Our first few interviews: heritage, shame and food

As we plan our first project at Museo Wak’a we are using design thinking tools. Essentially, this means we are going out and interviewing a lot of people about their opinions about and experiences of heritage and museums.

This week I went to a nearby park to test the questions we had prepared for the interviews. After just a few interviews I learnt several things. One: the questions didn’t work. Questions about heritage and history mostly provoked blank stares. The questions were too generic and we’ll need to find more creative ways to approach the topic.

However, once I did manage to get people taking on the topic, I uncovered a reaction I did not expect: shame. Shame at not knowing more about history and, in one particularly poignant interview, shame expressed by a father at not having any knowledge to pass to his children: “What will I tell them if one day they ask me about history?”

On the way back from the park this idea was turning over in my head. How can we help parents be proud owners of their history, and feel capable of transferring it to their children?

Finally: food. This topic (like that of weather in my home country) is unescapable in Peru. I don’t know if this is partly because I’m foreign and Peruvians are always proud to tell foreigners about their food. But, whenever there was a gap in the conversation, I heard about recipes, a mother-in-laws exceptional cooking, dreams of opening a restaurant, the best way to make a particular sauce… Without ever asking about it, one aspect of this country’s heritage couldn’t be ignored.

Next, we’ll be carrying out the interviews on a bigger scale and will have more results to share.

Know a group of people who’d be willing to talk to us and share their opinions? Let us know! (museowaka@gmail.com)