对人体解剖学的误解是如何深深影响着少数民族的。在第二次世界大战期间，少数民族的血液总是被拒绝输血给高加索人；任何想要捐赠和帮助艾滋病病毒呈阳性的少数民族的人都不太可能得到与白种人相同水平的护理和治疗。我相信这种差异将是一个值得探索的重要领域，因为它将对那些被拒绝治疗的家庭产生持久的影响。这个项目当然有探索艾滋病和血液与医疗器械之间关系的空间，也可以作为一个很好的机会来处理一个有时被认为是禁忌的话题。

Oral history is an important undertaking when dissecting the past. It ensures people's history is reflected accurately through their own memories and experiences, allowing them to control their own narrative. As a cultural historian, oral history is vital for a good understanding of people's experience. It also creates an opportunity for relatability and the idea of being 'seen' within contemporary discussions about history. I attended many oral history workshops and seminars during my second Masters and chose to focus my dissertation on oral history sources. As I was writing on the Second World War, I was unfortunately unable to conduct interviews myself and had to rely on oral history interviews that were in the public domain. I believed it was important to use these interviews to highlight women's experiences of their treatment by wounded soldiers at the time of WWII. It is not an aspect history that is often discussed and I believed it needed clarification and greater focus. Thus, due to my appreciation and understanding of this often overlooked area of history, I understand why oral histories fit with this project as it is important that minorities have their experienceswith blood heard and listened to.These voices are important when critically assessing the racist preconceptions surrounding the treatment and transfusion of blood as many people would have witnessed first-hand a reluctance to treat those belonging to ethnic minorities. The discrepancy in attitudes towards blood ownership has been a topic of politically charged debate throughout history beginning with the discovery of the circulatory system by William Harvey. Oral histories open up the conversation and shine a spotlight on misrepresentations of blood in museums and also provide an opportunity for the history of ethnic minorities to be displayed in a positive manner. The power of medical objects is unique in demonstrating the rich and diverse history of medicine. Objects have a great power to reveal history and trigger memories for people who were familiar with them at the time. Objects also provide a way for people to three-dimensionally visualise what history was like rather than to be simply told. They are regularly utilised in museums because they provide a space for understanding and reflection.In recent decades, museums have previously been filled with collections from colonial conquests, giving rise to a white-centric representation of history. Using medical objects from the Thackray collection, this project will allow us to ensure that ethnic minorities and their stories are better incorporated into our understanding of history. It is important that this takes place as history needs to represent all and not just the general consensus from those in power. The medical objects at Thackray relating to blood and the difficult circumstances in which they were used (or not used) will emphasise that racially biased imaginaries of history cannot be avoided.Difficult conversations will need to take place as we encourage people to interrogate their own idea of history and how racially biased treatments and misconceptions about human anatomy have deeply affected ethnic minorities throughout time. During the Second World War, the blood of ethnic minorities was invariably rejected for the transfusion of Caucasians; anyone who wanted to donate and aid the cause w ic minorities who were HIV positive were less likely to receive the same level of care and treatment as their Caucasian counterparts. I believe this discrepancy would serve as an important area to explore as it will have made a lasting impact on the families ofthose who were denied treatment. This project certainly has the scope to explore the relationship between AIDS and blood in relation to medical objects and could serve as a good opportunity to tackle a subject that is sometimes considered taboo.