Category: Museum Anthropology Blog

CMA-SPONSORED IN-PERSON PANELS/POSTERS

(2-1620) Anthropology at St. Louis and Before

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Oral Presentation (In-Person)

Council for Museum Anthropology

11/18/2021: 10:15 AM – 12:00 PM

Sean O’Neill, Christopher Lowman, Richard Warms, Robert Launay, Reece McGee

(2-1460) Entangled Histories and Bundles of Relations: Contemporary Ethnographic Work In and Around Collections

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Invited Session – Oral Presentation (In-Person)

Council for Museum Anthropology

2:00 PM – 3:45 PM

Catherine Nichols, Diana Marsh, Kristin Otto, Christopher Berk, Howard Morphy

(3-2233) From Ecomuseum to Museum Family: Developments in China and Taiwan

Friday, November 19, 2021

Poster (In-Person)

Council for Museum Anthropology

4:15 PM – 6:00 PM

Yanqi Wei

(4-3340) Anthropology In/Of Museums and Their Collections

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Volunteered – Oral Presentation (In-Person)

Council for Museum Anthropology

4:15 PM – 6:00 PM

Chris Urwin, Lawrence Ramirez, Sylvia Ngo, Meryl Shriver-Rice, Elizabeth Oakley, Foster W. Krupp, Sonia Barragan

OTHER IN-PERSON PANELS/POSTERS OF INTEREST

(3-2120) Organizing and Curating Museums during the Pandemic: Truth, Responsibility, and Repatriations

Friday, November 19, 2021

Oral Presentation (In-Person)

Association for Africanist Anthropology

2:00 PM – 3:45 PM

Preminda Jacob, Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Erica Fontana, J.R. Osborn, Shannen Hill

(5-3640) Commodification and Environmentalism: The Political Economy of Defining Cultural Heritage

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Volunteered – Oral Presentation (In-Person)

Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology

10:15 AM – 12:00 PM

Nicholas Denning, Rowenn Kalman, Jocelyn Moylan, Amy Medvick, Rebecca Irons, Meredith Main Sá

CMA-SPONSORED VIRTUAL PANELS/PODCASTS/TALKS

(2-1690) “Small Museums—Large Truths”

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Oral Presentation (Virtual)

Council for Museum Anthropology

10:15 AM – 12:00 PM

John Bodinger de Uriarte, Sigurjon Hafsteinsson, Joseph Gonzales, Anna Runarsdottir, Bergsveinn Thorsson

(3-2553) A Conversation on Community-led Databases: Surveying Methods of Knowledge Sovereignty

 Friday, November 19, 2021

Invited Session – Roundtable / Townhall (Virtual)

Council for Museum Anthropology

4:15 PM – 6:00 PM

Christina Hodge, Diana Marsh, Cara Krmpotich, Ricardo Punzalan, Alexandria Rayburn, Sandrena Raymond

OTHER VIRTUAL PANELS/PODCASTS/TALKS OF INTEREST

(3-2122) Native Americans and Museums: International Perspectives and Collaborative Prospects.

Friday, November 19, 2021

Roundtable / Townhall (Virtual)

Society for the Anthropology of North America

10:15 AM – 12:00 PM

Robert Collins, Justin Richland, Alaka Wali, Markus Lindner

CMA-SPONSORED ASYNCHRONOUS CONTENT

(0-0430) Remediating Sky Blanket: A conversation with Jaad Kuujus.

Podcast (Virtual)

Council for Museum Anthropology

Hannah Turner, Kate Hennessy, Meghann O’Brien

(0-0980) Global Themes in Local Context: A Case Study of a Japanese Human Rights Museum

Talk (Virtual)

Council for Museum Anthropology

Lisa Mueller

(0-1240) Constructing Arab Cultural Heritage from Museums-Based Materials

Talk (Virtual)

Council for Museum Anthropology

Sara Ann Knutson

OTHER ASYNCHRONOUS CONTENT OF INTEREST

(0-0310) Schools and local museums in the Pyrenees. Some reflections on the relationship between cultural and educational institutions from an ethnographic approach.

Talk (Virtual)

Council on Anthropology and Education

Elizabeth Pérez Izaguirre 

(0-1910) Shifting Post-colonial Narratives of the U.S. South: Historic Houses, Tour Talk, and Museum Scripts

Flash Presentations (Virtual)

Society for Linguistic Anthropology

Lori Donath

(0-1120) Dulac-You-Wanna: Cultural Heritage and Subsiding Ecologies in Louisiana’s Coastal Marsh

Thesis Competition (Virtual)

National Association of Student Anthropologists

Dustin Reuther

(0-1670) Authority and Authenticity: an ethnographic discourse analysis of the safeguarding of Zhuang ethnic minority heritage

Late Breaking – Individual Poster (Virtual)

Executive Program Committee

Linfei Yi

Congratulations again to our three awardees!

With the support of the Race, Place, and Equity grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the University of Virginia has launched a multiyear project to expand the undergraduate curriculum, diversify the faculty, and build relationships with local Black and Indigenous communities who have historically been marginalized from and directly harmed by their contact with the university. As part of the grant, UVA is hiring a tenure-track assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies, to be housed in the College of Arts & Sciences or School of Architecture. A joint appointment is also possible. Applications will be welcome from scholars who could find a home in School of Architecture in the department of Architectural History or Landscape Architecture or the following departments in the College of Arts and Sciences: Carter G. Woodson Department of African American and African Studies; American Studies; Anthropology; Art; English; Global Studies; History; Media Studies; Politics; Religious Studies; Sociology; Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese; and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

More here.

California State University, Chico is seeking faculty who are competent in their field, excellent teachers, collaborative with colleagues and staff, and committed to student success. We are seeking a tenure- track combined position in Archaeology and Museum Studies. Candidates must be able to teach lower and upper division undergraduate courses and graduate courses in the areas of Archaeology and Museum studies. Strong preference will be given to applicants with demonstrated expertise in historical archaeology with evidence of museum background and experience in the collection management.

This tenure-track position carries responsibilities in the areas of teaching archaeology and museum studies at both the graduate and undergraduate level, advancing the museum studies program and Valene L. Smith Museum of Anthropology, maintaining an active participation in scholarship, and service to the North State and student advancement.

More here.

This year CMA Awards will be presented at a Zoom Awards Ceremony, TODAY 

Wednesday, 10 November 2021 , 9pm EST / 8pm CST / 7pm MST/6pm PST (UTC: 11 Nov 2021 2:00am)

Please come and toast the winners!

Please register and join us for the CMA Awards Zoom. In addition to the presentation of awards by the CMA Board, award winners will be invited to speak. There will be time at the end for attendees to speak. 

Register here.

We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Council for Museum Anthropology awards. We thank the CMA Awards Committee (Cara Krmpotich, Catherine Nichols, Laura Peers. and Adrian Van Allen), and the CMA Book Award Committee (Jennifer Kramer (Chair), Christy DeLair, Laura Peers, and Carolyn Heitman) for their dedicated work on this.

2021 Council for Museum Anthropology Michael M. Ames Prize for Innovative Museum Anthropology

The CMA is extremely pleased to announce the winner of the 2021 Council for Museum Anthropology Michael M. Ames Prize for Innovative Museum Anthropology: Nicola Levell, University of British Columbia, for her exhibition, associated catalogue, educational programming, and virtual platform, “Shadows, Strings & Other Things” –and her book on this work, Bodies of Enchantment. Thanks to all who submitted nominations for consideration, and congratulations to Nicola and all associated with the project. 

Through puppetry, Levell’s project showcases seven modes through which visitors and scholars experience the (im)material cultural heritage of puppetry and exhibit making, including an onsite gallery, digital 3D scans of the exhibit, videos, podcasts, virtual reality, an open access gallery guide, and the Bodies of Enchantment book. This multi-modal project offers a compelling model for anthropologists engaging in multi-faceted scholarship and public engagement. Multiple aspects of museum operations are evident in the project’s design and execution: from sensitive collecting and documentation, to curation, to theatrical and creative public programming, to the multi-purpose digital platform that extended and archived the temporary exhibition. 

“Shadows, Strings & Other Things” is an exemplar of how museum anthropology generatively troubles easy distinctions between tangible and intangible culture; animacy and object; and how it brings into public conversation ontological queries about things-belongings-beings. Levell’s museological practice does not shy away from politics and the pressing need to unsettle Western hegemonic structures, nor is it anchored in an ahistorical and disengaged formation—rather it invokes the core principles of Michael Ames’ efforts to decolonize and democratize museums.

2021 Council for Museum Anthropology Lifetime Achievement/Distinguished Service Award

The CMA is delighted to announce the winner of the 2021 Council for Museum Anthropology Lifetime Achievement/Distinguished Service Award: Corinne A. Kratz, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and African Studies Emerita at Emory University, and Emory Director for the African Critical Inquiry Program. Thanks to all who submitted nominations for consideration. 

Kratz’s academic work spans a lifetime of scholarly and engaged anthropological achievement. Over the course of her near 50-year career, Kratz has redefined both museum anthropology and critical museology, especially at the intersections between these fields and African Studies. Kratz is the author of the award-winning book The Ones That Are Wanted: Communication and the Politics of Representation in a Photographic Exhibition, which is a description of, and extended critical reflection upon, Kratz’s own exhibition ‘Okiek Portraits,’ a traveling exhibition of fieldwork photographs taken during her work with the Kaplelach and Kipchornwonek Okiek people of South-central Kenya. Including tri-lingual captions, short dialogues between Kratz and her Okiek interlocutors, and the use of color photographs, the exhibition challenged earlier visual stereotypes of the Okiek. Based on the failures and successes of the exhibition as it traveled around the United States, Kratz’s ethnography was one of the first book-length studies to take seriously the idea that an exhibition may be engaged as an anthropological ‘field site’ in its own right. It is a seminal study for visual anthropology and critical museology, and exemplifies participatory and collaborative methodologies while taking seriously the dynamics and contexts of visitors and institutions. In addition, Kratz is a lead editor on the landmark volume Museum Frictions: Public Cultures/Global Transformations, one of the most important contributions to critical museology of recent decades.

Kratz’s impact on a global community of scholars is also evident in her mentorship, especially her support of African Early Career Researchers. In addition to mentoring young scholars at Emory University, Kratz’s service and mentoring activities extended transnationally to the Institutions of Public Culture Program, a partnership between the Center for the Study of Public Scholarship at Emory and South African cultural institutions. Following Ivan Karp’s death in 2011, Kratz carried forward their joint commitment to developing public intellectual life in Africa by establishing the Ivan Karp and Corinne Kratz Fund. The Fund supported the creation of the African Critical Inquiry Program, which provides research funding for African doctoral students from across the continent and sponsors innovative annual workshops in South Africa. We honor her generosity of spirit and time, and her indelible human connection with a global community of colleagues. 

2021 Council for Museum Anthropology Book Award 

The Council for Museum Anthropology is most pleased to announce that Jason M. Gibson has won the 2021 CMA Book Award for Ceremony Men: Making Ethnography and the Return of The Strehlow Collection (SUNY Press: Albany, NY, 2020).  In this deftly reflexive and sensitive work, Gibson analyzes the historical colonial context for the collection of central Australian men’s songs, stories, and ceremony by linguist/ anthropologist T.G.H. Strehlow. Gibson redresses the anthropological myth of Strehlow as heroic salvager and replaces it with an awareness of the intentional co-creation of this archive by Anmatyerr and Arrernte ceremonial specialists who actively allowed their secret and sacred knowledge to be recorded for posterity. Through ethnographically specific, place-based exchanges with contemporary Anmatyerr ritual knowledge holders, Gibson offers a nuanced understanding of authority, ownership, and reciprocity that emerge around this significant archive and the significance of its holdings to Anmatyerr men today. Eschewing simplistic repatriation rhetoric and grounded in rich fieldwork and Anmatyerr ritual knowledge holders’ perspectives and voices, this ethnography intimately details the challenges and opportunities in co-stewarding this collection into the future. Thanks to all who submitted nominations and Congratulations Jason!

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) invites applications for the position of Assistant Curator of Anthropology. The successful candidate will have an active research program engaged with contemporary social/anthropological issues and will curate an ethnological collection that consists, largely, of material culture from Indigenous populations of North America. The candidate’s regional focus, methodological and theoretical orientation, and subfield specialization are open, but experience with material culture and/or museums is desired. We seek a collegial individual who will develop (or continue building) an outstanding North American research program who will complement our existing curatorial expertise.

More here.

Native American Studies at the University of Oklahoma—a dynamic and growing department— is pleased to announce that we are seeking applications for the Horizon Chair in Native American History and Culture. This is an endowed open rank position and those at the advanced assistant, associate, or full professor level whose scholarship and teaching focuses on the pre-and early colonial eras through the nineteenth century, are encouraged to apply.

The teaching load for this position is 2/1 and includes the ability to create and teach specialized upper division courses and graduate seminars in addition to core requirements.

For more information about Native American Studies at OU, please visit our website at nas.ou.edu or visit us on social media on Facebook or Twitter. The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Carnegie-R1 comprehensive public research university known for excellence in teaching, research/creative activity, and community engagement, serving the educational, cultural, economic and health-care needs of the state, region, and nation from three campuses: Norman, Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, and the Schusterman Center in Tulsa. OU enrolls over 30,000 students and has more than 2,700 full-time faculty members in 21 colleges.

In addition to establishing the new Native Nations Center for Research, The University is launching the Native Peoples Initiative, the goal of which is to make OU the premier institution in North America for research that places the cultures of Native peoples and the sovereignty of Native nations at the center of academic study – spanning subjects from art, culture, religion, history to governance, law, health, business and the environment. 

The University of Oklahoma is home to graduate programs in a wide range of NAS allied fields, including Native American Anthropology, Art History, History, Law, Literature, and Philosophy. NAS offers language instruction in Cherokee (Tsalagi), Choctaw (Chahta), Creek (Myskoge), and Kiowa (Cáuigù), and houses an expansive Native American languages Collection.

The campus is also home to significant Native American holdings and collections in the Fred Jones Museum of Art, the Western History Collection, and the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. OU has a large Native American student body and active Native faculty and staff. Norman, Oklahoma has the third highest Native American population in the United States for towns of 100,000 or more. The state is home to 39 Native nations and over 40 American Indian languages representing at least 6 families.

We seek an outstanding scholar teacher with a Ph.D. in Native American and/or Indigenous Studies or a relevant allied field, such as History, Anthropology, and Art History. The successful candidate will have: (1) a strong record of research productivity; (2) commitment to student mentoring; (3) excellence in graduate and undergraduate teaching and learning; and (4) evidence of applied expertise through collaborative community engagement with tribal nations and Native American communities; (5) commitment to cross-departmental and cross-college collaborations. The demonstrated ability to obtain external research funding is preferred.

The successful candidate will contribute to the mission and goals of the Native American Studies Department by adding to and enhancing NAS’s existing curriculum. This position includes the ability to create and teach specialized upper division courses and graduate seminars.

To apply, all materials (application letter, vitae, and name and contact information for three potential references) should be submitted online at https://apply.interfolio.com/88155.

Three letters of recommendation will be required prior to a campus interview. We will begin reviewing applications as they are submitted and the position will remain open until filled. Direct inquiries to Dr. Raymond Orr, Chair of the Department of Native American Studies and Search Committee Chair at raymond_orr@ou.edu. The position will begin in August 2022.

The University of Oklahoma, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures. This includes, but is not limited to:  admissions, employment, financial aid, housing, services in educational programs or activities, or health care services that the University operates or provides.

“Who defines the needs of the people and the related epistemologies that serve them?” (Karp & Masolo 2000:10)

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: IVAN KARP DOCTORAL RESEARCH AWARDS FOR AFRICAN STUDENTS ENROLLED IN SOUTH AFRICAN Ph.D. PROGRAMMES 

Closing Date: Monday 2 May 2022

             The African Critical Inquiry Programme is pleased to announce the 2022 Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards to support African doctoral students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are enrolled at South African universities and conducting dissertation research on relevant topics. Grant amounts vary depending on research plans, with a maximum award of ZAR 40,000.

            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).

ELIGIBILITY: The Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards are open to African postgraduate students (regardless of citizenship) in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Applicants must be currently registered in a Ph.D. programme in a South African university and be working on topics related to ACIP’s focus. Awards will support doctoral research projects focused on topics such as institutions of public culture, particular aspects of museums and exhibitions, forms and practices of public scholarship, culture and communication, and the theories, histories, and systems of thought that shape and illuminate public culture and public scholarship. Applicants must submit a dissertation proposal that has been approved by their institution to confirm the award; this must be completed before they begin ACIP-supported on-site research or by December 2022, whichever comes first.

More here.

“Who defines the needs of the people and the related epistemologies that serve them?” (Karp & Masolo 2000:10)

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.

The Future is Now: Emerging Perspectives in Museology and Museum Anthropology–A Council for Museum Anthropology Virtual Symposium

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant pressures on students and early career museum professionals, as well as limited opportunities to connect with fellow scholars at conferences. The Council for Museum Anthropology (CMA) will be delaying its own in-person conference until 2023. With this in mind, the CMA will be hosting a virtual symposium in Spring 2022 focused on the ongoing work of students and emerging professionals.

 Understanding the roles that students and emerging professionals play in helping to change the landscape of the museum field, the CMA seeks proposals from undergraduates, graduate students, and early career professionals for its 2022 Spring Symposium, The Future is Now: Emerging Perspectives in Museology and Museum Anthropology. The virtual symposium will take place March 25-26, 2022, and will provide opportunities for participants to share their research in a supportive environment with fellow scholars and professionals.

The symposium will be held virtually on Zoom. Papers can be submitted individually or as organized panels. Individually submitted papers will be organized into thematic panels. Each paper should be no longer than 15 minutes long; organized panels are provided a total of 75 minutes (4 papers + Q&A). Two papers selected for excellence by the CMA board will be awarded prizes of $500 each.

 To submit: Please submit proposals with the following information to council.museumanth@gmail.com by December 31, 2021.

Name

Email address

Bio (100 words or less, including institutional affiliation if applicable, job title/student status)

Paper title

Abstract (250 words or less)