Position Announcement: Lecturer, College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland

The College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park (Maryland’s iSchool), invites applications for a full-time, professional track lecturer who is highly competent, energetic, collegial, and flexible to join our exciting environment. The Lecturer will teach in one or more of the areas listed below, with a course load of three classes per semester (fall and spring), and will actively participate in the life of the college through building research capacity and experiential learning opportunities in the Center for Archival Futures (CAFe).

The successful candidate will teach in our core courses and electives in archives and digital curation. Additional courses that the successful candidate can develop include courses that cover topics such as:

  • Born-digital, web, and social media archiving;

  • The intersection of archives, social justice, and public humanities;

  • Crowdsourcing and community archives;

  • Digital curation across the LAM sector and beyond;

  • Data management;

  • Knowledge representation and knowledge organization;

  • Machine learning and AI related to cultural heritage;

  • Inclusive, equitable, and enduring information ecosystems.

While these areas of expertise are of particular interest, candidates with expertise and interest in any digital curation and archives areas covered by the College’s programs are encouraged to apply.

The successful candidate will teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and engage in service to the profession and shared governance within the university. Service to the profession will include taking on a managerial role within the Center for Archival Futures (CAFe) and assisting Center leadership in achieving the goals of the center, including two main components:Increasing CAFe’s research capacity and outreach and growing CAFe’s experiential learning programs.

The course load for this position may be reduced, depending on the workload required by CAFe center management.

Expected 9-month starting salary of $80,000-$85,000 or 12-month $107,000 – $113,000 for entry rank at 100% FTE. Actual salary will commensurate with experience and starting rank.

The expected start date for this position is Fall 2022.

After 70 Years, UC Berkeley Museum Returns Massacre Remains to Wiyot Tribe

Via Hyperallergic, February 8, 2022

Ted Hernandez, tribal historical preservation officer of the Wiyot Tribe, said bringing home the remains of ancestors from the University of California, Berkeley’s Hearst Museum of Anthropology has been a long process, involving many people. The university as well as the US Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District announced on January 24 that they had repatriated the remains of 20 tribal members along with 136 artifacts (mostly beads and ornaments made of shells).

“People are more open to seeing the light and the truth and what occurred during the genocide,” Hernandez told Hyperallergic. “They’re realizing that the ancestors need to come home to their people.”

The remains are of Wiyot members killed in an unprovoked attack by a group of white settlers in 1860 during what’s known as the Indian Island Massacre. After construction of a waterway in the area, a team from UC Berkeley collected the remains in 1953 and put them in storage in the Hearst Museum, where they have been for the last 70 years.

The university repatriated the remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), a 1990 law outlining a process for museums and federal agencies to return Indigenous remains and cultural artifacts to their descendants.

Cutcha Risling Baldy, a professor of Native American studies at Humboldt State University, agrees with Hernandez that this means a lot — for the Wiyot as well as other tribes.

More here. 

Position Announcement: Visiting Assistant Professor in Contemporary Native American Studies, Colgate University

The Native American Studies Program at Colgate University invites applications for a one-year visiting assistant professor position in contemporary Native American and Indigenous topics, beginning fall semester 2022. We seek an engaged interdisciplinary candidate who combines scholarly work on pressing Indigenous issues with a demonstrated record of deep commitments to Native American communities. Preference for scholars researching in contemporary US- or Canadian-based Native, Indigenous, or First Nations contexts. The research focus is open; areas of interest include but are not limited to: Native sovereignty; resource stewardship; environmental justice; Native language politics; education and alternative epistemologies; food sovereignty; arts; media and popular culture; contemporary ethics; queer Indigenous studies; critical museum studies; and/or decolonization. Completion of a Ph.D. in Native American Studies or a related discipline or interdisciplinary field is required prior to or shortly after the date of hire.

The candidate will be expected to contribute to the curriculum of the Native American Studies Program. Colgate sustains an undergraduate curriculum of Native American studies of the Americas, with more recent openings to broader framings of global Indigenous studies. We welcome candidates who will offer an array of Native American Studies courses that draw on their expertise. The successful candidate may be expected to participate in all-university programs, including the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum.

We invite applicants to submit a cover letter (1-2 pages), a CV, an article-length writing sample, and the names and email addresses of three individuals who would be prepared to submit reference letters at a later date. Colgate strives to be a community supportive of diverse perspectives and identities and candidates may want to review Colgate’s plans in this area:

https://www.colgate.edu/about/third-century-plan/plan-diversity-equity-and-inclusion

In their cover letter, candidates must describe how their approach to teaching, scholarship, mentorship, and/or community service might support the university’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Applications must be submitted through https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/21129  Our review of applications will begin March 10, 2022 and continue until the position is filled. All offers of employment are contingent upon completion of a satisfactory background check.

Situated on the traditional lands of the Oneida Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Colgate is a vibrant liberal arts university of 3200 students located in central New York state.

More here.

Call for Nominations: Officer Positions with the Council for Museum Anthropology

The Council for Museum Anthropology welcomes nominations (including self-nominations) for the Officer positions of President-Elect, Secretary and Treasurer. Information about each of these roles can be found on our website.
CMA’s Board is an active, volunteer organization with a focus on mentorship and professional development, advancing scholarly and professional work in museum anthropology and related fields, and advocating for the central role of cultural institutions in society and in anthropology. We strive for equity and anti-colonial practice in all we do.
Questions? Email the Nominations Committee at: cara.krmpotich@utoronto.ca

Conference Announcement: 8th Annual Repatriation Conference-ReACTivating our Ancestral Connections

October 11, 12 & 13, 2022.

Without culture, we cannot exist as distinct and sovereign peoples, and we lose our way.The vision of the Association is to create a world where diverse Native American cultures are lived, protected and respected. The Association has been a leader in protecting Cultural Sovereignty – the things that make us who we are – through its Repatriation, International Repatriation and Protection of Sacred Sites initiatives, as well as ensuring that culture is passed on through its Youth initiatives. The Association has advocated for the protection and repatriation of cultural items and sacred lands for almost 100 years, including the development of the National Museum of the American Indian Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the Safeguarding Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act and other new legislation that will support the return and protection of our Cultural Heritage. The Association also provides training and technical assistance to Tribes and others, and is involved with repatriation of private collections both domestically and internationally from institutions, individuals and auctions.

The Association’s Annual Conferences are intended for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Nations— tribal leaders, practitioners, elders and representatives, museums, institutions, government agencies, academics, attorneys, collectors, artists, cultural preservationists and others engaged or interested in the repatriation of cultural heritage. Repatriation is the return of Native American Ancestors and their burial items, as well as the return of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Call for Executive Session Proposals, 2022 AAA Annual Meeting

The” encourages anthropological discussion of past, present, and future unsettlings of the world – be it through environment, power, political economy or through the collective efforts of unsettling and disrupting oppressive structures while building worlds otherwise. While our worlds are defined by nothing if not change, the current unsettling of landscapes brings with it an urgency that demands conversations which may elicit feelings of discomfort and disturbance, but may also stoke hope and determination. This orientation towards unsettling pushes us beyond easy narratives and facile binaries into moments of transformation. In essence, this theme asks two questions: In what ways are we, and those we work with, unsettled? How are we also unsettling landscapes and to what end?

Join the conversation in Seattle and online to initiate change within the discipline by that speaks directly to this year’s meeting theme. Selection and participation in Executive Sessions are highly competitive. The deadline to submit a proposal is 11:59 PM Eastern on Friday, February 18.

When submitting, session organizers must select a modality and submission type that fits the preference of the entire panel. The lists below detail the modality and submission options for the Executive Call for Papers.
Modality Options

  • Fully in-person, presenting onsite in Seattle
  • Fully virtually, presenting on the online platform
  • The entire panel is open to presenting either fully in-person or fully virtual

Submission Types

  • Oral presentation
    A lecture-based panel with seven, 15-minute timeslots for paper presentations and/or moderated discussion
  • Roundtable / Townhall
    A discussion-based panel WITHOUT papers or timed 15-minute presentations

Important Links To Save

Position Announcement: Curator Supervisor and Curator of Latin American and Southwestern US Hispanic Collections, Museum of International Folk Art

The Curator Supervisor provides strategic and managerial leadership for the Museum of International Folk Art’s Curatorial Department. Responsibilities include: managing the curatorial team; developing and implementing exhibitions; working with curators and museum staff to create interpretive plans for exhibitions and publications; building connections with our local, national and international community of artists, as well as donors to solicit funding and grants to support museum projects and implementing aspects of the museum’s strategic plan. This position supervises up to four curators and is responsible for the Latin American and Southwestern US Hispanic Collections.

The Curator Supervisor is a key position for the public face of the museum and works to connect the museum with a broad range of constituents including artists and community groups. The Curator Supervisor will participate in MOIFA administrative activities and teamwork, including attendance at museum staff meetings, collections committee meetings, curator meetings, and other committees as requested by the Director. Develop and maintain program-based budget for collections, exhibitions and related projects. Assist with museum public relations, marketing, and resource development efforts relating to exhibitions and/or area of specialization. Responsible for the development and implementation of educational training and outreach programs, relating to the curator’s exhibitions and/or area of specialization.

More here.

Call for Proposals to Organize a Workshop: African Critical Inquiry Programme

CALL FOR PROPOSALS TO ORGANISE A WORKSHOP

Closing Date: Monday 2 May 2022

The African Critical Inquiry Programme invites proposals from scholars and/or practitioners in public cultural institutions in South Africa to organise a workshop to take place in 2023. The African Critical Inquiry Programme (ACIP) seeks to advance inquiry and debate about the roles and practice of public culture, public cultural institutions, and public scholarship in shaping identities and society in Africa. The ACIP is committed to collaboration between scholars and the makers of culture/ history, and to fostering inquiry into the politics of knowledge production, the relationships between the colonial/apartheid and the postcolonial/postapartheid, and the importance of critical pluralism as against nationalist discourse. ACIP is a partnership between the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape and the Laney Graduate School of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).

ACIP Workshops are intended as annual occasions to identify and address critical themes, fundamental questions, and pressing practical issues concerning public culture. For instance, Workshops might focus on particular questions and issues related to publics, visuality, museums and exhibitions, art, performance, representational forms, or institutional forms from diverse methodological, practical, and theoretical vantage points. They might examine forms and practices of public scholarship and the theories, histories, and systems of thought that shape and illuminate public culture and public scholarship. Workshops should encourage comparative, interdisciplinary, and cross-institutional interchange and reflection that bring into conversation public scholarship in Africa, creative cultural production, and critical theory. Workshop budgets will vary depending on proposed plans; the maximum award is ZAR 60,000.

Workshop Themes and Formats: Working with a different focus each year, the ACIP Workshop will facilitate and energise conversations among scholars and practitioners drawn from universities, museums, and other cultural organisations, seeking to bridge institutional silos and boundaries. The ACIP Workshop should help place research and public scholarship within broader frames, work against institutional isolation, facilitate collaborative research relations and discussions, and build a cohort of scholars and practitioners who talk across fields, across generations, and across institutions. Proposed Workshops will be selected with an eye to cultivating these goals.

Proposed Workshop themes should focus on issues and questions that foster critical examination and debate about forms, practices, and institutions of public culture. Themes should be addressed from multiple orientations and disciplines, include comparative perspectives, and be situated in relation to concepts and theories from relevant fields. Workshops should be planned to engage participants across different institutions of public culture, including universities, museums, arts and culture organisations, NGOs, or others appropriate to the topic. Abstracts for previously funded ACIP Workshops are available here.

The Workshop might use a range of formats as appropriate. Examples of formats that might be proposed or combined:

 a standard workshop of 2-3 days, with specific sessions, presentations, discussants, pre-circulated papers or readings, etc. Variations on this format might also be introduced. Preferred timing for such workshops is March 2023.

 a working group of colleagues and postgraduate students drawn from across institutions that meet regularly over several weeks or months to discuss common readings and work in progress; visitors who work on the group’s central theme and issues might be invited to give public lectures, participate in group meetings, mentor students, etc.

 a collaborative teaching programme with a common postgraduate course, or module of a course, taught in parallel at different universities with various modes of coordination and interaction, with participants coming together for a 1 day workshop at the end.

 a distinguished scholar or cultural practitioner invited as a short-term Public Scholar in Residence (PSR) to bring fresh, comparative perspectives to particular issues and debates through public lectures, participation in a standard workshop, consultations with colleagues at institutions of public culture, and meetings with students supported by ACIP’s Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards. The visitor might also contribute to courses as appropriate.

Workshop organisers will work through the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape for basic financial administration and are responsible for complying with CHR policies. Workshop organisers should submit a letter from the host institution, centre, programme, or department confirming that appropriate administrative and institutional support will be available.

We ask Workshop organisers to incorporate appropriate modes of participation for postgraduate students holding current Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards from ACIP so that they have opportunities to consult with Workshop participants. Prior holders of Ivan Karp awards may also wish to attend and we encourage organisers to include students from a range of higher education institutions.

Who Should Apply: Applications may be submitted by experienced scholars and cultural practitioners based in universities, museums, and other cultural organisations in South Africa who are interested in creating or reinvigorating interdisciplinary, cross-institutional engagement and understanding and who are committed to training the next generations of scholar-practitioners. Applications may be submitted by a single individual or a pair of individuals who have different institutional affiliations and bring different perspectives, approaches, or specialisations to the proposed Workshop theme.

More here.

Smithsonian Names New Leader of National Museum of the American Indian

Via The New York Times, January 19, 2022

The Smithsonian Institution has named Cynthia Chavez Lamar as the new director of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Chavez Lamar — who is a member of San Felipe Pueblo, a Native American tribe in New Mexico’s middle Rio Grande Valley — will assume the post on Feb. 14.

“I don’t see this as something that I have achieved on my own,” Chavez Lamar, who is also of Hopi, Tewa and Navajo heritage, said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

“There are many Native and Indigenous peoples before me who have been in prominent roles,” she added, “who have struggled and persevered to ensure that our stories and our perspectives as Native people were heard.”

More here.