Culture Jail
Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo has been densely packed with satire and not-so-subtle irony thus far. All of his critiques are worth discussing, but the one which caught my attention the most was his disdain for museums. Reed mixes in a thread bashing museums seamlessly alongside many other critical statements, however this one intrigued me more because I didn’t expect it. The argument made sense, especially in the context of Reed’s other arguments, but it had not occurred to me before. I typically though of museums as places protecting and documenting things. Museums rarely occurred to me as a place where things are trapped. The first place this idea appears is the beginning of chapter 2. Reed begins from the perspective of the Atonists, observing the jes’ grew epidemic. When the Mu’tafikah raid museums and send their contents back to their native lands, ...