Author: Emily Hayflick

Via the New York Times, 21 February 2024

When new federal regulations took effect last month requiring museums to get consent from tribes before exhibiting certain Native cultural items, museums across the country began to remove objects from cases, cover up displays and even close entire halls.

The latest rules are meant to strengthen the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, which has been criticized for the slow pace of returns since it was passed more than three decades ago.

Under the law only certain types of items must be returned to tribes, allowing others to stay on display.

A visit to the venerable Field Museum in Chicago showed how compliance is playing out. While some displays have been concealed with paper or curtains as the museum explores whether it must return objects, others remain on view, either because they are not believed to be governed by the new rules or because tribes have given consent.

Here is a look at how the new regulations work, told through six objects.

More here. 

SIMA 2024 Call For Applications – Due March 7, 2024

The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) is accepting proposals from prospective graduate student participants for the 2024 program. The program will be held at the National Museum of Natural History from June 24 – July 19, 2024.

The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) is a graduate student summer training program in museum research methods offered through the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History with major funding from the Cultural Anthropology Program of the National Science Foundation.

During four weeks of intensive training in seminars and hands-on workshops in the research collections, students are introduced to the scope of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History Anthropology collections. Students become acquainted with strategies for navigating museum systems, learn to select methods to examine and analyze archival and museum collections, and consider a range of theoretical issues that collections-based research may address. Throughout SIMA, students are also taught about the ethics of engaging with communities’ belongings in museums, and the practicalities of doing collaborative research.  In consultation with faculty, each student carries out preliminary collections research on a topic of their own choice and develops a prospectus for research to be implemented upon return to their home university. Instruction will be provided by Dr. Joshua A. Bell, Dr. Candace Greene and other Smithsonian scholars, plus a series of visiting faculty.

Who should apply?

Graduate students preparing for careers in cultural anthropology who are interested in using museum collections in their research. The program is not designed to serve students seeking careers in museum management. Students at both the masters and doctoral level will be considered for acceptance. Students in related interdisciplinary programs (Indigenous Studies, Folklore, etc.) are welcome to apply if the proposed project is anthropological in nature. All U.S. students are eligible for acceptance, even if studying abroad. International students can be considered only if they are enrolled in a university in the U.S. Members of Canadian First Nations are eligible under treaty agreements.

Costs: The program covers students’ tuition and shared housing in local furnished apartments. A stipend will be provided to assist with the cost of food and other local expenses. Participants are individually responsible for the cost of travel to and from Washington, DC.

Dates: June 24, 2024 – July 19, 2024

Application deadline – March 7, 2024

For detailed information about SIMA please visit:

https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/anthropology/programs/summer-institute-museum-anthropology

For full application instructions visit:

https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/anthropology/programs/summer-institute-museum-anthropology/sima-application-instructions

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is a nonprofit institution that engages audiences in an ongoing dialogue, in which people of all backgrounds are able to see American history and society through a critical lens, to reflect on their own experiences, and to make meaningful connections between the past and the present, the global and the local, themselves and others. MOCA celebrates the living history of the Chinese experience in America by preserving and presenting the two century-long history, heritage, culture, and diverse experiences of American communities of Chinese descent. As one of “America’s Cultural Treasures,” MOCA is devoted to educating the public on this important history and to inspiring meaningful intercultural dialogues through exhibitions, education, and public programs. Since its founding in 1980, MOCA has evolved from a Chinatown history project in New York City into an ambitious reflection of the whole of Chinese American history, becoming the country’s leading museum of Chinese American history and a global destination.

Betty Lee Sung Research Fellowship

MOCA supports rigorous scholarship and creative approaches to exhibition-making. To further these values, MOCA is launching the Betty Lee Sung Research Fellowship, which will support an emerging scholar, post-doctoral academic, or independent curator to conduct object-based research for an upcoming exhibition.

In addition to research in MOCA’s Collections and in other libraries and archives, the fellow will be involved in planning and content development discussions with the exhibition team, consisting of scholars, artists, designers, curators and other MOCA staff. Working directly with MOCA’s curatorial team, the fellow will receive mentorship, training and guidance in the research, development, and production of a major multimedia historical exhibition.

The fellowship is named in honor of Betty Lee Sung, a pioneering scholar of Chinese and Asian American history, whose archives are housed at MOCA. The fellow will be awarded a $10,000 stipend for the six-month fellowship.

Fellowship Term:

• 6-month term, June 1 – December 31, 2024
• 24 hours per week
• Flexible schedule; at least one day per week in-person
• $10,000 stipend

Responsibilities & Duties:

• Conduct research at private and public collections, libraries, and online resources for artifacts, images, and historical details according to assigned topics
• Write research summaries on assigned topics
• Present research findings to the curatorial and content team on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule
• Participate in planning meetings to identify and prioritize research goals, and other meetings as needed to discuss exhibition content and design
• Compile, enter, and update content on project databases and spreadsheets
• Manage and maintain artifact and image checklists
• Research provenance information and assist in securing loans and permissions
• Some domestic travel possible

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Chinese American history, Asian American history, American history, art history, media studies, anthropology, or a related field, or experience in public history projects
• Master’s degree in related field preferred
• Academic and/or critical writing competency
• Availability to work on-site at MOCA at least once a week or more depending on project needs
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills
• Collegial, with the ability to work collaboratively and independently
• Self-motivated and detail-oriented with excellent organizational skills
• Intellectually curious with outstanding critical thinking skills
• Prior experience securing image rights and permissions

• Proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the Adobe Design Suite: Illustrator and Photoshop
• Bilingual Mandarin and/or Cantonese, written and spoken, preferred

To Apply:

Only full application including the following materials will be considered.

• Resume
• Cover Letter, addressing your interest in the fellowship and your research focus
• Two Writing Samples – maximum of 500 words (excerpts from academic papers, exhibition texts, art criticism, personal writing, etc.)

Applications will be accepted from February 14 – March 29, 2024. Candidates who advance to interviews will be contacted directly.

More here. 

THE OPPORTUNITY
The Program Officer will be responsible for shaping and managing program strategies, activities, and grantmaking in alignment with the ACC’s vision and goals. Reporting to the Director of Programs, the Program Officer will play a key front-facing role in leading the ACC’s grant programs and collaborate with the affiliate offices in Hong Kong, Manila, Taipei, and Tokyo to ensure that all efforts address ACC’s mission and regional programmatic priorities.

With members of the Programs Department, the Program Officer will help manage grant records, budgets, payments, and reports, and will oversee compliance throughout the grants administration process. They will actively develop partnerships and external networks with leaders in the arts and cultural sector to maintain and support ACC grantee and alumni relations across the 4 affiliate offices in Asia.

Position Duties and Responsibilities
Grantmaking

• Work with Director of Programs to design, plan, and implement ACC grant programs and strategy to advance the mission and maximize program impact.
• Manage the annual grantmaking and fellowship award process and recommend and implement improvements as needed.
• Responsibilities include, but not limited to:
  • identifying and driving the desired impact of ACC grants to meet overall ACC mission and objectives.
  • designing grant application guidelines.
  • conducting feasibility due diligence of select grant proposals.
  • reviewing grant applications for eligibility criteria and requirements.
  • developing selection criteria for panelists.
  • convening and organizing panel selection process for each grant cycle.
• Prepare and/or draft docket materials that summarize grant recommendations and budgets for consideration by the Director of Programs, Executive Director, and Board of Trustees.
• Partner with the Grants Administrator to maintain the grants management system (Akoya Go), process and track grant progress, and provide timely reports.
• Develop program matrix. Analyze data and adjust grant program/portfolio as appropriate.

Grantee/Alumni Relationships and Partnerships

• Serve as the primary point of contact for grantees.
• Effectively manage grantee relationships in collaboration with 4 affiliate offices. (approximately 40 grantees per year across 5 ACC offices). Serve as an internal and external point of contact for grant-related matters.
• Organize and lead orientation meetings for New York based grantees and develop local programs to provide ACC Fellowship program services. Program services provide grantees access and connections to institutions, alumni, and others in their respective fields to help maximize their grant experiences.
• Build and foster relationships with peer organizations for potential collaboration opportunities and act as a connector between grantees and partners.
• Work with the Grants Administrator to supply grantees’ J-1 visas, health insurance, and travel- related needs as required and necessary.
• Continuously engage and cultivate current grantees and ACC alumni.

Other Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Marketing and Communications Department in its efforts to increase the visibility of ACC and to promote ACC’s grant programs, including call for applications, announcement, grantee/alumni activities, etc.
• Special projects and administrative responsibilities as assigned by the Director of Programs.
• Occasional evening and weekend attendance required for grantee/alumni activities.

Position Qualifications
Skills and Abilities

• Proven experience with and knowledge of a variety of grantmaking approaches.
• Organizational and project management skills with ability to independently lead projects.
• Experience with strategic planning/process optimization.
• Experience with managing data for the grantmaking system (e.g., Akoya Go), and analyzing and interpreting data to improve the effectiveness of grant programs.
• Skills in customer services and people management for diverse constituencies.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, strong oral presentation/storytelling skills.
• Strong aptitude for learning new technologies.
• Curiosity about a variety of arts disciplines and ability to connect and engage in a personable way with people from different cultures and backgrounds.
• Ability to work in a team-oriented environment to solve complex and unexpected challenges.

Education, Experience, and Knowledge

• Bachelor’s degree with 3-5 years of grantmaking experience.
• Experience in the arts and cultural field or with international organizations is a plus.
• Knowledge of Asia and language skills are helpful.

More here. 

NAGPRA Coordinator

Develops tribal relationships that acknowledge and respect a Tribe’s sovereignty, cultural protocols, and cultural and religious practices and knowledge. Works across the University of Connecticut’s departments and units to achieve the University’s goals around the timely and respectful return of Native American ancestors and cultural items. Ensures the University is compliant with all aspects of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and state-level policy and is responsible for the implementation of NAGPRA and related repatriation activities at UConn. This includes working with departments and other units to compile and maintain inventories of collections that fall under NAGPRA. Identify Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony, prepare reports of findings, and present findings to tribal representatives for consultation as required by the NAGPRA regulatory process. Submit collections summaries and inventories to the National NAGPRA. Works with existing Curators and Collections managers of Archeological and Cultural Collections to review Native American Collections across departments and units to meet NAGPRA compliance requirements. Seeks grant funds to support repatriation and collaborative community projects.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• NAGPRA Coordinator Actions (70%):
  • Work with University departments and other units to inventory and create summaries of all human remains and associated/unassociated funerary objects on campus and complete a regular campus-wide audit.
  • Develop and implement outreach strategies to proactively engage Native American, Native Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian communities in NAGPRA consultations.
  • Oversee all aspects of NAGPRA tribal outreach involving complex external relations programs, projects, and events, including coordinating special programs, and overseeing the production of audio/visual or written and visual materials with Native American, Native Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian communities.
  • Advise, educate, and train the University and its counterparts in the procedures of NAGPRA repatriations as applicable.
  • Advise University personnel about repatriation best practices.
  • Address all repatriation requests made to the University.
  • Using institutional knowledge and awareness of constituency perception, assist with designing, developing, and implementing short and long-term strategic plans, programs, events, and activities.
  • Travel to relevant semi-annual meetings and conferences to research best practices in the field and/or to publicly present University NAGPRA activities where appropriate.
  • Identify and assist with preparing applications for grants to support campus and tribal NAGPRA efforts.
  • Quickly and appropriately identify, address/escalate, and mitigate unforeseen and/or rapidly unfolding events that may negatively impact relationships between the campus and tribal constituencies, keeping senior management appropriately advised and notified.
  • Support and coordinate regular meetings with the UConn Repatriation Committee.
• Curatorial (20%)
  • Collaborate with Native American Tribes and community members to create exhibitions and educational opportunities that support contemporary Native American interests.
  • Coordinate with the Office of State Archaeology (OSA) and the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History (CSMNH) to conduct collections rehabilitation and curation work with descendent communities and tribes to care for Native American collections at UConn.
  • Coordinate with the CSMNH and other relevant entities in the design, evaluation, and implementation of educational programs related to Native American cultures.
  • Carry out repatriation preparations including packing ancestors and belongings for return as needed.
• Administrative Work (10%)
  • Develop a curation plan for the University regarding Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony.
  • Meet regularly with the Provost’s Office to ensure campus compliance with state and federal regulations as well as adequate funding and staffing.
  • Represent the University to the campus community and public in matters related to the Native American collections and UConn repatriation efforts.

More here. 

This Institute for Higher Education Faculty funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities brings together faculty and advanced graduate students in the humanities whose research addresses traumatic and/or controversial memories and histories and relies on archival or museum collections to interpret them. We will host 25 participants and an interdisciplinary faculty team for a three-week residential program at Indiana University Bloomington, providing participants the opportunity to utilize campus and local community collections. Institute participants will learn ways to honor and respect identities and issues that have often been suppressed and misrepresented in collections. Most importantly, they will learn and develop practices to engage and sustain contact with traumatic and controversial collections without becoming overwhelmed or debilitated, so that they may share what they have learned with each other, their students, and the communities that they serve.

By the end of the institute, participants will develop techniques for engaging collections as sites for learning, healing, and growth despite painful encounters, to benefit themselves, community members, and their students. For their culminating project, participants will prepare a plan for trauma mitigation, care for self and others, and healing as connected to engagements with one or more of the collections they have identified. The institute will help form an interdisciplinary network of humanities scholars who can share materials, seek advice, collaborate, and provide mutual support, operating as a dispersed community of practice.

Higher education faculty members (tenured, tenure track, or non-tenured, including staff in university and college archives, museums, and libraries) and advanced graduate students who have reached candidacy in a PhD program or are in the final year of another terminal degree program are invited to apply.

More here. 

Apply here. 

Via The New York Times, 4 February 2024

“What if museums give back so much art that they have nothing left to display?” As a scholar of the debates about returning cultural objects to the countries from which they were stolen, I have, over the years, heard many variations of that question. “Museums have lots and lots of stuff,” I usually answer, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. “It’s not like they’re just going to shut down.”

But in December, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced it would return a substantial proportion of its Khmer-era works to Cambodia, which is claiming still more, including nearly all the museum’s major Cambodian pieces. Last month, the American Museum of Natural History indefinitely closed two of its halls in response to new federal regulations about the display of Native American sacred and burial artifacts. Now Manhattan’s Rubin Museum of Art, which features art from the Himalayas, has announced that it will close later this year. The museum says the decision is unrelated to issues of cultural repatriation, but it comes after the museum faced many accusations of cultural theft and returned some prized pieces.

Clearly, I need to change my answer.

When stolen artifacts go back to their rightful owners, it is now clear, some display cases will indeed empty out, some galleries will shut their doors, and entire museums may even close. But it’s worth it. Repatriating these precious items is still the right thing to do, no matter the cost.

Why? Museums are supposed to educate us about other ways of being in the world. But looted artifacts alone — removed from their original context, quarantined in an antiseptic display case — cannot do this. Unlike, say, Impressionist paintings or Pop Art sculptures, ritual objects were not meant to be seen in a gallery at a time of the viewer’s choosing. Used alongside music, scents and tastes, these holy relics are tools to help participants in rituals achieve a transcendent experience. Imagine looking at a glow stick necklace and thinking it could teach you what it’s like to greet the sunrise dancing ecstatically with hundreds of strangers.

• Care about a vibrant and diverse museum anthropology?
• Enjoy working in small teams and getting sh*t done?
• Wish you could promote great working happening in your field?
• Value mentorship and opportunities to connect across generations?

Anne Ray Internship

The School for Advanced Research, Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) offers two nine-month internships (September 1–May 31) to individuals who are recent college graduates, current graduate students, or junior museum professionals interested in furthering their professional museum experience and enhancing their intellectual capacity for contributing to the expanding field and discourse of museum studies. The internships include a semi-monthly salary, free housing and utilities, a book allowance, the cost of one professional conference, and reimbursable travel to and from SAR. One internship is open to an Indigenous individual from the U.S. or Canada, and one internship is open to any U.S. or Canadian citizen meeting the application requirements.

Interns devote their time to working on IARC educational programming, research and writing activities, and collections management and registration. Other requirements include making one public presentation; attending a professional conference; assisting with IARC seminars, symposia, and collection tours; and working on outreach initiatives to local Native communities. Interns will also participate in interviews, photo sessions, video recordings, and exit interviews to document their experience.

For more information, please visit our online application portal or download the Anne Ray Internship Application. The deadline to apply is March 1st.

More here. 

Project Coordinator, Rethinking Relationships

Grade 6: £32,332 – £38,205

Full-time, fixed term for 33 months

Rethinking Relationships is a collaboration to develop and adapt museum practice to build trust with communities and improve access to collections from Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. It aims to respond to questions all museums must face about how they interpret, record, and acquire collections. You will be based at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford but will work across the four partner museums which are the Pitt Rivers Museum, Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Horniman Museum and Gardens and the World Museum Liverpool.

This is an essential role for the successful delivery and achievement of this ambitious project. You will be a central, focal contact point who understands the aims and outcomes of the work. You will be key to the successful development of the network of communities, co-ordination with partner organisation as well as the drawing together of toolkits, guidance, and digital outputs. You will work closely with the two part-time Relationship Managers and relevant staff from the four museums.

Closing date: 25 January 2024