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The Musee du Quai Branly in Paris hosted a series of round table discussions about the ethics of collecting and displaying human remains. Full text of the discussions in French and English can be found here.
There has been a recent efflorescence of writing, exhibitions and other research focused on the material qualities of photographs. Here are just a few links, please feel free to add more in the comments:
Smithsonian Anthropologist Joanna Cohan Scherer resurrected the work of photographer Benedicte Wrensted in this online exhibition. Wrensted's photography career began in Denmark in the 1880s and continued following her immigration in 1895 to Pocatello, Idaho. Many of her photos were of American Indians who visited her portrait studio by choice. These powerful Indian photographs unfortunately lost their provenance and were repeatedly used in exhibits and publications as unidentified, stereotypical Indian images.
This research project brought back the identification to the photos and reunited them with the Northern Shoshone and Bannock Indian families of origin. Scherer's book, A Danish Photographer of Idaho Indians: Benedicte Wrensted, University of Oklahoma Press, (2006), gives a more detailed analysis of Wrensted's work and other photographers of American Indians during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The web site is an excellent source of information regarding Native Americans and how photography influenced both the viewer's idea of the American Indians and the way the Indians viewed themselves. http://anthropology.si.edu/wrensted/intro.htm
I also found this helpful compendium of resources about photography on the web
And some other links, suggested by material world editor-at-large, Josh Bell:
Tibet Album (Pitt Rivers Museum project) - Clare Harris, Elizabeth Edwards, Richard Blurton, Project Leaders
http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/
"The Tibet Album presents more than 6000 photographs spanning 30 years of Tibet's history. These extraordinary photographs are a unique record of people long gone and places changed beyond all recognition. They also document the ways that British visitors encountered Tibet and
Tibetans. Go to the Tibet album site." (quote from PRM site)
Southern Sudan (PRM project) - Jeremy Coote & Elizabeth Edwards Project Leaders
http://southernsudan.prm.ox.ac.uk/
"This website provides access to a detailed catalogue of the
collections from Southern Sudan held at the Pitt Rivers Museum, the
University of Oxford's museum of anthropology and world archaeology.
The Museum's holdings from Southern Sudan comprise more than 1300
artefacts and 5000 photographs. Together together, the artefacts and
photographs provide a major resource for studying the cultural and
visual history of the region. Go to the Southern Sudan site." (quote
from PRM site)
Luo Visual History (PRM Project) Gilbert Oteyo and Chris Morton Project Leaders
http://photos.prm.ox.ac.uk/luo/page/home/
"Explore around 350 historical Luo photographs from the collections of
the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, taken between 1902 and
1936. Go to the Luo visual history site." (quote from PRM site)
George Eastman House
http://www.geh.org/
Online Photographic Collections of The Smithsonian American Art Museum website
http://americanart.si.edu/Helios/features.html
Smithsonian's Photographic Initiative
http://photography.si.edu/
Attempt to integrate the diverse photographic holdings of the
Smithsonian, and make the accessible to researchers, artists and the
public.
Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
The National Digital Library Program digitizes the Americana holdings
at the Library of Congress.
Collected Visions
Project directed by Lorrie Novak in which people submit their own
family snapshots to the archive or use existing images to create a
visual essay.
http://cvisions.nyu.edu/
aka Kurdistan
http://www.akakurdistan.com/kurds/stories/index.html
Site created by Susan Meiselas that was inspired by her book
'Kurdistan, In the Shadow of History'. The site expands upon the
books tracing of the Kurds history through visual traces, and provides
a means for Kurds to create a digital archive.
And an interesting site that uses photography:
Graffiti Archaeology
http://otherthings.com/grafarc/
The 'Material Histories: Scots and Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Fur Trade' website, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, is now available at: www.abdn.ac.uk/materialhistories
Alison Brown comments the website presents case studies of how beadwork and other materials used during the North Atlantic fur trade can be used to reflect upon family histories and the lives and experiences of those people connected to this global system of cultural and material exchanges. It is part of a larger project developed by Alison Brown, Tim Ingold and Nancy Wachowich in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, which looks at how fur trade material culture can be used to explore the social relationships between Scots and Aboriginal peoples.
Two papers and a book related to the project are forthcoming, however, visitors to the website can download the Material Histories Workshop Proceedings, which contains papers concerning the contemporary meanings of fur trade artefacts in museums and family homes.
Josh Bell, Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia
Nicolette Makovicky, Wolfson College, University of Oxford
Is a hand-made, lace g-string an appropriate symbol of local cultural heritage? This has been one of the questions villagers in Koniakow, southwestern Poland, have been asking themselves since some local lace makers began to turn out crocheted lingerie in the face of falling demand for their traditional products. The production of tablecloths and ecclesiastical items in crochet lace has been a cottage industry in Koniakow since 1864, when the wife of a local schoolteacher taught the younger girls in the village the technique. The craft was passed on from one generation of women to the next, eventually developing into a distinct local style with its own vocabulary of floral motifs. Acknowledged as a craft unique to the village, it became recognized as a form of ‘folk art’ in the 20th century. Koniakow lace found its way to national and international exhibitions, as well as into the households of several European royal families and the Vatican with the appointment of John Paul II. Since 2003, bra and panty sets are churned out by members of the collective KONI-Art, along with the by now infamous ‘stringi’ – Polish for thongs. Their products are sold locally, through the village website (www.koniakow.com) and through websites located in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The commercial success of this crocheted lingerie demonstrates the ability of the small-scale manufacture of specialized goods to flourish alongside the global flow of mass-produced commodities. Yet, the innovative application of traditional motifs and techniques for the creation of this new line of products has not been without its challenges. The ‘stringi’ and their producers have been met with some resistance from within the community itself, as well as from the Catholic Church. Religious authorities have labeled the new line of products ‘indecent’ and the media reported that some craftswomen were reluctant to admit they make lingerie for fear they would be named and shamed in church. The Association of Folk Artists (Stowarzyszenie Tworcow Ludowych) has refused to grant the lingerie the official status of ‘folk art’, seeking to assert its right to determine and control ‘Koniakow lace’ as a brand (Grygar et al. 2004). Indeed, media interest in the story has done nothing to allay the social tensions that have appeared in Koniakow since the activities of the KONI-Art group in 2003. Rather, feasting on the story, the media has been eager to present the conflicts as a result of a liberal, young minority challenging an elderly, conservatively Catholic population within the village community. The Polish press has been keen to represent the ‘stringi’ as a symbol of burgeoning modernity, a thread that has been eagerly taken up by the international media.
Yet, while the image of grannies crocheting racy lingerie undoubtedly makes for eye-catching journalism, for the anthropologist it provides a case study for a much wider range of issues, particularly the relation between the transmission of craft knowledge and commercial innovation. Quite clearly, the emergence of the ‘stringi’ has challenged established norms and brought out latent conflicts surrounding issues of (sexual) morality, gender and entrepreneurship. The craft, however, is cultural knowledge shared by the majority of the women in this village and thus also a shared resource of income. The discussions and conflicts surrounding the application of a traditional technique for making ‘stringi’ can then be seen as an articulation of an ongoing negotiation of boundaries between the legitimate use and the misuse of craft knowledge. The relationship between tradition and innovation is a question of the political economy of knowledge, rather than simply the emergence of new material forms. The boundary between ‘tradition’ and ‘innovation’ is drawn through the constant renegotiation of who should know and how they should use their knowledge.
In July, I shall be going to Koniakow in order to conduct my first extended period of fieldwork in the village and these are some of the issues that will be informing my approach. Initially, I seek to understand why such issues as sexual morality, religious piety and adherence to craft tradition become the chosen vehicles for the articulation of this negotiation. Secondly, I seek to understand how the political economy of knowledge influences, and is influenced by, commercial practice. With the perhaps somewhat naïve enthusiasm of an amateur lace maker myself, I regard the emergence of Koniakow lace lingerie as a sign that the common prediction of the hand-made as a dying form of production is misconceived. I wonder what this case tell us about the emergence of new markets for craft objects in the globalised world.
Grygar J., Hodrová L. and Kočarková E. (2004) Koniakowská Krajka™. Vyjednávání tradice a lidovosti uměni ve Slezských Beskydách. In L. Hodrová and E. Kočarková III. Antropologické symposium. Plzeň: Aleš Čeněk.
Selected press:
Hańba z trzydziestu kwiatków Wysokie Obcasy (20/10/2003)
Koronkowie stringi budzą kontowersje Gazeta Wyborcza (24/8/2003)
Polish lace makers at odds over recent switch to G-strings The Wall Street Journal (4/6/2004)
Pope’s altar cloth makers turn to a more profitable line – thongs The Independent (8/8/2004)
Verushka’s Secret The New York Times (15/5/2005)
Heilige Höschen Stern (13/4/2006)
11-14 Sept 2008 - New Lanark, Scotland
This event is being organised as part of a programme of events throughout 2008 to mark the 150th Anniversary of Robert Owen’s death.
This major international conference will be a two stage event appealing to both academics from a range of disciplines and co-operative practitioners. The first part of the conference (from the morning of Thursday 11th September to lunchtime on Saturday 13th) will consist of a series of interdisciplinary thematic sessions exploring various aspects of Owen’s ideas and their contemporary and future relevance. The second part of the event (from lunchtime on the 13th to lunchtime on the 14th) will have a practitioner focus. It will consist of invited speakers, interactive workshop sessions and the AGM and Annual Research Roundtable of the UK Society for Co-operative Studies.
Owen Memorial Plaque, Wesley Street, Newtown, Wales
This event is orginaised by the UK Society for Co-operative Studies in co-operation with partners including the Co-operative Group, Co-operative College and New Lanark Heritage Trust.
The conference will include a tour of the New Lanark Mills Visitor Centre and a Dinner on the evening of Saturday 13th September.
Session topics are grouped into 3 main themes. Below each theme are suggested some aspects of Owen’s thought in these areas that might be usefully explored, but this is not by any means an exhaustive list and the organisers would welcome further relevant proposals.
Part 1: Economic justice
- Ethical issues relating to trade
- Co-operative Management in theory and practise
- Trades Unions in the 21st Century
- Micro finance and Credit Unions
Part 2: Practical Utopia
- Community living and co-housing
- Time currencies
- The ‘e-commonwealth’
- ‘Socialism’ then and now
Part 3: Education for a better world
- Co-operative structures for delivering education
- Children’s Rights
- Co-operative Learning
- Adult and Continuing Education
There will also be a ‘history workshop’ style session on the Friday and Saturday exploring the impact and experiences of Co-operatives established for social change in the UK from the mid 1960s onwards. Please let us know if you have something to contribute to this theme.
For booking and other information contact:
Richard Bickle, UK SCS Secretary
Holyoake House
Hanover Street Manchester
M60 0AS.
Tel: 07768 184882
Email: richardbickle@cooptel.net
Mark Bradford, CoCA, Massey Univ & Ph.D. candidate VUW
Regarded as one of the most difficult and effective of the martial arts, Aikido is derived from adapting and blending ancient Japanese martial arts like Jujitsu, Karate and sword fighting with breathing and meditation studies. My research investigates the interdisciplinary synthesis of ideational flow and the practice and philosophy of the art of Aikido. To what extent can design leadership based in Aikido transform co-creative flow?
The project questions what new behaviours, skills and tools can assist designers to meet the demands of contemporary knowledge creation whilst maximising 'ways' of spreading ideas? Overall, this research seeks to understand and reflect on existing disciplinary experiences through researching other creative 'pathways' – such as ‘Aikido’ – to reflect on how designers think instead of purely what designers think. Hence the project will investigate how designers can connect broader understandings of ‘leadership’ with specific design knowledge to enhance creative performance. The emphasis is on how designers can potentially ‘manage’ their thinking within the ideation process – maximise “ways” to spread ‘memes’.
Photo credit: Toshiharu Sawada Shihan. Photograph by Richard Haslon, Senior Instructor, Wellington Aikido Club, Inc.
Over a three-day period, audiences in New Zealand have been offered an unprecedented opportunity to observe Toshiharu Sawada Shihan (7th Dan, Kimori Dojo, Nagoya) and local Wellingtonian Aikido practitioners in training.
One of the ideas here was to observe specific patterns of behaviour, use of language, and symbols. The research also explores the conceptual possibilities of applying Aikido theories beyond the conventional ‘dojo’ setting – referred to as “Takemusu Aiki” or “Courageous and Creative Living” (Saotome, 1993; K. Ueshiba, 1984; M. Ueshiba, 2002) …
Creativity is a product of the cross-pollination of many factors, including personal characteristics, social, cultural, and environmental factors (Sternberg, 1999). With design-based thinking increasingly located in between dimensions and disciplines, new thinking and ways of practicing are required by designers to stay relevant in a post-disciplinary future. This project explores ‘ways’ of connecting creative leadership in Western terms – as a product-orientated, ideas-based phenomenon (Mayer, 1999) – with an Eastern view of creativity that Pope (2005: 60) describes as the expression of an inner essence “through ‘being’ or ‘becoming’ rather than ‘doing’ or ‘making’”.
Since 2007 this research has used ethno-autobiographic methods to collect data on the culture, customs and practices of people who train regularly in Aikido at a local dojo to identify the traditions. Over the past twenty years, an increasing number of Aikidoka have been creatively extending Aikido practice outside the conventional dojo setting influencing fields such as education, psychology, health, business, sports, music and the military (Levine, 2003). Aikido differs from other martial arts for Westbrook and Ratti (1970) in its essential motivations and intentions as it is an art of self-defense – there is no attack – and there is a constant reference to the inner energy, the inner strength or ki as the particular form of energy to be employed. In addition, Aikido’s characteristic strategy is embodied in the form of entering and blending movements that are always circular, with the Aikidoka at the centre point of a ‘dynamic sphere’ of interactions occurring around the periphery.
Aikido’s versatility offers a creative answer to any kind of attack, and involves learning experientially with and through the body. Aikido cannot be practiced conceptually. For Pettman (1992: 3): “unless you do Aikido movements you can't actually know how they feel and what they ultimately mean”. The embodied knowledge is learnt through recurrent practices – within a context of action – that transcends words and language. Aikido is viewed as a ‘generative practice’ (Strozzi-Heckler, 2007b) as it “is a conscious choice to embody a behaviour that can be used in whatever situation we find ourselves. It’s a commitment to a way of being in the world. It is life affirming, creative, and it produces a reality by how we orient to our life situation” (p. 83). As McMahon (2005: 90) observed, for Ueshiba “the secret of Aikido is not in how you move your feet; it is how you move your mind” and this involves “exploring ourselves, how we move through the world and how we interact with others” (p. 86).
I look forward to hearing of any similar projects that bring together design, martial arts and the creativity of the body.
References
Levine, D. N. (2003). The Many Dimensions of Aiki Extensions. Paper presented at the 5th International Aiki Extensions Conference, University of Augsburg, Germany.
Mayer, R. (1999). Fifty Years of Creativity Research. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 449-460). Cambridge: Univ. Press.
McMahon, J. (2005). Art of Leadership. Black Belt (September), pp. 85-90.
Pettman, R. (1992). Going for a Walk in the World: The Experience of Aikido. Retrieved October 22, 2004, from http://www.vuw.ac.nz/staff/ralph_pettman/aikibook.html
Pope, R. (2005). Creativity: Theory, History, Practice. Abingdon: Routledge.
Saotome, M. (1993). Aikido and the Harmony of Nature (1st Shambhala ed.). Boston: Shambhala.
Sternberg, R. (Ed.). (1999). Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge: Univ. Press.
Strozzi-Heckler, R. (2007). The Leadership Dojo: Build Your Foundation as an Exemplary Leader. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books.
Ueshiba, K. (1984). The Spirit of Aikido. 1st ed. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
Ueshiba, M. (2002). The Art of Peace. Boston: Shambhala.
Westbrook, A., & Ratti, O. (1970). Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere (1st ed.). Rutland, Vt.: C. E. Tuttle Co.
Http://www.everydaylifeofobjects.net
The link above, leads to a a new virtual environment recently completed by Professor Laurie Beth Clark in the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where you can download a virtual maze filled with a matrix of familiar 'objects' (which are actually digital images of real objects found on retail or personal websites). Spectators navigate this maze to view the objects (an experience somewhere between a museum and a shopping mall) and, by clicking an object, trigger sound bites that have been gathered from interviews with over two hundred individuals who have and keep things, and about what they acquire and why.
Its makers comment:
I believe a post on The Everyday Life of Objects would be of interest to your readers because it explores an experience common to us all- our relationship to our stuff. It poses simple questions about the objects we surround ourselves with, such as, "What do you accumulate?" "How do you decide what to keep?" "Do you want things you don't have?" The answers are personal, critical, and candid.
This year, Holland Cotter writes, in a drive to promote awareness of China’s national heritage, the government introduced a free-admission policy at the country’s public museums...
But the look of anxious exasperation on the face of a curator watching crowds of schoolchildren swarm through a gallery of ancient ceramics here on a recent morning told a different story. They touched every exposed surface, leaned on glass cases and smeared them with fingerprints. Body contact and the art experience seemed to be inseparable.A running joke is that once only a few people came to these institutions to see the art; now many will come, not for the art but for the air-conditioning.
"chinese" art museums are "different" in their materiality and audience participation to those in the "west"...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/arts/design/04museums.html?hp
Check out also this interactive slide show and audio guide:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/07/03/arts/design/Cotter-China-multimedia1/index.html
The Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK currently offers 4 scholarships for their new MA in Cultural Tourism.
Four 50% Tuition Fee Scholarships for accepted candidates are up for grabs!
Tourism is one of the most important and rapidly expanding economic and social phenomena of the contemporary world. To address the intellectual, sociological and political challenges and issues this phenomenon raises, the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change (CTCC) at Leeds Metropolitan University has developed a new MA course in Cultural Tourism. This course will run on a full time base from September 2008.
The MA Cultural Tourism offers:
* An interdisciplinary and international perspective on tourism and culture allowing you to develop an informed position in contemporary theoretical debates and applied policy programmes.
* A research led programme based upon the extensive experience and international work of the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change.
* Excellent links with regional, national and international organisations working in the tourism and culture field.
* The opportunity to work on a 'live' case study relating to the cultural sector where you will be able to develop your own interests and skills.
* The opportunity for you to develop your research and analytical skills which will equip you for future leadership roles in the diverse and dynamic field of cultural tourism and/or develop your interests by undertaking a PhD at the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change.
Leeds Metropolitan University has one of the largest groupings of tourism researchers in the world in the CTCC and the International Centre for Responsible Tourism.
Through course modules you will be able to study: The structures and dynamics of international tourism; the social practices and performances of tourists; international tourism policy; the relationships between tourism and concepts of modernity, globalisation and colonialism; tangible and intangible heritage and their management; the role of museums and the ways by which cultures are represented; festivals and cultural events; culture and regeneration; tourism as a means of intercultural dialogue.
Modules include:
Tourism and Tourists
Cosmopolitanism and Cultures of Mobility
Researching Cultural Tourism
Representing and Displaying Culture
Managing Heritage
Tourism, Media and Cultural Flows
Tourism, Festivals and Cultural Events
Cultural Tourism Case Study
For further information and an application form please email
Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change
Faculty of Arts and Society
Leeds Metropolitan University
Old School Board
Calverley Street
Leeds LS1 3ED, UK
Tel. +44 (0) 113 2838541
Fax. +44 (0) 113- 283 8544
Joanna Cohan Scherer, Smithsonian Institution
The following link leads to an online exhibition about researching a historical photograph of a manikin of a Native American and using it as evidence to re-identify museum artifacts that had lost their provenance over the course of more than a century. The photograph of the manikin was selected to be used as an early representation of a Plains Indian in a museum in the Handbook of North American Indians: Plains, Volume 13, 2001: 30, and the exhibition includes a look at the politics of Plains Indian representation in the 1870s. Anthropologist Joanna Cohan Scherer did a detailed analysis of the photograph to find out who the manikin portrayed. The face of the manikin was found to be a representation of the important Oglala Sioux Chief Red Cloud who visited Washington, D.C. in 1872 at which time he had a cast made of his head at the Smithsonian Institution. Further research on the clothing on the manikin found that the shirt in the Smithsonian’s Anthropology collection had been labeled unidentified and investigation brought back its owner, Chief Smoke, another Sioux leader. It was also possible to reunite an early Sioux headdress collected in 1855 with its feather trailer, both shown on the manikin. The site also includes a slide show with a brief biography and many photographs of Red Cloud’s life. In summary, this site details the value of historical photographs as primary documents and the use of photographs to identify material culture items in museums.
http://anthropology.si.edu/redcloud/index.htm
Joanna Cohan Scherer, Emeritus Anthropologist
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
NHB 85, MRC 100
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012