"Inventory: Text and Context"
with Bernard L. Herman (Art History, University of Delaware)

Thursday, November 19, 2009
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Bard Graduate Center, 38 West 86th Street, New York
(RSVP required)

For info

What can an inventory tell us? How can we use an artifact of the legal system to tease out relationships between people and their relationship to things? How does such a document translate into an exhibition? Bernard Herman, a leading scholar of American material culture, will draw on his vast knowledge of both things and people in a conversation with cultural historian Catherine Whalen and exhibition co-curator Deborah L. Krohn. The conversation will be followed by an exhibition viewing and reception. Bernard L. Herman is Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Art History, University of Delaware. Deborah L. Krohn is associate professor and coordinator for history and theory of museums at the Bard Graduate Center as well as co-curator of the Dutch New York exhibition. Catherine Whalen is assistant professor at the Bard Graduate Center.

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The Bard Graduate Center and the American Museum of Natural History announce a Research Fellowship in Museum Anthropology. The fellowship provides support to a postdoctoral investigator to carry out a specific project over a two-year period. The program is designed to advance the training of the participant by having her/him pursue a project in association with a curator in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The Fellow will also be expected to teach one graduate-level course per year at the Bard Graduate Center (BGC). The Fellow will thus be in joint residence at BGC and AMNH, beginning in September 2010 and continuing through June 2012. The fellowship includes free housing.

A major purpose of the BGC-AMNH Research Fellowship in Museum Anthropology is to promote mutual scholarly interest and interaction among fellows, BGC faculty and students, and AMNH staff members. Candidates for Research Fellow are judged primarily on their research abilities and experience, and on the merits and scope of the proposed research.

Candidates with a research interest in the History of Collecting for Anthropology Museums are especially encouraged to apply for 20010/12 fellowship. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to develop a research program drawing from the Asian Ethnographic Collections at the AMNH. We wish to encourage scholarly investigation of how objects move from the sacred and particular to the market, and of the collecting process and the role of collectors, whether scholars, missionaries or dealers.

Application Procedures: Interested researchers should send a statement of research accomplishments and intentions, curriculum vitae including list of publications, and three letters of recommendation to Research Fellowship Competition, Bard Graduate Center, 18 W.86th Street, New York NY 10024, USA. Research Fellowship applications must be postmarked by 15 December 2009. Applications are not accepted by fax or e-mail.

http://www.bgc.bard.edu/research/fellowship-museum-anthropology.html

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A conference hosted by the Institute of Archaeology, UCL,
31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY,
20 - 21 May, 2010

This conference will bring together archaeologists and anthropologists to discuss the concept and practice of wrapping and unwrapping the body. Through this we hope to:
• To develop the idea of wrapping materials and wrapping as a process in archaeology.
• To develop a better understanding of cross cultural conceptions of the human body through understanding wrapping in particular time and space settings.
• To allow an exchange of ideas between archaeology and anthropology.

Conference Abstract
Wrapping the body, whether through clothing, in burial or other transforming processes, requires malleable materials that envelope the body. Such materials have properties and efficacy that act on the body or the perception of the body; they may be textiles, fibres, skins, feathers, fur, clay or thin metals. As a cultural and technical act, wrapping is a form of containment that can be used to conceal and reveal, camouflage or highlight, transform and exhibit, conserve and preserve. Wrapping offers the potential to interpret these materials in a cultural context by posing the questions; what is being covered and from who, what is being revealed and why? How does wrapping change the body through the permanent or temporary artificial modification of body shape? How is the dead body displayed and revealed through wrapping? What is the socio-cultural symbolism and meaning of wrapping and how does this change across time and space?

Although common to archaeologists and anthropologists, wrapping the body has different traditions of research. In archaeology, there is a strong tradition of the analysis and identification of the materials used for wrapping such as textiles, skins, clay and fibres, the analysis of clothing, the structure of garments and the use of dress fastenings. Archaeologists also explore the presentation of the dead, both in the past and in museum presentation. In anthropology, the strength of research is in the process and efficacy of wrapping. Anthropologists document wrapping products and the particular cognitive processes of wrapping and knowledge transmission through the daily and ritual uses of wrapping as masquerades and performance, burials, fashion, aesthetics and trading. Relationships between the body, wrapping and mutual transformations can be identified in processes such as wrapping in tattoos, for curing and healing and for shaping the body.

For archaeologists the combined approach with anthropology offers the opportunity to explore the wide variation in the process and interpretation of wrapping. For anthropologists the past perspective provides an understanding of change and innovation in the long term.

We invite researchers to submit papers for one of three sessions:
Session I: Wrapping as transformation process
Session II: Wrapping the living
Session III: Wrapping the dead

Deadline for 200 word abstract: 30th October 2009
Email abstracts and questions to: ioa-wrapping@ucl.ac.uk

Conference organisers: Dr Susanna Harris (Institute of Archaeology, UCL) & Dr Laurence Douny (Department of Anthropology, UCL).

Updates will be posted on:

Note on TAG session: the conference organisers are hosting a related session “Wrapping Objects” at TAG 2009, which will be held at Durham University17th-19th December 2009.

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Call for Book Chapters

We invite papers for a forthcoming book which will explore three related themes in relation to science exhibitions in museums:

• the processes involved in developing new science exhibitions in and for museums;
• the issues involved in transforming scientific ideas or events into exhibitions;
• the challenges faced by museums in communicating science to a wide audience.

We are particularly interested in new, innovative and successful initiatives in this field.

Much has been written about the difficulties of disseminating science to the public through a variety of new and traditional media. It is, indeed, a complex subject to tackle in the exhibition space, yet a challenging and multidimensional one.

How best to understand the process of working from scientific data to the ideas-based exhibition? What exactly is lost during the transformation of factual information into an exhibition environment? And more importantly, how can the exhibition work most effectively as a tool for narrating science, its past and present?

We welcome a range of submissions including, but not limited to, the following issues/themes:

• theoretical perspectives & case studies relating to science exhibitions;
• exhibition design for science: problems and opportunities;
• successful design techniques & approaches relating to science displays;
• science communication in the museum: interpretation issues;
• learning activities & science collections;
• developing learning resources for science exhibitions;
• object stories & science learning;
• exhibitions interpreting the history of science.

Please submit an abstract (up to 400 words) and a biographical note (up to 250 words) by email to both:

Dr Anastasia Filippoupoliti
Museologist and Historian of Science
Democritus University of Thrace, Greece

Graeme Farnell
Publisher, MuseumsEtc Ltd, UK

Deadline for abstracts and bio 30 September 2009
Selection for inclusion 30 October 2009

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This Fall there are two exhibitions at NYU of Aboriginal Australian Art:

The program of Grey Gallery events can be found here: Download file

And there is a link to an excellent online version of the exhibition at the Grey's website:
http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/

Then just next door:

Nganana Tjungurringanyi Tjukurrpa Nintintjakitja: We Are Here Sharing Our Dreaming

The Papunya Tula exhibition is just down the block, also at NYU, at 80 Washington Square East Galleries, thanks to the collaboration of the Department of Art and Art Professions at the Steinhardt School.

On view: September 12-26, 2009
Public Reception: Tuesday, September 15, 6-8 pm
Information: 80wse@nyu.edu, 212/998-5747

"The internationally renowned Papunya Tula Artists cooperative, located in the Western Desert of Central Australia, has exhibited widely in Europe and Asia. This is their first show in New York, featuring forty-five recent works by well-known artists including Naata Nungurrayi, Makinti Napanangka, George Tjungurrayi, and Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, among others."

Hope to see you all there!

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TAG 2009, Durham 17th -19th December

Abstracts, maximum 200 words including title of paper, name of speaker(s) and institution(s) to be sent to the session organisers by 30th September 2009. Individual papers are expected to specify the contribution they are making to archaeological theory. If you would like to discuss your idea for a paper first, please get in touch with the session organisers:
Susanna Harris, susanna.harris@ucl.ac.uk or Laurence Douny l.douny@ucl.ac.uk

Session Abstract: “Wrapping Objects”

Archaeologists are able to identify objects that have been wrapped, but what is the significance of wrapping? As a cultural and technical act, wrapping may be used to conceal and reveal, camouflage or highlight, transform and exhibit, conserve and preserve. Wrapping and unwrapping objects can be investigated as intentional acts that change the object in a physical, transforming and symbolic process. Existing theories in anthropology suggest ways to investigate the concept of wrapping as a means to imbue objects with powers and life (Gell 1998, 144-54) or to conceal emotion and content (Hendry 1993).

Archaeologists may explore these concepts through wrapping materials and objects that have been wrapped. Wrapping materials such as textiles, skins, fur, clay, leaves, earth, or thin metals have properties and efficacy that act on the objects and people’s perception of them. Objects that are wrapped raise questions of what is being covered or contained and why, as for example in objects wrapped in hoards and burials. We may also consider how surface patterns, architectural structures, conservation processes or writing act as forms of wrapping.

The aim of this session is to explore the theoretical and material implications of wrapping objects in specific times, places and contexts through empirical data.

References

Hendry, Joy. 1993, Wrapping culture: politeness, presentation and power in Japan and other societies, Oxford, Clarendon Press

Gell, Alfred. 1998, The Distributed Person. Art and agency: an anthropological theory, Oxford, Clarendon Press, Ch.7, pp. 96-154

Further conference details can be found at the TAG website:
http://www.dur.ac.uk/tag.2009/

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The Journal of Modern Craft is now in its second year of publication. Its first four issues have already gathered a considerable amount of craft scholarship. The position of craft in modernity has been broadly examined in a wide range of cultures, including Alaska, Britain, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Finland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Slovakia, Sri Lanka and USA. A fifth issue will be out soon, featuring articles on Chinese yixing ceramics, the Arts and Crafts leader Elbert Hubbard, Hungarian emigré potters, and contemporary artist Allison Smith.

Now the print journal has an online presence to explore the themes evoked in each issue. If you go to www.journalofmoderncraft.com <http://www.journalofmoderncraft.com> , you will see:

· Table of contents for each issue

· A key article available online for free in each issue

· Posts by guest bloggers on a theme specific to each issue

· Related notices of conferences and publications

· Links to related craft publications

The current theme is nostalgia. It asks the question: Is today’s traditional craft a form of manufactured nostalgia or grass-roots resistance? Guest bloggers Jivan Astfalk and Allison Smith are already contributing posts on this question. The featured article is a fascinating account of a national craft that is a site of both nation-building and resistance: “Traditional—with Contemporary Form”: Craft and Discourses of Modernity in Slovakia Today <http://journalofmoderncraft/docs/Makovicky.pdf> by Nicolette Makovicky. Upcoming themes will include craft activism, Africa and Japan.

Importantly, Journal of Modern Craft <http://journalofmoderncraft.com> online is an opportunity to:

· Participate in discussion through comments to the different posts

· Subscribe <http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=JournalOfModernCraft&amp;loc=en_US%22> to email updates containing latest posts

· Subscribe <http://journalofmoderncraft.com/feed/> to an RSS feed through readers such as Google Reader

· Subscribe <http://www.bergpublishers.com/?tabid=3254> to the full version (print and electronic) as an individual or institution

Craft is integral to our cultural diversity. World-shrinking technologies promise a utopia of mass interconnectivity, but we still need to ground ourselves in the world at hand. Join Journal of Modern Craft in a critical journey through the various ways craft practice has sought a place for itself in modernity.

If you have any inquiries about the website, please contact the online editor, Kevin Murray, at online@journalofmoderncraft.com .

The Journal of Modern Craft offers academic perspectives on all aspects of craft within the condition of modernity, from the mid-19th century to the present day, without geographical or disciplinary boundary. The journal is published 3 times a year by Berg Publishers. Is it edited by Glenn Adamson, Tanya Harrod and Edward S. Cooke Jr.

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The Oakley Center for the Humanities & Social Sciences, Williams College (Massachusetts, USA), and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, a center for research and higher education as well as a public art museum, jointly offer a fellowship for national and international scholars, critics, and museum professionals who are engaged in projects that enhance the understanding of the visual arts and their role in culture. The Clark/Oakley Fellowship is an academic year appointment for a scholar in the humanities whose study addresses some aspect of the visual.

Clark/Oakley Fellows receive stipends, dependent on sabbatical and salary replacement needs, reimbursement for travel expenses, and local housing. Williamstown is located in a rural setting in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Both Boston and New York City are about three hours away by car. Photos and more details of the Scholars' Residence are available at clarkart.edu/research.

Applications are invited from scholars with a Ph.D. or equivalent professional experience in universities, museums, and related institutions. Because of the highly competitive nature of the fellowship competition, we do not normally award fellowships to scholars whose dissertations are only recently completed.

The application deadline for fellowships awarded for the 2010-11 year is November 2, 2009.

For full fellowship guidelines and an application form, as well as further information, please visit: clarkart.edu/research or
williams.edu/resources/oakley/fellowships.htm.

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Barbara Kirschenblatt Gimblett, NYU Performance Studies and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews

The Museum of the History of Polish Jews is being created in Warsaw on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto and facing the Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At the heart of this educational and cultural center is a multimedia narrative museum presenting a millenium of Jewish presence on Polish soil. While we will show original historical objects, we do not depend primarily on them to tell this rich story.

There is a general perception that if we are not basing the exhibition on objects we must be a "virtual" museum--and that is generally taken to mean a museum that lacks materiality. I offer one example here of our work as a challenge to the generally accepted dichotomy between
virtual and--take your pick--actual, digital, material.

Source: The Museum of the History of Polish Jews

I call the problem the materiality fallacy: what constitutes an "original" or "actual" or "authentic" object. The 18th-century wooden synagogue of Gwoździec that we will feature in the 18th-century gallery offers a fine case for exploring this issue. We intend to reconstruct the timber-framed roof and polychrome ceiling of this spectacular synagogue. Now we could go to a theater prop maker, give him the dimensions and some pictures, and say to him "Make it!" The result would look pretty much like the original, but it would be a theatrical prop. That is not what we want to do. What we want to do goes to the heart of the issue of actual and virtual. We want to work with a studio in Massachusetts, whose motto is "learn by building."

These beautiful 18th-century wooden synagogues no longer exist; the Germans burned to the ground those still standing in 1939. We can however recover the knowledge of how to build them by actually building one. What is actual about that artifact resides therefore not in the original 18th-century wood, not in the original painted interior, but in the knowledge that we recovered for how to build it.

It's a completely different concept of the object. This approach is related to a completely different tradition of thinking about what constitutes an object.

The best example I can think of is the Jingu Shrine in Ise, Japan. This is a shrine that is 800 years old and never older than 20 years because for 800 years they have been tearing it down every 20 years in order to rebuild it. The only way to maintain the embodied knowledge of how to build it is to build it, and to make it necessary to build it, they tear it down and then must build it again. The value is in maintaining the knowledge of how to build it, not in preserving the original materials. The result is not a replica or simulation of the Jingu shrine; it is the Jingu shrine. This is a completely different way of defining what is "actual" about such an object.

This posting is adapted from my interview with Obieg, Poland's leading online contemporary art magazine. An English translation of the complete interview appears here:
ttp://www.jewishmuseum.org.pl/news_archive.php?miId=120&lang=en&nId=1744

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Announcements and Listings | Notes from the Field | Objects and visual analyses | Topics for Discussion

Wednesday June 10th, 4.30 to 6.00.

Lecture Theatre One. The Cruciform Building. UCL.

Michael Yorke would like to invite Londoners to a screening of the final project films by students from the Dept. of Anthropology's new course in Practical Ethnographic and Documentary Filmmaking.

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The research project "Doing kinship with pictures and objects. A laboratory for public and private practices of art” offers a junior scientist position starting September 1st 2009 for the duration of 2.5 years.

P/T: 50 % (20 hours/week); payment: 16.000 € gross p.a.

Tasks: ethnographic fieldwork in Vienna (e.g. participant observation, qualitative interviews) and interactive museological research in the laboratory of the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art (e.g. object analyses), analysis of qualitative data and object data, publications.

Requirements: Graduation in European Ethnology or Social/Cultural Anthropology; very good knowledge of the current research discussion in at least one of the following areas: museum studies, material culture studies; besides German and English very good knowledge in Turkish or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian. Desirable is knowledge/experience in one of the following fields: kinship studies, ethnographic methods, museum and exhibition work.

Place of work: Vienna.

Please send your application with covering letter, cv and (if any) list of publications until June 2nd, 2009 to:

Dr. Elisabeth Timm
Institute of European Ethnology
University of Vienna
Hanuschgasse 3
A-1010 Vienna.

Further information to the project:
http://euroethnologie.univie.ac.at/index.php?id=19286

Further details: Elisabeth.Timm@univie.ac.at.

For German version see after the jump

Continue reading "Junior-Scientist-Position (European Ethnology or Social/Cultural Anth)" »

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PRESS RELEASE

April 29, 2009

Out of the Box: Anthropology Collections Unpacked

What can anthropology collections do? Anthropology graduate students studying the history, politics and practices of exhibiting cultures have mounted an exhibition exploring the potential of anthropology collections. Installed in the rotunda of Low Memorial Library from May 12 to June 2, the exhibition draws together a wide range of objects assembled by anthropologists connected to Columbia University and Barnard College.

From New York City archaeological ceramics to a Yagua blowgun, the showcased artifacts were not originally conceived as exhibition pieces, and they have never before been on public display. Nevertheless, these varied objects exist as fragments of the anthropological experience.

This collaborative exhibition explores the professional and personal reasons why anthropologists have tended to amass material culture, building up, and, in some circumstances, abandoning collections. These accumulations may be valued as raw data, educational tools, collectibles or personal mementoes from the field. Eleven students have curated the cases in the exhibition to reveal the multiple dimensions of what anthropology collections can do.

Out of the Box: Anthropology Collections Unpacked, is on view in the rotunda of Columbia's Low Library from May 12 to June 2, 2009. The Library is located on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University at Broadway and 116 Street and is open Monday-Friday from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm.

This exhibition was curated by: Lauren Click, Sarah Elsasser, Savannah Fetterolf, Tara Holland, Mark Hvizdak, Becky Laughner, Joo Hyun Lee, Steven Mandis, Fran Ritchie, Sara Rockefeller, Constance Smith. It emerged as part of two courses in museum anthropology taught by Nan Rothschild, Erin Hasinoff, Meredith Linn and Felipe Gaitan Ammann.

For Directions to campus see:
http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/directions.html

For more information contact Steven Mandis on steven@mandis.net or Constance Smith on crs2150@columbia.edu

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Rivington Place, London. 30th April 2009, 9.00-5.45

Second Skins aims to open up a dialogue on 'cloth and difference' via a series of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary exchanges. Issues of identity and cultural heritage are readily expressed through cloth and its tactile quality induces personal and collective associations. Cloth ‘speaks'. By drawing together creative thinkers across visual art, design, cultural studies, anthropology and sociology, Second Skins explores the production, consumption and language of cloth, considering:

Why is there a renewed interest in fabrication - in creative making and the haptic - in the digital age? In what ways are visual artists engaging with and reinventing approaches to textiles and craft practices?
What role does cloth play in the re-fashioning of identities in geographical and symbolic border crossing? How are race, culture and gender involved in these processes and representations?
How are indigenous cloths worn, appropriated, collected and displayed in post-colonial and diasporic cultures?

Speakers include: Sokari Douglas-Camp, Raimi Gbadamosi, Jessica Hemmings, John Hutnyk, Margareta Kern, Sarat Maharaj, Sarah Quinton, Hans Hamid Rasmussen and Rosanna Raymond

Organised by Christine Checinska in collaboration with Iniva

Tickets are £35 each (£17.50 concessions), the price of the ticket includes lunch and refreshments. More information > http://www.iniva.org/events/what_s_on/second_skins

Please contact Rivington Place bookings to reserve a place 020 7749 1240 or email bookings@rivingtonplace.org

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Shift: Queen's Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture

This annual online journal is a new initiative by graduate students at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. It is dedicated to providing an inclusive and broadly based forum that provides graduate students researching visual and material culture a venue to present current and original scholarly research.

Shift welcomes academic papers, exhibition and book reviews, as well as discussions concerning other art-related events. Please see Submission and Style Guidelines for appropriate guidelines.

The committee welcomes submissions dealing with visual and material culture from any discipline. Papers may address a full range of topics and historical periods. Topics may include, but are not limited to, art and propaganda, patronage, gender and identity, spirituality and art, nationalisms and regionalisms, modernism and modernity, performance art, photography and film, perspectives in theory, methodology, and historiography, collection and representation, art and technology.

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POSITION AS DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP (SKO/post code 1017) within the field of museology is available at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS), University of Oslo.

The successful candidate is expected to start the doctoral research fellowship before October 1st 2009. For further information about the department we refer to http://www.hf.uio.no/ikos/english/.

The successful candidate will be working within the field of museology, enquiring into the changes in exhibition practices in art, heritage and/or museum institutions. Questions to be asked concern mutual influences between exhibition practices and principles in different types of museum institutions, and between museum practices and exhibition modes in the culture at large.

Continue reading "Doctoral Research Fellowship (Museology)" »

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Nicholas Thomas, University of Cambridge

Press release:

an exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
University of Cambridge

March 18-April 18 2009

Opening event, with lecture by Georgina Beier, on March 17, from 3 pm

**

Mathias Kauage was an exuberant painter and a founding figure of modern art in the Pacific.

Kauage (c. 1944-2003) was born in Chimbu Province in the Papua New Guinea highlands. In the late 1960s he was employed as a labourer in Port Moresby and was inspired by an exhibition of drawings by a fellow-Highlander, Timothy Akis. Like Akis, he was encouraged by Georgina Beier. Together with her husband Ulli, Georgina influentially supported contemporary art, theatre, and literature in Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and elsewhere.

Kauage’s work evolved rapidly. Early on he drew fantastic creatures inspired by Chimbu myth, but soon progressed to scenes of Moresby town life and political events. Embracing colour, he went on to produce major paintings around Papua New Guinea’s Independence in 1975, aspects of colonial history, and his own experience – not least his meeting with the Queen, who awarded him an OBE in 1998. His later works were often signed ‘Kauage – Artist of PNG’.

This exhibition foregrounds a previously unexhibited group of early Kauage drawings and beaten copper panels, which form part of a generous donation to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology by Dame Marilyn Strathern (William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology, 1993-2008), who conducted fieldwork in the PNG Highlands and in Port Moresby from the 1960s onward.

Visitors to the exhibition also get the chance to listen to a rare early recording of Kauage singing and playing Chimbu instruments such as a bamboo flute.

‘Kauage: Artist of Papua New Guinea’ is a revelation of Kauage’s creativity. His unique intelligence and visual inventiveness suggest new ways of thinking about the emergence of ‘modern art’ beyond the West.

On Tuesday March 17, a public lecture and symposium coincide with the exhibition opening. Georgina Beier will speak on Creating his own tradition at 2.30 pm in the McDonald Seminar Room, in the McDonald Institute (off Downing Street, directly adjacent to the Museum). Helena Regius, Ruth Phillips, and Nicholas Thomas will contribute to a panel discussion.

**
The Museum plans in due course to publish a catalogue of the collection, together with Marilyn’s previous donation of textiles from Hara Hara Prints, a screenprint workshop in which Georgina Beier also played a key role (see Strathern, ‘Emblems, ornaments and inversions of value’ in Kuechler and Were (eds), The Art of Clothing, UCL Press 2005). In the context of this project, we would be most interested to hear from anthropologists and others who were in Port Moresby in the 1970s or subsequently, and own original works by Kauage or contemporaries, and/or may be able to help with relevant information.

Enquiries to Nicholas Thomas

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AT THE DEPT. OF ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

STARTING SEPTEMBER 2009

Please inform undergraduates and other potential students about this new MA programme for which further details can be found at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/digital-anthropology

The new MA is based in the Material and Visual Culture group at UCL. It reflects the fact that more and more of our projects, both students and staff, have been focused on the impact of new digital technologies, and this is something we expect to see increase still further in the future. Recently we were joined by Graeme Were (museums and collections) who has been working on digitalisation projects for museum collections, and Paul Basu (appointed to the Institute of Archaeology) who has an extensive new project on digital curation. Both of them were originally trained in our group and will lecture on the new MA. Also Paolo Favero joined us on a temporary basis and has been working on the digital city in Delhi and the impact of Flickr. We have been enabled by UCL to strengthen this team with the appointment of a permanent member of staff dedicated to this MA (see advert below). All of this suggested a movement in the direction of digital technologies as a research topic. Further as you will see in the details on our site we have a wide range of digital PhD projects from brain training games to mobile phones in Romania to more museum related projects.

We hope that the new MA in combination with this new research will help make UCL a centre for such digital anthropology projects and complement our strengths in more traditional material and visual culture such as photography, consumption and heritage. This does not replace the current MA in Material and Visual Culture which will continue.

Digital technologies have become ubiquitous. From Facebook, Youtube and Flickr to PowerPoint and Second Life. Museum displays migrate to the internet, family communication in the Diaspora is dominated by new media, artists work with digital films and images. Anthropology and ethnographic research is fundamental to understanding the local consequences of these innovations, and to create theories that help us acknowledge, understand and engage with them. Today’s students need to become proficient with digital technologies as research and communication tools. Through combining technical skills with appreciation of social effects, students will be trained for further research and involvement in this emergent world.

This MA brings together three key components in the study of digital culture:

1. Skills training in digital technologies, including our own Digital Lab, from internet and visual arts to e-curation and digital ethnography.

2. Anthropological theories of virtualism, materiality/immateriality and digitisation.

3. Understanding the consequences of digital culture through the ethnographic study of its social and regional impact.

Bursaries
There is a £5,000 annual bursary specifically for this and the MA in Material and Visual Culture, as well as 3 x £1,000 bursaries for all anthropology MA programmes. All those who have submitted an application by 30 June 2009 will automatically be considered and no additional application form is necessary.

The programme is suitable both for those with a prior degree in anthropology but also for those with degrees in neighbouring disciplines who wish to be trained in anthropological and related approaches to digital culture. There is scope for those with specialist interests to work closely with designers, curators, communication specialists as well as our own digital studio. In addition to its importance for careers such as media, design and museums, digital technology is also integral to development, theoretical and applied anthropology.

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UCL Department of Anthropology

Applications are invited for a permanent lectureship in Digital Anthropology. The successful applicant will be responsible for, and will teach within, our new MA programme in Digital Anthropology and contribute to general teaching in Material and Visual Culture. They will carry out research in Digital Anthropology and contribute to normal administrative duties within the UCL Department of Anthropology.

Applicants should have a PhD and begun researching in the field of Digital Anthropology. Applications from qualified candidates specialised in any area of the world are welcome. Further particulars are available on http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/main/index.htm.

This appointment is available from 1st August 2009 and the salary will be on the UCL scale Grade 7 in the range: £32,458 - £35,469 pa plus £2,781 pa London Allowance.

A UCL application form may be downloaded from the following link
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/docs/download_forms/job_app.doc.

Applications consisting of the application form, a CV, the names and contact details (certainly email) of three referees and a cover letter describing the candidate’s research interests and teaching expertise should all be sent electronically to the Departmental Administrator, Mrs Alena Kocourek, email: a.kocourek@ucl.ac.uk .
Closing date: 1st April 2009.

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University Lecturership and Assistant Keepership in Medieval Archaeology (AD 500 - 1500) in association with St. Cross College, Oxford.

Grade 10a: Salary £42,351 - £56,917 p.a.

The School of Archaeology and the Ashmolean Museum propose to appoint jointly a University Lecturer-Assistant Keeper in Medieval Archaeology (AD 500-1500). The post is available from 1 September 2009 and will be associated with a fellowship at St Cross College. Applications are sought from archaeologists with a proven record of research and curatorial management in Medieval Archaeology.

The Lecturership is focussed upon the period AD 1000-1500. The Assistant Keepership, however, lies within the broad field of Anglo-Saxon, European Migration Period, Medieval and Post-Medieval Archaeology, AD 500-1800. The post is divided equally between the School of Archaeology and the Ashmolean Museum and the successful candidate will be expected to develop a vigorous programme of research that will contribute to the international reputations of the School and the Museum, to participate in the School's undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programme and to play a senior role in the curation of the Museum's archaeology collections. Further particulars are available here:
http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/resources/job_vacancies/?a=3229

Applications (eight copies except from candidates overseas who need send only one), including a supporting statement, CV, a list of principal publications, and the names of two referees, should be sent to the Administrator, School of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 3PG, for receipt not later than 27 March 2009. Candidates should ask their referees to send their references directly to the above address by the closing date.

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26th February 2009 at 6.00pm

Anatomy J Z Young Lecture Theatre, Anatomy Building,
UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

The Centre for Sustainable Heritage invites you to a lecture to be delivered by Nick Merriman, Director of The Manchester Museum.

Title
A Sustainable Future for Museum Collections?

Synopsis
Museums and other memory institutions have traditionally operated by growing their collections and disposing of little. As resources decrease in real terms, more and more has to be devoted to ever-expanding collections - a position that is unsustainable by current definitions. This talk will explore notions of memory and forgetting to put forward a theoretical basis for a sustainable future for museum collections, which sees disposal as a natural part of their development. It will also explore ideas for sustainable active collecting, drawing on current ideas from the Manchester Museum, which offer a new conceptualisation for the development of traditional 'encyclopaedic' collections.

We should be grateful if you could email Ben Glynn if you wish to attend.

Please note that this is a free public lecture and all are welcome.

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Grade 6 £25,623 - £30,594
(Full time fixed term appointment from 1st April '09 to 30th Sept. 2010)

The Pitt Rivers Museum is the University of Oxford’s Museum of Anthropology and World Archaeology. It is noted for its artefact rich displays, its period atmosphere and for a strong research culture. Its collections number some 295,000 artefacts, 290,000 photographs. The Museum holds over 100,000 archaeological objects (around 35% of the collection as a whole) from over 70 countries.

Applications are invited for an 18 month fixed-term Post-Doctoral Researcher position which forms part of a project funded by the John Fell OUP Research Fund, Characterizing the World Archaeology of the Pitt Rivers Museum: defining research priorities 2010-2020.

Led by Dan Hicks and Jeremy Coote, the project will facilitate a detailed characterization of the range and significance or the world archaeology collections. Working in a team the Researcher will support a programme of research visits by a Specialist Panel of regional and period experts in world archaeology. The characterization programme will lead to the production of a characterization document, and a peer-reviewed journal article. The programme will significantly increase the accessibility of the collections for research and will define the future research priorities for the study of these collections.

The candidate should have a PhD (in hand) in Archaeology or related field. They should have a demonstrable skill in working with and safe handling of museums collections, a sound general knowledge of world archaeology, ability in editorial writing or report-writing, excellent organisational skills, and a demonstrated capacity to work successfully as part of a team.

Professional experience in a museum or professional archaeology environment would be desirable as would a detailed knowledge of the archaeological material culture of a region or period represented in the Museums collection and experience in organising projects in an academic environment.

Applications, including full curriculum vitae, a completed application form, a covering letter addressing the criteria and the names and addresses of two referees, should be sent to the Administrator, Pitt Rivers Museum, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PP.

Closing date for applications: 24th February 2009. Interviews will be held on Wednesday 4th March 2009.

Further particulars: http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/pdf/PRMPDRJD.pdf
PRM website: http://prm.ox.ac.uk

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology is an intensive four-week training program that will teach graduate students how to use museum collections in research, incorporating Smithsonian collections as an integral part of their anthropological training.

Support from the Cultural Anthropology Program at NSF will cover full tuition and living expenses for 12 students each summer.

Where: Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC

When: June 29 – July 24, 2009

Application date: March 15, 2009

For full information and application materials: http://anthropology.si.edu/summerinstitute

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 7:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Bard Graduate Center invites applications for a non-stipendiary Research Associate position. The BGC is a graduate research institute committed to studying the cultural history of the material world, drawing on methodologies and approaches from art and design history, economic and cultural history, history of technology, philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology. We especially welcome applications from scholars working on projects parallel to our own. The fellow will be given an office and access to subsidized accommodation and will be expected to participate in the intellectual life of the institution. For additional information about the BGC, see www.bgc.bard.edu. We will appoint either a single Research Associate for a year, or two semester-long Associates. Applications should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, sample publication (SASE), and a list of three referees, and should be sent by 15 March to Chair, Fellowship Search Committee, Bard Graduate Center for
Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, 18 W. 86th Street, New York, NY 10024. No electronic applications may be made.

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Background
The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) will celebrate the similarities and differences of the world’s cultures as expressed through music – a language common to us all. With musical instruments from every country in the world, MIM will pay homage to the history and diversity of instruments and introduce museum guests to their varied and unique sounds. MIM will be an engaging, entertaining, and informative experience, in which the uninitiated and the knowledgeable, the young and the old will feel welcome. MIM is an approximately $125 million project, with a 190,000 square foot building that is currently under construction in Phoenix, Arizona and is scheduled to open in 2010. Further information on MIM may be found at www.themim.org

Continue reading "Position Available: Curator of Musical Instruments – Africa" »

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Wednesday 14th of January, 2009, 5 p.m.

Ruskin College, Oxford (in the Raphael Samuel Hall)

Molly Scott-Cato, Reader at the University of Wales Institute - Cardiff, will be launching her new book 'Green Economics'.

The book will be introduced by James Robertson, pioneering alternative economist and co-founder of the New Economics Foundation.

"Here is a book which explains in clear terms the economic paradigm for the 21st Century. Green economics is not new. As Molly Scott Cato makes clear, it has been growing alongside the environmental movement and now offers a vision of a just, sustainable and fulfilling economic life". Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP

Wine and snacks will be served. If you would like to attend please RSVP

Posted by Patrick Laviolette at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

http://careercenter.aaanet.org/jobdetail.cfm?job=3055368

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Council for Museum Anthropology wishes to officially announce the appointment of Stephen Nash and Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as the next editors of Museum Anthropology as of July 2009. The board also wishes to thank Jason Baird Jackson of Indiana University for the outstanding leadership and commitment that he has brought to the journal during his editorship over the past three years.

For more information about the journal please visit Museum Anthropology

Posted by Patrick Laviolette at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Salary: £37,651 - £43,622
Type: Full Time - Tenured

Applications are invited for an indefinite full-time Lectureship in the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas, School of World Art Studies and Museology, University of East Anglia, UK, to commence on 1 September 2009. Primary responsibilities include co-teaching an MA course, supervising graduate students, limited undergraduate teaching and participation in research projects. See www.sru.uea.ac.uk for further information on the Sainsbury Research Unit.

The closing date for applications is 19 January 2009 and interviews are expected to be held on 27 February 2009. Further particulars and an application form can be obtained from the University's web page at: http://www.uea.ac.uk/hr/jobs/ or by e-mail at hr@uea.ac.uk or by calling the answerphone on 01603 593493 or by mail to the Human Resources Division, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ. Please quote the appropriate reference number.

Requirements:
Applicants should have a doctorate in anthropology, art history, archaeology or a related subject and should have fieldwork experience, strong interests in visual arts, a good record of original research and the capacity for research led instruction. Expertise in museum anthropology and theoretical approaches to material culture is desirable.

NOTES: International candidates will be considered and the employer will assist with relocation costs.

Apply online at http://careercenter.aaanet.org/jobdetail.cfm?job=3037333.32

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Research School of Humanities at the Australian National University is calling for applicants for its 2010 Visiting Fellowships program.

"Imaging Identity"

Understandings of self and other occur universally through images. Traversing history and culture, the production, presentation and apprehension of images is essential to how persons come to know themselves and make sense of their relations with others. Can it be said that certain image making practices are associated with particular ways of being human? Do imaging media have different effects cross-culturally? What new potentialities and challenges do digital processes pose to visual conceptions of identity? Under what conditions can images produce and encourage empathy? In posing these questions we invoke debates about the efficacy, impact and agency of images. We particularly encourage applications from researchers working in the medium of portraiture.

Deadline: 28 February 2009
Further information:
http://rsh.anu.edu.au/fellowships/vf2010/annualtheme.php

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Museum Studies / Museum Anthropology / Digital Heritage

Project: Reanimating cultural heritage: digital repatriation, knowledge networks and civil society strengthening in Sierra Leone

Applications are invited for a 3-year full-time PhD studentship to be held at University College London in the field of Museum Studies / Museum Anthropology / Digital Heritage. The studentship is associated with a large project funded under the Arts & Humanities Research Council’s ‘Beyond Text’ programme, which is concerned with innovating ‘digital curatorship’ in relation to Sierra Leonean collections dispersed in the global museumscape. The project considers how objects that have become isolated from the oral and performative contexts that originally animated them can be reanimated in digital space alongside associated images, video clips, sounds, texts and other media. In partnership with the Department of Informatics at Sussex University, as well as the British Museum, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Glasgow Museums and collaborating institutions in Sierra Leone, a digital heritage resource will be created that utilizes social networking technologies to reconnect objects with disparate communities and foster reciprocal knowledge exchange across boundaries. Whereas the practice of ‘digital repatriation’ has become increasingly popular with museums, the reception of such initiatives by source communities has not been critically assessed. Thus, a crucial part of the project will be to employ innovative participatory methods to pilot and evaluate the digital resource in Sierra Leone. Further details of the project can be seen at http://www.beyondtext.ac.uk/projects/reanimatingculturalheritage.shtml

It is anticipated that the student will be involved in all aspects of the project, but will be able to shape the particular focus of the PhD research within the broader project objectives. To be eligible for a full award, which covers tuition fees and a maintenance grant (currently £14,500 per annum), applicants should be normally resident in the UK. Applicants should have a good first degree and, preferably, postgraduate experience in museum anthropology, material/visual culture studies, museum studies, or similar. A strong interest in cultural heritage technologies is essential and experience in computing will be an advantage. The studentship will be supervised by Dr Paul Basu and will be based in the Institute of Archaeology, though closely affiliated with the Department of Anthropology and UCL’s Centre for Museums, Heritage and Material Culture Studies. The studentship must start no later than 1 January 2009.

If you are interested in applying or for further information, please contact Paul Basu by email at paul.basu@ucl.ac.uk or p.basu@sussex.ac.uk as soon as possible.

Posted by Graeme Were at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Started in 2007 through the School of Art and Design at the Auckland University of Technology, the online journal Studies in Material Thinking (ISSN 1177-6234) has recently published its second issue.

SMT is an open-access, peer-reviewed online journal committed to the publication of working papers and articles about research in all fields of design and art practice where an appreciation of materiality is important. This includes spatial and architectural design, visual arts, industrial design, interface design, graphic design, animation and film, game design, urban design, and other related fields. It seeks to promote trans-disciplinary communication and understanding between practitioners, academics, industry partners, researchers and students.

This journal is a vehicle for artists, designers and writers to explore their projects and research positions from the vantage point of both the materiality and the poetics of creative research. The aim of the publication is to develop a series of divergent positions, critical approaches and contestations around the term ‘material thinking’, centered as it is on an understanding of invention, design, creative practice and research methodology. Submissions are sought from those who are currently engaged in developing an understanding of research processes in art and design, particularly but not exclusively those who are in art and design schools working on innovative curricula for research practice.

Continue reading "Studies in Material Thinking" »

Posted by Patrick Laviolette at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Twins by Marnia Johnston

Convenes in November At the American Anthropological Association Meetings in San Francisco. Link is here.

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings | Good Links

Applications are invited from suitably qualified persons for a permanent, full-time Lectureship in the Media Studies programme of the School of English and Media Studies, Massey University. The programme teaches courses in internal and extramural delivery modes, at both undergraduate and graduate levels. This position is based at the Palmerston North campus.

Continue reading "Lectureships (x 2) Media & Critical Studies" »

Posted by Patrick Laviolette at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Wednesday, 15 October, 18:15 pm

At the Royal Anthropological Institute's screening/meeting room,
50 Fitzroy St., W1T 5BT

You are warmly invited to the screening of an episode from the BBC series 'Trawlermen' followed by a Q&A with Tom Sheahan, producer and director, who is perfectly suited to address issues dealing with the impact and the making of the programme.

'Trawlermen' is a Documentary series about a group of trawler fishermen in Peterhead, Scotland.

Year in and year out, trawlermen brave the worst conditions of the North Sea, in every kind of weather, to bring fish to the country's tables. They have one of the most dangerous job in Britain. Over two seasons of filming for Trawlermen, the BBC has had unprecedented access to the men of the Scottish fishing fleet, their wives and families, as they struggle to adapt to the realities of fishing in the twenty first century.

Please rsvp

Susanne Hammacher
Film Officer

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Call for Papers - New Journal

Appearing 3 times a year from 2009, Routledge's new journal Visual Culture in Britain shall publish original work that places a broadly defined visual culture, encompassing painting and sculpture, architecture and design, print, film, photography and the performing arts, in relation to its wider geographical and historical contexts. The journal seeks material engaged with the period from the 18th century to the present day and addresses a range of debates involving constructions of racial, ethnic, sexual and gender identities, nationality and internationalism, imperialism and colonialism, high, low and consensus cultures, the role of institutions and cultural groupings, and models of production and consumption. Submissions which consider theoretical and interpretive issues as well as those concerned with empirical research in relation to cultural production and representation are encouraged. Material that is methodologically and historiographically innovative and significant which will stimulate discussion and demonstrate connections across relevant disciplines is particularly welcome.

Please read the Instructions for Authors for submission details:
www.inforaworld@unn.ac.uk

Articles to Ysanne Holt (Univ. of Northumbria)
Ysanne.holt@unn.ac.uk

Book and Exhibition Reviews to Paul Usherwood (Univ. of Northumbria)
Paul.usherwood@unn.ac.uk

Posted by Patrick Laviolette at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Venue: Department of Anthropology, Daryll Forde Lab, University College London

Time: Mondays 4.30-6.00pm.

Continue reading "UCL Material Culture Seminar Series, Autumn 2008" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Occasional Seminar Series - Autumn 2008

Date: Tuesday October 7th, 4.30 - 6.00pm

Speaker: Steve Hemming, Flinders University, Australia

Title: Repatriating the ‘Old People’: implications for Ngarrindjeri community development, research and wellbeing

Venue
Institute of Archaeology, Gordon Square, Seminar Room 209 (second floor) followed by drinks reception in Room 609

Abstract
In 2006 the Ngarrindjeri nation launched the Ngarrindjeri Nation Yarluwar-Ruwe Plan: Caring for Ngarrindjeri Sea Country and Culture (2006) as a strategic response to new government planning regimes. The Yarluwar-Ruwe Plan has been formally acknowledged as a foundational document for all new government natural resource management planning in the lower Murray River region in South Australia. It identifies amongst its strategies and priority actions the need to: ‘Negotiate secure burial grounds for repatriated Old People throughout Ngarrindjeri Ruwe. [and] Work with all levels of Government to determine the most appropriate legal method for protecting burial grounds in perpetuity’. Along with this ‘rights based’ approach, the Plan identifies a broader program of building Ngarrindjeri expertise, capacity and employment opportunities as fundamental to a just resolution of issues such as the repatriation and reburial of Ngarrindjeri ‘Old People’ (human remains). The recently formalized Ngarrindjeri Regional Partnership agreement between the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority and the South Australian and Federal governments aims to support the further development of a Ngarrindjeri Caring for Country Program with responsibility for issues such as reburial programs. The repatriation of Old People is a first step in the process of repairing the damage done to Indigenous nations such as the Ngarrindjeri by the desecration of burial grounds and the scientific acquisition of human remains. Supporting developing programs such as Ngarrindjeri Caring for Country provides critical recognition of the potential of repatriation and reburial to contribute to lasting improvements to Indigenous wellbeing. This is at a time in Australian history when Indigenous leaders and non-Indigenous governments are desperately looking for long-term strategies aimed at improving Indigenous economic and social indicators.

Bio-note
Steve Hemming is a senior lecturer in Australian Studies at Flinders University. He also teaches into the Indigenous Studies program run by Yunggorendi First Nations Centre (Flinders University). During the 1980s and 1990s he was a curator in history and anthropology at the South Australian Museum. He has had a long-term, collaborative research relationship with the Ngarrindjeri nation and more recently this has included a focus on the nexus between cultural heritage and natural resource management, economic development and governance. He is interested in strategic teaching and research partnerships between industry, the university sector and Indigenous nations. His most recent publications include collaborative pieces: ‘Reconciliation? Culture, Nature and the River Murray’ and ‘Justice, Culture and Economy for the Ngarrindjeri Nation’ in Fresh Water: New Perspectives on Water in Australia (2007), Melbourne University Press and ‘Listening and Respecting Across Generations and Beyond Borders: The Ancient One and Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island)’ in Perspectives on the Ancient One (2008), Left Coast Press.

Continue reading "Centre for Museums, Heritage & Material Culture Studies Occasional Seminar Series 2008" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Research School of Humanities at the Australian National University is advertising two permanent (teaching/research) positions at Academic level B or C. We are looking for dynamic and highly motivated academics who have a commitment to teaching excellence and who will contribute to and provide academic leadership in one or more of the following areas:

- Cultural and Environmental Heritage
- Museums and Collections
- Material Culture Studies and Art

See: http://jobs.anu.edu.au/PositionDetail.aspx?p=247

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The William Fagg Lecture 2008

Silences in the Museum - Reflections on the European Exotic

Professor Sally Price,
College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

Thursday October 30th 2008, 18.00-19.00

The lecture will be followed by a reception

BP lecture theatre, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1

Free by ticket only – please RSVP to:

Laura Slack, Department of Africa Oceania and the Americas.

lslack@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Tel: 0207 323 8024
Fax: 0207 323 8013

Posted by Graeme Were at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

UCL Museums & Collections (in collaboration with UCL Department of Gynaecological Oncology)

Research Associate (Science)
We are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and motivated postgraduate to a multidisciplinary research team investigating the potential of museum object handling as an enrichment and/or therapeutic intervention in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Funded by the AHRC this post will focus on the psychological impact of ‘object therapy’ and in collaboration with the research team will seek to better understand the impact, role and potential of object handling in patient wellbeing, staff training and professional development.

The applicant should hold a PhD in psychological, biological or health sciences, or arts therapy, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, be highly organised and meticulous to detail.

The post is available immediately for a period of 1.5 years/20 months and is full time (100% FTE). Salary will be on Grade 7: currently £27,466 to £33,780 plus London Weighting of £2,649.

Research Assistant (Museology)
We are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and motivated postgraduate to a multidisciplinary research team investigating the potential of museum object handling as an enrichment and/or therapeutic intervention in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Funded by the AHRC this post will focus on evaluating the impact of ‘object therapy’ and developing best practice guidelines for heritage engagement with healthcare.

The applicant should hold a postgraduate qualification in museums/heritage studies, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, be highly organised and meticulous.

The post is available immediately for a period of 2.5 years/30 months and is part-time (50%FTE). Salary will be on Grade 6 Spinal point 24 to 26: currently £23,692 to £25,135 plus London Weighting of £2,649.

Further details for the post and an application form may be obtained from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/jobs/ or contact: Lauren Sadler (Email: l.sadler@ucl.ac.uk, Tel: 020 7679 2540). Please return completed application forms to Lauren Sadler by email or by post – Museums and Collections, Strang Print Room, South Cloisters, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.

The closing date for applications is: 19 September 2008

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National Museums Scotland is one of the UK’s leading museums services. Operating five museums and with one of the largest multidisciplinary collections in the UK, it aims to be a world-class museums service that educates, informs and inspires. A major redevelopment and modernisation programme is currently being implemented across our organisation, including a £46 million redevelopment of the Royal Museum building. This investment will create new displays, enhance learning and public facilities and provide high quality visitor experiences.

Continue reading "Assistant Curator - Musical Instrument Collections" »

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons

£20,000 pa * 18 month fixed term contract, extending to 36 months subject to funding

The Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons is one of Britain's oldest scientific museums. As well as permanent exhibitions devoted to the history of anatomy, pathology and surgery it holds extensive reserve collections. These include the Odontological collection, which contains over 10,000 specimens illustrating human and animal dental anatomy and pathology. The collection is an important resource for research in evolutionary biology, zoology and forensic archaeology.

We are looking for an Assistant Curator to develop the cataloguing and storage of this collection, and to facilitate its use for exhibitions and research. You will have a good working knowledge of primate anatomy and taxonomy, and the motivation and enthusiasm to realise the potential of a world-class research collection. A relevant degree is essential, and experience of paid or voluntary work with a natural science collection would be highly desirable. We will offer training and career development, the opportunity to pursue research interests and the chance to experience the full range of museum work as part of a close-knit team.

For further information on this role and to apply please visit our website or email humanresources@rcseng.ac.uk quoting ref. 55/08.

Closing date: Monday 15th September.

Interviews: Thursday 25th September.

We are an employer fully committed to our equality and diversity policies.

Registered charity No. 212808 www.rcseng.ac.uk

Posted by Graeme Were at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

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.

Continue reading "CTCC MA Studentships" »

Posted by Patrick Laviolette at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The University of Brighton’s Postgraduate Design History Society welcome you to our third annual symposium on Friday 6 June 2008 at the Research Centre, Grand Parade, University of Brighton. The day will feature ten papers from MA and PhD researchers from within and beyond the university across a range of topics and historical periods, united by our common focus of design history and material culture studies.

This event has been generously funded by the School for Historical and Critical Studies and the Research Student Division and will be free with a light lunch provided. For further details and to register, please contact the email address: BrightonPostgradDesignResearch@hotmail.com

The University of Brighton’s Postgraduate Design History Society was established in 2005 to create a peer-to-peer research network uniting local MA and PhD students in the areas of design history and material culture. We welcome new members.

Material Matters Friday 6 June Programme

9-9.25 Registration, tea and coffee
9. 25 Welcome

Session 1: Cultures and Identities I – Chair: Annebella Pollen

9.30-10 Denise Gonyo (University of Brighton)
Anglo-Indian and South Asian responses to late nineteenth century colonial exhibitions

10-10.30 Daniel Harrison (University of Brighton)
The design and manufacture of fashionable dress made in India for European consumption 1880 - 1914

10.30-11 Susan House Wade (University of Brighton)
Not one whit Europeanised: Representations of Korea in British popular media 1910-1939

Tea break 11-11.30

Session 2: Cultures and Identities II – Chair: Torunn Kjolberg

11.30-12 Christina Lindholm (University of Brighton)
Fashion and Muslim dress in Qatar

12-12.30 Cat Rossi (V&A / Royal College of Art)
Conflicting modernities: American promotion of post-war Italian craft 1945-1953

12.30-1 Katy May (Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton)
Quintessentially British: Representing the late twentieth century indigenous population of rural Britain

Lunch (provided) 1-2 pm

Session 3: Novelty and Industry – Chair: Charlotte Nicklas

2-2.30 Bridget Millmore (University of Brighton)
The production of thread and linen buttons in Dorset and Birmingham 1760 – 1860: Organised craft work versus mechanised industry

2.30-3 Anna Kett (University of Brighton)
Representations of race and other in the Wedgwood Slave Medallion 1787-1807

Tea break 3-3.30

Session 4: Approaches and Methods – Chair: Jane Hattrick

3.30-4 Amy Clark (University of Sussex)
‘My mother used to make a pink jelly rabbit on green jelly grass’: The effect of oral history methodology when analysing collecting activity

4- 4.30 Chris Warren (Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton)
The importance of the underdog in art and design research

Posted by Graeme Were at 3:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Fragile Memories: Images of Archaeology and Community at Copán, 1891–1900.

June 4, 2008–December 31, 2009

In the late nineteenth century, Peabody Museum expedition teams set out to remote areas of Mexico and Central America, often with little inkling of what they might experience and barely prepared to navigate the cultural encounters essential to their missions. The Peabody Museum holds the written and visual records of these early expeditions and recently completed a two-year project to digitize over 10,000 nineteenth-century glass-plate negatives. The earliest images in this amazing and unique collection were photographed at Copán, during the museum's pioneering archaeological expeditions to the site. These images offer a wealth of archaeological information for current research along with a visual narrative of the budding town and the archaeologists ' interactions with the local community. As the excavations unfold before our eyes, scenes of the Copán community also emerge. But, who are the people in these images, and what effect did the excavations have on their community?

Continue reading "New Exhibition: Peabody Museum Harvard" »

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An event to celebrate the career of Denis Cosgrove will take place on Friday 30 May, at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, from 5pm (tea served from 4pm).

This event will include talks by some of the people who knew and worked with Denis since the 1970s, and the launch of his new book, Geography and Vision: Seeing, Imagining and Representing the World, soon to be published by I. B. Tauris.

Further details of this event, and information on how to register your interest, are now available here.

All are welcome but it would be helpful for planning purposes if those intending to come to this event could send an email to RHED@rgs.org

Please circulate this message to any interested colleagues and friends.

To read the obituary written by David Lowenthal, please see the Tuesday 8 April 2008 edition of the Independent.

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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Design Studies Forum-Sponsored Special Session College Art Association Los Angeles, February 25-28, 2009

The objects found in Walter Benjamin’s writing constitute a significant part of his material and intellectual world. Benjamin's careful textual descriptions of objects gird his broader critical insight into the status of objects and their significance. In reflecting upon his childhood, objects became a means through which to access a bygone era; taking possession of things was posited as a way to divest them of their commodity character. Activities such as collecting, assembling the archive, or unpacking the library were necessarily material-filled. In a seemingly straightforward manner, Benjamin celebrates the material qualities of objects such as letters, books, or old toys, but he also less directly employs objects to address subjects such as kitsch, modern life, and capitalism. In Benjamin's formulation, antimacassars, cases and containers, in their use, allowed the dweller to leave traces; it is notably through objects that the dweller imprints himself upon the interior.

This session proposes a reappraisal of Benjamin's objects, with considerations of what objecthood meant to Benjamin and how the particular set of objects highlighted in his writing can be understood both within his body of work and the broader period in which he wrote.
Benjamin's theory can also be used to inform the examination of objects in other areas of design history.

This panel invites investigations of objects as a means of soliciting critical insight into Benjamin's larger questions, such as those surrounding the aura, habits, taste, the bourgeoisie, or authenticity. Seeking not just to excavate and explicate previously underexamined Benjaminian objects, this session asks how we might interrogate them as discursive entities or agents.

Continue reading "BENJAMIN'S OBJECTS" »

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Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Social Economy at Cardiff School of Management

We are seeking to appoint a social economist or heterodox economist to contribute to both the teaching and research aspects of our School.

The Cardiff School of Management has a strong profile, both nationally and internationally, in the fields of Management, Business, Computing, Tourism and Hospitality, together with proven standing with a range of relevant professional bodies. The School is now looking to recruit additional academic staff to maintain the pace of its development.

Continue reading "Job Announcement" »

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Radical History Review (RHR)
Issue #106: Taking Sides:
The Role of Visual Culture in War, Occupation and Resistance

The RHR solicits contributions for a special issue on visual culture in war, occupation and resistance. Artists have often taken sides in ideological conflicts and in actual conflagrations. In terms of visual culture and resistance, the literature and music of the South African struggle, the murals of Belfast and Derry in Ireland and the poetry of the many Latin American movements for change are relatively well documented. Less analysis is available on the role of artists on one side or another of recent conflicts. Wars of Liberation and popular revolts such as those in Angola, Algeria, Iran and the Basque Country spring to mind. Despite the scale and impact of the Vietnam War, little knowledge is available in terms of the role of visual culture in the mass mobilizations against both the French and US occupations.

Approaching five years into the occupation of Iraq and with numerous groups engaged in resistance, what form does visual culture play in demarcating opposing political positions? How have artists in colonized or oppressed nations viewed themselves and their work in terms of the largely western models that shape what is commonly defined as ‘art’ (the gallery, theater etc)? What has been the role of visual culture in support of imperialism or colonial expansion, as well as officially ‘state sanctioned’ cultural production?

The role of visual culture in conflict situations also prompts an examination of the implications of artistic ‘neutrality’. Despite current global instability many artists and cultural producers, especially in the western artistic tradition, consider their work to be apolitical or neutral. Can artistic neutrality be said to exist in conflict situations, or is culture ultimately, in the words of Edward Said, “…a battleground on which causes expose themselves to the light of day and contend with one another?” (Culture and Imperialism).

Continue reading "Call for Papers: The Role of Visual Culture in War" »

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British Museum Centre for Anthropology Seminar Series

Thursday 27th March 2008, 10.30 a.m.

Prof. Barend J. Terwiel, (Emeritus Professor of Thai History, Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg)

The Body Displayed: Etiquette in early Siamese Manuscripts

Prof. Terwiel is a renowned specialist in the social and cultural history of Thailand and has published 11 books and over 100 journal articles. He is the author of Monks and Magic (Curzon Press, reprinted 2001).

All welcome

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STREET FICTIONS AND REALITIES:
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES ON FILM @ THE FOUNDLING MUSEUM

Friday 7th March, 6.30-9.30PM,
The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ.

This is an excellent opportunity to catch up with a topic discussed at our last year's Festival; 'Schoolscapes' by David MacDougall is the winner of our Basil Wright Film Prize in 2008, and we are pleased to give you the rare opportunity to see 'Pride of Place', Kim Longinotto's NFTS graduation film.

An evening of documentary short film screenings by visual anthropologists, exploring the experiences of children in India, Ethiopia and Malawi, separated from their parents and finding imaginative ways to create homes for themselves. Plus a free glass of wine and the chance to explore the art galleries and collections of the Foundling Museum, Britain's original home for abandoned children. Doors open at 6.30, first film screening will be at 7pm. Open to all.

FREE BUT BOOKING REQUIRED. To book a free place call 0207 387 0455 or email education@therai.org.uk

Continue reading "RAI Film at the ESRC Festival of Science 08" »

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KEEPER OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Full Time - Permanent
Salary up to £38,440 per annum

The Horniman’s designated Anthropology collection of some 90,000 objects is recognized as one of the finest such collections in Britain. The Museum aims to use its world-wide collections and the Gardens to encourage a wider appreciation of the World, its peoples and their cultures, and its environments.

We seek a forward looking curator to take responsibility for the development, research and interpretation of our Anthropology collections. This is a key post which will advise the Senior Management Team and Trustees on all matters related to the Anthropology collection. The post holder will regularly be expected to engage in public consultation and in advocacy work on behalf of the Trust.

The successful applicant will have an in-depth knowledge of at least one of our major collection areas, together with, a postgraduate qualification in a relevant subject and appropriate museum experience. You will be a confident communicator and will have a proven track record in research and in the communication of ideas to a broad audience.

To access further information and an application pack please visit our website at http://www.horniman.ac.uk/more/vacancies.php

The closing date for completed applications is 7th March 2008.

The Trust is committed to equality of opportunity and welcomes applicants from all sections of the community.

Registered Charity in England and Wales No. 802725

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University College Falmouth, September 3-6, 2008

Keynote speakers

Bruno Latour, Professor at Sciences Po and Vice President for Research

Jeremy Myerson, Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre and Innovation, RCA

Networks of Design responds to recent academic interest in the fields of design history, technology and the social sciences in the ‘networks’ of interactions that inform knowledge formation and design. Studying networks foregrounds infrastructure, negotiations, processes, strategies of interconnection, and the heterogeneous relationships between people and things. Networks can include people, social groups, artefacts, devices, entities and ideas.

This conference seeks papers on a wide range of topics related to Networks of Design across all time periods and disciplines that address issues to do with history, theory and practice.

Proposals for papers are welcome from individuals and/or panels (of not more than three papers). If you are interested in presenting a paper, or would like further information about the conference, please visit the web site: www.networksofdesign.co.uk or contact Fiona Hackney at networksofdesign@falmouth.ac.uk

Please submit a title and abstract of up to 300 words by February 25 2008

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Grade: Grade 6 Salary: £23,692 - £27,466pa, pro rata

The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is seeking to employ a Manager for its photography unit responsible for fulfilling the day-to-day photographic needs of the Museum and for overseeing the historic photographic collections comprising approximately 140,000 images from c. 1860 to the present day.

The person appointed to this full-time established post will have a degree in anthropology, archaeology or a related subject as well as having a good general knowledge of the history of photography. An appropriate post-graduate qualification is desirable, or equivalent knowledge and experience to enable the successful candidate to respond to a broad range of queries relating to the collections and to the day-to-day demands of managing a valuable photographic collection. Entry-level professional photographic skills, a familiarity with digital image manipulation software, as well as graphic design skills are also required.

Particulars about the Museum and this post as well as a PD17 application form may be obtained from the Museum Administrator (email tel: 01223 333510). For further information about the Museum and its collections please consult the website.

Applications must reach the Museum Administrator, Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ by Thursday, 28 February. It is anticipated that interviews will be held during week commencing 10 March and that the successful applicant will take up the position late April/early May.

Job Ref: 003025

Closing Date: Thursday 28 February 2008

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We are seeking papers for a session in forthcoming WAC 6 (World Archaeological Congress)International Conference in Dublin, Ireland 29th June-6th July 2008

As of yet we do not know the exact time/date our session will take place but it is under the theme of Materialising Identities.

We are planning to have a series of short papers (5-10 mins) on collections from around the globe followed by detailed/focused discussion.

If you are interested in submitted an abstract please get in touch with me at sebyrne@gmail.com or alternatively you can send your abstract direct to the WAC website http://www.ucd.ie/wac-6/ (click on Submit Proposal).

PAPER DUE BY THE 22nd FEB 2008.

Posted by Graeme Were at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

War Cry: Digging for New Zealanders’ wartime creativity

Lucy Moore

War Cry – L. Moore 2007 Embroidery on Cotton

Mementoes, handcraft, artworks are being sought for a commemorative exhibition documenting New Zealanders’ experience of war through art.

Continue reading "Call for Artefacts" »

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World Congress “TOYS AND CULTURE”

Nafplion, Greece, 9-11 July 2008

The International Toy Research Association (ITRA) will hold its Fifth World Congress in conjunction with the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation in Nafplion Greece. The Conference will be held at the Department of Theater Studies, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of the Peloponnese.

The overarching theme of the conference is the relationship between toys and culture. All play media and play instruments are included in the concept of “toys” ranging from playgrounds and playscapes to electronic devices. A broad scope of approaches is encouraged from the technological and social sciences the humanities.

If you would like to present a paper, give a workshop, or organize a seminar, please submit a one page abstract or proposal in English by 1 December 2007. Submissions may be made by post or email to:

Dr. Cleo Gougoulis, 54 Ag. Alexandrou St. , P. Phaleron, 17561 Athens, Greece, Fax: +30-210 9810-509,
email: cleogougoulis@yahoo.gr

OR:
Prof. Despina Karakatsani, 11 Angelou Sikelianou St., 153 43 Athens , Greece Fax:+30 210- 6086-037,
email: despikar@otenet.gr

You may download the full version of this call and learn more details on the conference from ITRA’s website www.toyresearch.org

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A UCL Anthropology Workshop, 19th-20th January 2008, sponsored by the Journal of Material Culture

The ‘making’ of the material world has been a long standing concern of the French Anthropology of Techniques (Leroi-Gourhan, Haudricourt, Lemonnier) who views technology as a universal and distinctive category of material activity. Technology ‘is an ongoing and unfinished process through which people, society’ and things ‘weave … the meaningful conditions of everyday life’ (Dobres 2000:4). This workshop aims to discuss the uses, contributions and weaknesses of the French school of Anthropology of Techniques and to explore alternatives and recent theoretical developments. Under a cross-disciplinary perspective, it will consider the dimension of ‘doing’ the everyday material world (de Certeau 1984) through the daily use of technology. It will explore technology and techniques such as techniques of the body (Mauss 1936/1979), technical gestures (Leroi-Gourhan 1945/1993) and techniques of the self (Foucault 1978) in relation to embodied practice, language and cognition. We invite scholars working within anthropology, archaeology and sociology to explore technology as a category in its own right from empirically grounded perspective.

For full details, speakers and registration, click: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/conferences/index.htm

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Presenting the Dead

Prof. Stephan Feuchtwang, London School of Economics

Thursday 22 November, 18.30
BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

£5, concessions £3

In the First Emperor exhibition we see things that were not made for anyone's eyes but those of a dead emperor's eternal spirit, the result of his quest for immortality. For us these mortuary and ancestral rites are both sources for historical research and awesome treasures for display. Displaying them indicates a number of profound changes in the power relations entailed in making things visible. Professor Feuchtwang discusses these issues and also looks more broadly at death rituals in China - rituals of the ordinary dead as well as the imperial dead - and how they have changed throughout history.

Booking tickets:
* In person at the Box Office
* By telephone on +44 (0)20 7323 8181

The Box Office is open from 10.00 to 16.45 every day.

Posted by Graeme Were at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Design Research Group are organising a one day conference on the relationships between people and their objects, to be hosted by the Faculty of Visual Culture, National College of Art and Design, Dublin on 14th February 2008.

The relationship between people and their objects is a complex and multifaceted one, which is continually negotiated between the material and the immaterial. Objects are used as tokens of affection, symbolic gestures and statements of devotion and can be represented, employed and
appropriated in a multitude of ways. They carry out important roles in our relationships with each other, either as bearers of significance, or through embodiment, engagement or control. The seductive quality of objects can also mediate our relationships with them, as they engage our emotions in both subliminal and visceral ways. In doing so they facilitate the projection and subversion of identities, and the creation of the contexts in which they operate.

It is expected that selected papers will be collected in an edited anthology. Papers are invited to contribute towards thematic areas, which include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Mind – memory, nostalgia and symbolic value; collecting, hoarding and losing objects; objects and rites of passage; the representation of love of / in objects; objects and devotion

• Body – sex, desire and romance; wrapping, covering and wearing; kitsch and ironic objects; the queer and the camp; objects as tools in sustaining / subverting gender roles; objectification and commodification

• Environment – the role of objects in the construction and performance of identities and relationships in public / private spaces; green objects and sustainable design

• Networks – mediating, signifying and negotiating relationships, including the interpersonal, the group and the political

Papers should be of 20 minutes duration and abstracts of max. 300 words should be submitted by 16 November 2007 to: designresearchgroup@eircom.net

Convened by the Design Research Group
Anna Moran
Sorcha O’Brien
Dr Ciáran Swan

http://designresearchgroup.wordpress.com/

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Convenor: Arnd Schneider, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo

Venue: Kulturhistorisk Museum, University of Oslo, Norway

The two-day workshop, the first in a number of consultation events, will explore ideas and future potentials in the establishment of a `laboratory' in Norway which combines ethnographic and art
practices across a number of institutions and fields (anthropology, art history/criticism, contemporary art practice and museums).

Thus the workshop conceived as an open discussion forum, with the intention to chart a preliminary matrix for a future art-ethnography laboratory in Oslo. A number of invited national and international speakers(including Terje Brantenberg, Geir Tore Holm, George Marcus, Amanda Ravetz, Amiria Salmond, Sissel Tolaas, Chris Wright - full list available on request),
from both the worlds of contemporary art and anthropology, will report on existing projects which incorporate ethnographic and art practices, or provide a counterpoint as respondents to reports from Norway or abroad.

Full programme available on request from
Morten Kjeldseth Pettersen (m.k.pettersen@sai.uio.no)

Participation is free, but places are limited. Please register your interest with:
Morten Kjeldseth Pettersen (m.k.pettersen@sai.uio.no)

Posted by Graeme Were at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Global Eyes exhibition at the Shoreditch Town Hall, 1st - 3rd November 2007

* showcasing diverse and inspiring photography, sound and collaborative artworks produced in 7 countries; 8 postgraduate visual anthropologists dare to challenge boundaries between ethnography, art, and social documentary.

globaleyes2007@googlemail.com

Continue reading "London Global Eyes" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Extreme Collecting explores the process of collecting that challenges the bounds of normally acceptable practice. It consists of a series of four workshops aimed at addressing the social, political, material and ethical debates surrounding the controversial practice of extreme collecting in the twenty-first century. Its aim is to apply a critical approach towards the rigidity of museums in maintaining essentially nineteenth century ideas of collecting and move towards identifying priorities for collection policies in UK museums which are inclusive of acquiring 'difficult' objects. Much of this will look at the question of acceptable boundaries for the practice of collecting and the implementation of new strategies in collecting.

Extreme Collecting may apply to the collection of those objects that appear so mundane and mass-produced as to appear uninteresting. Alternatively, it also applies to the collecting of many other objects that have physical characteristics – of ephemeral substance, size and scale – that make it impossible to acquire and exhibit or are prone to rapid decay. Sustainability of collections is a vital consideration in a world where institutions are dominated by audit culture and by tick box compliance.

A series of four workshops will address these issues so that we may begin to plan for and manage the museum collections of the future.

The series is a collaboration between UCL and the British Museum and supported by the AHRC. Workshops are hosted at the British Museum.

Continue reading "Extreme Collecting - AHRC Research Workshop Series" »

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The Clark/Oakley Humanities Fellowship*

In conjunction with the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Williams College, the Research and Academic Program at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute announces a new fellowship for a scholar in the humanities whose work takes an interdisciplinary approach to some aspect of the visual. The selected fellow will have his or her office at the Oakley Center, be housed at the Clark scholars' residence, and participate fully in the rich intellectual life of both advanced research institutes. The preferred term of the fellowship is for one academic year, though applicants available for only one semester will also be considered. The ample stipend is dependent upon salary and sabbatical replacement needs.

Further details here:
http://www.clarkart.edu/research_and_academic/content.cfm?ID=43&nav=1

Application form is available here:
http://www.clarkart.edu/research_and_academic/PDF/application_master.pdf

The deadline is November 16th, 2007.

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Ph.D. Scholarship for Wool Textile Studies in New Zealand

Applications are invited for this Post Graduate award from people intending to pursue a career in the wool/textile industry. The priority is on research being undertaken in areas post farm-gate. This award is available on an annual basis for 3 years and a stipend of $25,000 plus tuition fees. A research grant as well as a travel grant to attend an international conference are also provided.

The New Zealand wool industry is at the cutting edge of wool textile research, and offering these scholarships is intended to assist the industry to remain a global leader in the future. A focus of the scholarship is to support research at the AgResearch Ltd, Lincoln Research Centre, but consideration will be given to applications for study at other appropriate New Zealand organisations including universities.

The closing date for applications is 30 November 2007. Descriptions of the scholarships and application forms are available on Meat & Wool New Zealand’s website – http://www.meatandwoolnz.com/main.cfm?id=234
For more information contact:
Allan Frazer, Meat & Wool New Zealand
+64 4 473 9150
allan.frazer@meatandwoolnz.com

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This three-day conference is the third in a series of six international workshops bringing together current and recent PhD students and senior scholars. Application for participation is open for all disciplines doing research on the historical and contemporary dynamics surrounding National Museums. The program and series is presented on www.namu.se.

The conference European national museums in a global world is part of the programme Making National Museums: Comparing institutional arrangements, narrative scope and cultural integration(NaMu), funded by Marie Curie Conferences & Training Courses – one of the four so-called Host-driven actions aimed at supporting research networks, research organisations and enterprises. The specific objective is to bring together researchers with different levels of experience.

Continue reading "NaMu III: National museums in a global world" »

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings | Conferences and other events

As well as the research fellowship in Museum Anthropology at Bard in NYC and the jobs at UCL recently advertised and linked to on this site there are a number of positions currently being advertised which require specialisation in the domain of material/visual culture and media. It is obvious that this is a growing sub-discipline within anthropology, with a broad appeal at both undergraduate and graduate levels, although it is still only a small fraction of the academic job market. Material world blog would be interested to know how important the study of the visual and material is within the academic departments of readers, or the thoughts of any of our student readers on the kinds of courses they are offered...

Check out some of the academic job listings culled from aaa.net amongst other websites after the jump...

Readers with other job opportunities feel free to post links in the comments section.

Continue reading "Anthropology Jobs in Visual/Material Culture" »

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Centre for Anthropology Seminar, Thursday 6th September 2007, 10.30 a.m.

Simon Martin (University of Pennsylvania Museum)

"Deciphering the Maya Past: Hieroglyphs and History in the Twenty-First Century"

Continue reading "Seminar Annoucement: British Museum Centre for Anthropology" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 4:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Danny Miller, Anthropology, UCL

This is an announcement about the beginning of a research programme rather than any results. It is one of two new research projects that I will be working on over the next several years. The project is a collaboration with Mirca Madianou who teaches on media studies and sociology at Cambridge University, and it is funded by the ESRC. Our concern is with the impact of new media on the ability of people, migrants, in particular, to maintain long distance relationships. The two main groups being studied are Filipino and Caribbean migrants. We will be working largely with migrants in London and in Cambridge. Migrants from the Philippines to the UK tend to work in the National Health Service and are often here for a decade and more. Much of the concern has been with mothers separated from their children who remain in the Philippines. At one level one might think that new media such as internet and the mobile phone simply help parents to reconnect and re-establish these relationships with their children. But initial research by anthropologists such as Pertierra, Pingol and Parennas reveal a much more complex picture, and it is possible that if anything new media have negative rather than positive effects. We are also investigating other relationships such as between friends and couples.

The second research group will be people from the Caribbean and especially Trinidad and Guyana. The first wave of migrants from Trinidad were mainly working class, though more recent migrants tend to be professionals such as lawyers, accountants and doctors. In many cases they see themselves as permanent settlers though with families who are as likely to be in the US and Canada as in Trinidad. One original aspect of our research is we will be spending some time during 2008 in both the Philippines and the Caribbean looking at the other end of these same relationships. One of the aspects of this work that should be of interest to material culture studies, comes from the range of media currently available. It is already clear that different people prefer particular media such as skype, facebook, mobile phone, landlines, chat, friendster or email, either in general or for particular groups of correspondents. If time allows we would also like to work with a third group of informants, who would be uncategorised in terms of origin, but where we would hope to look in, if anything, even more detail at the specifics of how these relationships operate today. This is a different topic from most studies of migrants, but our argument is that it is the sustaining and form of relationships that is often of rather more significance to the migrants themselves than many of the more common topics of research. Obviously we would love to hear from anyone else interested in similar research.

Posted by Graeme Were at 4:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

UCL Museums & Collections / Department of Anthropology

UCL Museums and Collections and the Department of Anthropology have recently been awarded a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to document and research the ethnography collections housed at UCL.

UCL’s Ethnography Collection consists of around 3,000 artefacts of historical, educational and cultural importance from Africa, Oceania, the Americas and Asia. Most of the collection dates back well before the 1930s and includes several key objects that are instrumental to our understanding of anthropological theory, colonial history and cultural heritage – such as the kula shell armlets from the Trobriand Islands, first written about by the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in the early 1900s.

We are seeking an enthusiastic research assistant to input ethnographic data onto a database system and research the collection. The post will involve working closely with UCL staff in museums and collections and in anthropology, as well as staff in other ethnographic museums. In addition the research assistant will play a key active role in collating data for developing a thesaurus that will be implemented for the documentation and development of the collection database system.

We particularly welcome applicants from an ethnic minority as they are under represented within UCL at this level.

Continue reading "Research Assistant, Ethnographic Documentation Project" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Bard Graduate Center and the American Museum of Natural History announce a Research Fellowship in Museum Anthropology. The fellowship provides support to a postdoctoral investigator to carry out a specific project over a two-year period. The program is designed to advance the training of the participant by having her/him pursue a project in association with a curator in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The Fellow will also be expected to teach one graduate-level course per year at the Bard Graduate Center (BGC). The Fellow will thus be in joint residence at BGC and AMNH. The fellowship includes free housing.

A major purpose of the BGC-AMNH Research Fellowship in Museum Anthropology is to promote mutual scholarly interest and interaction among fellows, BGC faculty and students, and AMNH staff members. Candidates for Research Fellow are judged primarily on their research abilities and experience, and on the merits and scope of the proposed research.

Candidates with a research interest in the ethnology of the Northwest Coast of North America are especially encouraged to apply for the 2008-10 fellowship. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to develop a research program in conjunction with the planned renovation of the AMNH Northwest Coast Hall. The AMNH Northwest Coast Hall is the largest, most important collection of 19th and early 20th century Native North American Northwest Coast material culture, including art, in the world. The hall remains the primary monument to Franz Boas' revolutionary argument for cultural relativism, wherein the explanation of culture is held to be explicable only within its own contexts - social, geographical, and historical.

Application Procedures: Interested researchers should send a statement of research accomplishments and intentions, curriculum vitae including list of publications, and three letters of recommendation to Research Fellowship Competition, Bard Graduate Center, 18 W.86th Street, New York NY 10024, USA. Research Fellowship applications must be postmarked by November 15, 2007. At this time, applications are not accepted by fax or e-mail.

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

This project draws on UCL's expertise both in curatorship and in e-Science. It takes advantage of the presence at UCL of world class collections across a range of disciplines and of a state of the art colour scanner, the quality of which is unequalled in the UK. The project aims to apply e-science technologies to museum work and artefact analysis, exploring the potential to capture and share in a secure and repeatable manner very large, detailed datasets about museum artefacts, thereby enhancing international scholarship and facilitating the safe movement of artefacts. The ability to share validated 3D colour data could facilitate object-tracking and condition checking, enabling curators and conservators to compare records collected at different institutions and stored remotely, or collected over a period of time under different conditions, in order to assess and monitor change. The project is jointly funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

The specific aims of the project are to:
* Develop a repeatable methodology for recording the surface detail and colour quality of a range of object types and materials
* Explore the potential for producing validated datasets that would allow closer and more scientific examination of groups of objects, the processes involved in their manufacture, and issues of wear and deterioration.
* Examine how the resulting datasets could be transmitted, shared and compared.
* To begin to build expertise in the use and transmission of 3D scan data as a curatorial tool.

The PhD student will work as part of a team to explore the usage of the developed tools and undertake re-scanning and comparison of the objects on a periodic basis. This work will form the basis of a 4 year PhD investigation of the abilities of 3D colour scanning and e-science based data sharing and visualization for the museum community. The studentship will be supervised by Sally MacDonald, Director of UCL Museums and Collections and will be based in the Institute of Archaeology.

To be eligible for a full award, which covers the cost of tuition fees and a maintenance grant (£14,700 in 2007/8), applicants should be normally resident in the UK. Applicants should have a good background in museum, material culture, conservation, heritage studies or archaeology at honours degree level (first/upper second), and preferably some post-graduate training or museums experience. A strong interest in cultural heritage technologies is essential and experience in computing will be an advantage. The studentship must start no later than 1 October 2007.

Continue reading "Funded PhD studentship: E –Curator: 3D colour scans for remote object identification and assessment" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 4:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

One day Symposium Friday 14th September 2007.

We will be hosting a one day symposium on Friday 14th September 2007. Its starting point is to explore how people involved in textile making are involved in practice based research teams across art, science and technology. We will focus on collaboration between artists, museologists and technologists and their relationship to textiles, touch and technology.

Click below for details

Continue reading "Touch, Textile, Technology: Collaboration across Europe" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

I am seeking proposals of original writings for a forthcoming edited book tentatively titled: “Mundane Stuff: Ethnographic Approaches to Technology as Material Culture.” The deadline for proposal submission is September 1, 2007. Completed chapters would be due some time in the spring of 2008. Serious publisher interest in this book has already been expressed. The writing is intended to be classroom friendly, though the intended audience is comprised mainly of graduate students and scholars.

Studying technology as everyday life material culture means demystifying technology and methodologically approaching technics (i.e. material objects) and techniques (i.e. tactics, strategies) as pragmatic ways of attributing meaning to the world while simultaneously shaping it and being shaped by it. Such as an approach calls for reflexive, creative, situated ethnographic research strategies which employ both abstract knowledge and mundane practices of meaning-making while attempting to understand both users and material objects.

I am seeking three types of proposed chapters.

1. Theoretical chapters which provide both an overview and reflection on one of the following analytical perspectives on technology as everyday life material culture: symbolic interactionism, actor-network theory, cultural studies, and phenomenology. Required length: 5,500 words.

2. Methodological chapters which offer both overview and reflection on the ethnographic study and representation of technology as material culture from the angle of one of the following approaches: performance ethnography, visual ethnography, narrative ethnography, analytical ethnography. Required length: 5,500 words.

3. Empirical chapters which focus on the reporting of original ethnographic research on technology as material culture. Possible topics are limitless. For example, they may include the study of domestic objects, means of transportation, clothing and other body-modifying/adorning objects, workplace objects, toys, landscape, etc. Approximate required length: 7,500 words.

If you are interested please submit a tentative title, 100/150 word abstract, and author bio to Phillip Vannini: Phillip.Vannini@Royalroads.ca or simply contact me to discuss ideas or ask for more information.

Phillip Vannini, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Communication and Culture
2005 Sooke Road
Royal Roads University
Victoria BC V9B 5Y2
CANADA
Phone: (250) 391-2600 ext. 4477 (no voice mail)
Fax: (250) 391-2694

Posted by Graeme Were at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

RESEARCH PROJECT ASSISTANT: 3D COLOUR LASER SCANNING

UCL Museums and Collections have recently been awarded a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to develop a conference and research workshops investigating the potential uses of 3D Laser scanning technologies in the contexts of museum object research, interpretation, exhibition and education.

We are seeking an enthusiastic project assistant to help us organise, run and develop the workshop, practical sessions and the conference. The post will involve liaising with key stakeholders, workshop participants and the relevant academic and museum communities. In addition the project assistant will play an active role in collating information disseminating from the various workshops with a view to summarising the main outcomes in an edited publication.

Read below for full details and contact information:

Continue reading "Job Annoucement: Research Project Assistant, UCL" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

We provide a link to an obituary by Neal Ascherson for Peter Ucko, former Secretary of the World Archaeological Congress and former Director of the Institute of Archaeology UCL, that was published in the Independent UK on the 21st June.

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2686806.ece

Click below to continue: Michael Rowlands provides some further reminiscences on the role Peter played in the rebirth of material culture studies in the British Anthropology scene of the 1960s.

Continue reading "Peter Ucko (1938-2007)" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 4:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Alison J. Clarke, University of Applied Arts Vienna

www.thedeathoftaste.com

Moving from London to Vienna a few years back, I experienced an irrepressible and distinctly non-academic nostalgia induced by the plethora of quaint fashion-related specialist shops selling ‘real’ things with ‘real’ uses right in the centre of the city; from miniature tailor’s dummies to ‘proper’ hand-made hats. Adjacent to the Versace designer flagship store a highly ornamented button shop (established in 1841) sold, just prior to its closure earlier this year, around150 buttons a week to dedicated home dress-makers of Vienna. A tiny embroidery and haberdashery shop with an extraordinary range of diamante accessories, still incongruously co-exists metres away from the Timberland global casual-clothing store on one of the most prestigious shopping streets in Vienna. Only recently, the city’s most famous traditional high-end clothing shop closed down to be taken over (marble fixtures, fittings and all) by the H&M mega-clothing store promoting their new Kylie Minogue collection to the eager Viennese consumer. Located in areas of ‘prime’ global real estate, sought by fashion labels desperate to secure their place in a city on the cusp of burgeoning new style markets of former Eastern Europe, oddities such as button shops and diamante specialists stand as the relics of a former fashion economy.

www.thedeathoftaste.com

From Veblen through to Simmel and Barthes, fashion has pre-occupied contemporary theorists as the form of material culture most expressive of modernity’s accelerated consumption of style and shifting social hierarchies. With the rise of a globalized fashion industry, where H & M clothing stores offer twenty-four seasons of fashion a year, in places as diverse as New York City and Slovenia, the dynamics of any discernible ‘fashion system’ have altered considerably since the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The contents of the 19th century mahogany drawers of a now demised Viennese button shop were once part of a local taste culture, mediated at different social levels by the dress –makers, consumers and couturiers of the city. In the 21st century the manifestation of style and taste, from London through to Iceland, Russia and Turkey, is underpinned in by a complex network of stylists, forecasters, buyers, post-production artists and on-line editors who mediate the seasonal style shifts in relation to local taste cultures. ‘Fast-fashion’ retailers such as UK fashion flagship store Top Shop pride themselves on being able to transform a ‘static’ (i.e. non-selling) t-shirt into a best-seller overnight; by removal en masse from the rails, shipping to a local warehouse where a style feature is adapted and the items re-positioned on the shop floor for sale again within hours.

Much contemporary clothing, its cut, its fabric and its style, is as ephemeral in its materiality as the editorial in which it is embedded. Future material culture study collections may happily contain the contents of a 19th century Viennese button shop; but will the Kylie Minogue bikini make it past the second washing machine cycle?

Observations regarding the accelerated temporality, changing materiality and place-specificity of style could just as easily be made of fashion in the 18th century (and indeed were). But the rise of an entire industry given over to the rationalization, harnessing and circulation of style knowledge, and the extraordinary rapidity of style change in the most everyday of our contemporary material cultures raises issues regarding the impact of a contemporary taste-making industry on other forms of material culture (from technologies through to food) and the ways in which style and taste are embedded in place.

The Death of Taste: the Future of Fashion, a London/Vienna symposium, explores the cultural phenomenon of contemporary style-change and taste-making from the perspective of its multiple agents (models, stylists, designers, consumers, retailers, editors, and buyers) asking how the differing materialities of clothing, from the fleetingly fashionable 1980s retro -neon T-shirt to the hand-made hat, can be understood (if at all) as a discrete entity of material culture called ‘fashion’. Once the centre of 20th century Modernity, inspiring contemporary discourses around style and ornament, Vienna offers a unique venue for such a debate.

Organized by the department of design history and material culture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in cooperation with London College of Fashion, the two-part symposium (the first held at the ICA, London November 2006) highlights the crucial intersection of place/style in the ‘making’ of material cultures.

Click below for contact details and conference program

Continue reading "The Death of Taste - the future of fashion" »

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 3:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Hidden Histories: A One-Day Symposium Showcasing New Research in Design History and Material Culture

The University of Brighton’s Postgraduate Design History Society (PDHS) are hosting a one day symposium of recent and current research on Saturday 9 June 2007 at the Research Centre, Grand Parade, University of Brighton. The day will feature eight papers from our MA and PhD community across a range of topics and historical periods united by our common focus of design history and material culture studies. This event has been generously funded by the School for Historical and Critical Studies and the Research Student Division and will be free with a light lunch provided. For further details or to register, please contact brightonpdhs@hotmail.com

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Thursday June 7th 2007, 10 a.m.

Dr Ian Coates (Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Program, National Museum of Australia)

A collector’s life: Emile Clement
Emil Clement, an English-based collector, made important contributions to the British Museum’s collections during the second half of the nineteenth century. As well as selling large numbers of north-western Australian Aboriginal objects to a range of museums in Britain and Europe, Clement had earlier collected and sold Bronze Age pots and objects from Silesia. In this paper I review Clement’s collecting activities, and examine continuities in his sale techniques relating to both the ethnographic and bronze-age material.

Thursday June 14th 2007, 10 a.m.

Peter Mason (Rome)

Images of the ancestors: Aesthetics and moai being-in-the-world
Several expeditions to Easter Island, especially from the late 19th and early 20th century, provoked an interest in the carvings of the island among several Western artists, especially the Surrealists. Less well-explored is the subject of the aesthetics of how the well-known carved stones (moai) of the island have been and are physically presented: their being-in-the-world. Bypassing the enigmatic question of how the moai are to be interpreted, I explore the effects of different presentations or stagings of the moai, both on the island and elsewhere (including the British Museum).

Seminars usually start at 10.20 – tea and coffee provided from 10.00.

The British Museum Centre for Anthropology is located inside the north entrance to the museum on Montague Place.

For more information please contact: anthropology@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Posted by Graeme Were at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

To mark Refugee Week here in London, seize the chance to visit 19 Princelet Street and explore issues of immigration, inclusion and identity in one of Europe's most extraordinary spaces. Tell your friends and colleagues, and please do help by forwarding this on.

An international historic site of civic engagement, the only one of its kind in Europe, 19 Princelet Street in London's Spitalfields will open FREE every day 17-24 June (and Sunday 27 May) from 12-5 pm.

'One of the most charismatic buildings in our city - it tells the tale of arrival, of moving in and moving on'
Robert Elms, BBC London

Discover shared human stories of incomers, over hundreds of years, who have shaped and continue to shape not only this city but our society.

Explore SUITCASES AND SANCTUARY, a 'hauntingly beautiful' show created by children, with powerful lessons for how we think about asylum seekers, for political debate, for community relations and human rights. Take a wry look at asylum in Britain today through LEAVE TO REMAIN, installed by three contemporary artists in exile.

'Goes right to the heart of who we are today'
The Guardian

Founded by refugees, the charity is run by volunteers of all ages, cultures, religions and backgrounds working together to preserve this special kind of museum as a place where cultures meet, and raising a target of £3 million so it can be open to everyone on a regular basis in future.

'Our visit to 19 Princelet Street was a revelation'
International Banker

Find more at www.19princeletstreet.org.uk

- Any one lucky enough to visit this remarkable house should please send in something to the blog, as readers would be keen to read this.

Posted by Graeme Were at 5:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

On the 27th June 2007 IADT will open a three day international conference Global Photographies: Histories, Theories, Practices. 65 Speakers from over 20 different countries will participate in the conference programme, presenting papers on a range of themes from 9/11 and the war on terror, photography and the image content industry, documenting migrations and human rights, environmentalism and globalization, archives and contemporary photographic practices, Diaspora, communities and citizenship, the photographic image and cultural diplomacy, and the impact of digital culture on photojournalism.

Click below for details

Continue reading "Global Photographies: Histories, Theories, Practices" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

A Series of Explorative Seminars Examining Innovation in Art and Science

John Flaxman, Monument to John & Susannah Phillimore, 1804, Plaster, UCL SC1009, Courtesy of UCL Art Collections

Fridays 10.30 – 12.00 Strang Print Room, South Cloisters, University College London

Summer Term 2007

A series of innovative seminars critically examining the nature of the prototype and its relation to innovation in the arts and sciences. Speakers drawn from Anthropology, Archaeology, Architecture, and History of Art at UCL.

Sessions chaired by Dr Graeme Were, UCL Museums & Collections.
No booking required but spaces limited – please arrive promptly.

Enquires: g.were@ucl.ac.uk

Continue reading "Rethinking Prototypes: UCL Seminar Series" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

UCL Department of Anthropology
Lecturer in Visual and Material Culture

»Applications are invited for a two year lectureship in Visual and Material Culture to begin 1st September 2007. The post is intended to cover sabbatical leave.

Applicants should have submitted a PhD and have begun publishing in the field of anthropology. While the post is open to candidates with expertise in material culture there will be a preference for a specialisation in the field of visual culture. We are looking for applicants who will complement existing areas of expertise in the Department. Applications from qualified candidates specialised in any area of the world are welcome.

• Further particulars are available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/main/index.htm

• This appointment is available from 1st September 2007 on the UCL salary scale Grade 7 in the range £25,889 to £31,840 p.a. plus £2,497 London Allowance.

• A UCL application form may be downloaded from the web (site). Applications consisting of the application form, a CV, the names and contact details (certainly e-mail) of three referees and a cover letter describing the candidate’s research interests and teaching expertise should all be sent electronically to the Departmental Administrator, Mrs Alena Kocourek (a.kocourek@ucl.ac.uk).

• Closing date: 11th May 2007.
  University College London Taking Action for Equality.
  

Posted by Graeme Were at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Invisible Culture, Issue 11, Curator and Context: Fall 2007

»Online at: www.rochester.edu/in_visible_culture/

»Deadline for Papers: May 20, 2007

In his 1965 book Museum Without Walls, Andre Malraux critiques museum conventions of display that deaden art of the past. In fact, over time the artworks have morphed, affected by their surroundings, and taken on new lives as different kinds of aesthetic objects. Three years later, Roland Barthes would identify the death of the author and the emergence of the reader in the making of meaning. These writers' prescient articulations of the fusions - and confusions - of art object, context, artist, and viewer foresaw today's hyper-interaction of art media and the overlapping of roles in the museum and beyond.

Continue reading "Call for Papers and Projects: Invisible Culture" »

Posted by Graeme Were at 4:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

The Melanesia Art Project(a joint initiative of Goldsmiths College, University of London and the British Museum) is advertising for a postdoctoral position, for details see: RESEARCH OFFICER - Melanesian Art (PDF Format)

Based in the Anthropology department, the researcher will work on a major new analysis of the art of Melanesia, based on the highly significant collections in the British Museum and through archives, fieldwork visits, and organizing visits of indigenous individuals to the collections. The researcher is responsible for research liaison with indigenous communities, the practical organization of the project, video and/or audio documentation, and particularly for editing project publications.

Requires: PhD in anthropology or a related discipline, and research experience in the Pacific, preferably in island Melanesia.

Closing date: 3 April 2007 by 5.00pm
Interview date: 25 April 2007
Committed to equal opportunities

Posted by William Brian Thomson at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

Summer Intern to Catalog Art Collection and Artifacts, Distinguished Private Club in Downtown Financial District, New York City, New York, USA

We are updating our catalogue of Museum quality Art, Maritime Artifacts and Library material.

The Intern will be responsible for the updating and cataloguing of all items that were previously entered into a database in 2002, and additional related tasks. This position entails a thorough knowledge of collections procedures, particularly the cataloging of a significant number of Maritime Art Portraits, objects and material that need to be recorded and documented. Computer skills essential for imputing the database. Digital camera knowledge a plus.

The successful candidate will have experience in museum collections management and should have completed at least one year of undergraduate work by June 2007 in art history, art education, museum studies or related fields.

• Must be a self starter and able to work with minimal supervision. References required. Position reports to the General Manager.

• Please e-mail resume and a cover letter to
  Genmanager@indiahouseclub.org.

• Position available starting approximately late May/Early June for 7-8 weeks (35 hours per week) Flexible daytime schedule. Stipend $2,000 inclusive. This will be an outside contractor position and a 1099 will be issued at year end. No taxes will be withheld. EOE. Reponses from candidates within commuting distance only, please.

• Please reference museum-employment.com when applying for this job. This job posted by MERC from March 12 through June 11.

Posted by Graeme Were at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings

forwarded from Inge Daniels, ISCA, University of Oxford:

The editors of the Russian journal: The Forum for Anthropology and Culture have contacted me concerning a special issue about ethnographic museums which will be published in English and in Russian in the autumn of 2007. They are looking for contributions, who would need to send short essays by the start of May to get them translated in time for the Russian edition. Those interested please contact, Catriona Kelly (Professor of Russian, University of Oxford) at catriona.kelly@new.ox.ac.uk

Continue reading "Special Issue Forum for Anthropology: and Culture about ethnographic collections in modern museums" »

Posted by Haidy L Geismar at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Announcements and Listings