U Penn Party

For those of you headed to the American Anthropological Association's Annual Meeting next week in Philly, here's a reception that should be a lot of fun:

For a reception honoring Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania
and Anthropology & Education Quarterly Transforming Anthropology

Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 6:30-8:00 PM

Sponsored by:

• Department of Anthropology
• Graduate School of Education
• Annenberg School for Communication
• University of Pennsylvania
  

Location:
The Chinese Rotunda
At the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
3260 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19104

No RSVP is necessary.

Head of the Gallery

JOB POSTING: Head of the Gallery Laboratory Project

The Gallery at the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is expanding its established exhibition program to include a second area called the Laboratory Project that is devoted to experimentation and innovation in all aspects of exhibition practice, particularly display and interpretation. This project seeks to re-define the identity of the curator by integrating exhibition practice in the academic life of the Center and academic investigation in the practice of the Gallery. The idea of a laboratory implies openness to thinking in new ways about the gallery as a space for faculty and students to engage in exhibitions as an intellectual endeavor and as a craft.

The Head of the Gallery Laboratory Project will have three primary responsibilities devoted to realizing these goals. The first is to coordinate the newly established Focus Exhibitions that are curated by faculty and derive from seminars taught at the Center. The second is to be responsible for realizing the student-participation exhibitions organized by the BGC in collaboration with museums in the New York City area. The third is to be part of a team developing a new informal gallery-based curriculum intended to teach students about conceptualization, implementation and interpretation of exhibitions. In addition, this position will be responsible for organizing programs for the Laboratory Project exhibitions.

Qualifications: • No less than five years of museum or gallery experience coordinating exhibitions with knowledge of public and private collections• Experience teaching at the graduate level• Terminal degree in history of decorative arts, design history, material culture, art history; Ph.D. preferred• Knowledge of museum interpretation including writing text panels and exhibition labels• Experience working with innovative approaches to display and developing new approaches to curating exhibitions examining the decorative arts, design history, and material culture• Excellent writing skills• Experience with budget oversight• Must be a team player with excellent interpersonal skills

This position reports to the Chief Curator and Executive Editor Gallery Publications. This is an administrative position that will join the Gallery staff currently comprised of the Administrator, Curatorial Projects; Assistant Curator; Exhibition Designer; Registrar; Digital Technology Designer; Head of Education; Gallery Outreach Educator; Gallery Program Coordinator; Catalogue Photography Coordinator; and two Curatorial Fellows.

Please send letter of interest, including salary requirements, curriculum vitae, and a list of three referees to: HGLsearch@bgc.bard.edu. AA/EOEFor more Information on the Bard Graduate Center: http://www.bgc.bard.edu/

Repatriation News

Lots in the news this last week relating to myriad repatriation issues:

Massacred Yaqui Remains Returned
Human remains at the American Museum of Natural History from a gruesome 1902 massacre site are repatriated.

Jim Thorpe's Final Resting Place
A discussion about whether to return Thorpe's earthly remains from PA to his natal OK.

Maori Bones Return Home
The bones of twelve maori people which have lain in boxes in the National Museum and Gallery of Wales in Cardiff since the 1920s have been handed over to New Zealand at a special ceremony.

Hawaiian Skulls Returned
Having retrieved 22 iwi po'o, or Hawaiian skulls, from Stockholm's antiquities museum over the weekend, a Native Hawaiian delegation arrived in Boston yesterday to take possession of eight more from Harvard University's anatomical collection.

New Hearst Museum Director

A news release: Anthropologist Mari Lyn Salvador, a scholar of Panama's native Kuna people and the textiles that they create and an experienced museum professional, has been named director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Salvador is scheduled to take the new post in late November.

Special Repatriation Issue

CALL FOR PAPERS: A special issue of Museum Anthropology

Looking Back, Looking Forward: NAGPRA after Two Decades

In 1990, the United States Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), thereby forever altering museum collections and exhibits, and the relationship between museums and Native American communities. In this special thematic issue of Museum Anthropology, we are seeking innovative studies of NAGPRA’s impacts, brief reflections and commentaries, and analyses that investigate the trends of the last two decades and anticipate what is still to come. Particularly welcomed are papers that evaluate whether NAGPRA has led to the kind of spiritual healing that it was intended to facilitate, or whether it has opened old wounds (or made new ones). Viewpoints are encouraged from Native Americans, tribal representatives, museum professionals, federal employees, lawyers, archaeologists, physical anthropologists, and other academic scholars.

NEW DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2010

The top peer-reviewed comments and articles will be published in the fall of 2010 (vol. 33, n. 2). Initial submissions should not exceed 8,000 words including notes, tables, and references. Inquiries and manuscripts should be sent via email to muaeditor@gmail.com.

Field School Assistant Position

OSEA Job Announcement: Program Assistant for 2010 Summer Field School

OSEA Seeks 1 or 2 Program Assistants for 2010 Summer Field School. The number of assistants hired will depend upon final program enrollment and qualifications/experiences of applicants.

We seek a highly motivated, mature, professional, with developed qualifications and/or experience in both office/clerical management and academic teaching/research. Work schedule includes pre-program activities during April and May, the program per se, and post program activities. The person must also have a flexible yet well defined personality that can adapt to different kinds of social contexts, cultural norms, personalities, and contingencies. The selected person(s) fulfills one or more roles simultaneously: (A) Teaching and Research Assistant. (B) Instructor, if possible and according to expertise in areas such as conversational Spanish, ethnography, anthropology, or related cultural studies fields. (C) Student Liaison and Supervisor of Student Activities. (D) Financial/Program Administrator. Time commitment: full time 40-55 hours a week, during the 8 weeks of the OSEA Field School Program plus 4 days prior to start date and 4 days post closing date. In addition, the assistant works approximately 4 weeks at quarter time in pre-program preparation. This may include preparation of course materials, guiding participants with pre-travel issues, and related pre-program activities. During the field school there is scheduled free time and a program break from work (expenses are out of pocket). Total time is approximately 9 weeks on site. There is post-program work of one week at half-time, which can be conducted off-site, to complete administrative responsibilities by September. Pay scale is dependent upon qualifications of applicant. Payment includes food and lodging while on-site, partial to full reimbursement of airfare, ground travel from airport to program site, and a monetary stipend. Benefits include option to take structured Maya language course (at introductory, intermediate, or advanced levels) and advising on Assistant’s research and/or writing where relevant/desired. While the position is seasonal, there is the option for continued part-time work during the academic year 2010-11 and renewal of position for 2011.

To apply, send a cover letter that explains your interest in and motivations to work with OSEA and in Yucatán, vita/resume, and contact information for two professional references. The letter should include descriptions of any and all undergraduate or graduate research and travel experience, especially in Latin America and Mexico, disciplinary training to date, professional goals in short and long term. Please send an academic curriculum vitae and either a business resume or an addenda to the CV that details non-academic work experience, positions, and skills, including Spanish or other language proficiencies. Applicants with a minimum of anthropology background is desired but those with training in any related field of cultural-social studies and practical experience in office administration/secretarial, NGO management, community development, and/or art fields are encouraged to apply. Ability to teach or practical experience in teaching conversational Spanish at introductory levels is a welcome skill to highlight. In your cover letter please clarify what special skills, leadership, training, experience, or current projects that you bring to the Field School that would be a unique asset to the development of student participants and staff or that would contribute to the OSEA experience. Applicants may be graduate students working toward a Masters or a Ph.D. or post-degree professionals with academic/research backgrounds. Applications can be submitted any time from posting until the position is filled or no later than December 15. Submit your materials directly to Quetzil Castañeda, OSEA, 2244 Martha Street, Bloomington, IN 47408.

American Anthropologist & Practicing Anthropology

A message from T. J. Ferguson (Anthropological Research, LLC.):

In November and December 2009, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and Wiley-Blackwell are offering free access to over ten years of Anthrosource content, AAA’s online portal for anthropological research.

I encourage the practicing community to take advantage of this opportunity to explore the benefits of Anthrosource as a research tool. In particular, I’d like to draw to your attention some efforts being made in American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of AAA, to make sure this title brings practicing, applied, and public anthropologists and their contributions into this august record of the field.

In June 2009, the journal published a review by Melissa Checker of 2008 literature, "Anthropology in the Public Sphere, 2008: Emerging Trends and Significant Impacts.” The editor of the journal, Tom Boellstorff, plans to have these annual recaps each year, summarizing key contributions and themes in the documents produced by applied, practicing and public anthropologists.

This same issue features a research article by Timothy de Waal Malefyt, “Understanding the Rise of Consumer Ethnography: Branding Technomethodologies in the New Economy.”

American Anthropologist will also, starting in March 2010, launch a second new feature. The journal will begin reviewing professional reports and other documents that public, practicing, and applied anthropologists create, but which have not been published by university presses or in other traditional academic venues, and thus have historically been occluded from book review sections.

Because the journal is both widely visible in the discipline and because of its role as an unofficial record of the discipline, I am very excited to see these new efforts featuring the emerging place of practicing anthropologists in our field.

Staff Curator (Museum Management)

The U.S. Department of the Interior is in search of a candidate to become a Staff Curator (Museum Management) for the Office of Acquisition and Property Management’s Interior Museum Program. If you have comprehensive knowledge of museum and collection management practices and standards, then this could be the job for you!

If selected, you will be working for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Secretary, Assistant Secretary – Policy, Management and Budget, Office of Acquisition and Property Management located in Washington, DC. Salary Information: GS-12: $73,100 - $95,026 per annum; GS-13: $86,927 - $113,007 per annum. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.

Research Fellowship in Museum Anthropology

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 History of Collecting for Anthropology Museums are especially encouraged to apply for the 2010-12 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 December 15. At this time, applications are not accepted by fax or e-mail.

Museum Anthropology Re-Design

This spring, the Council for Museum Anthropology's Board of Directors voted to approve funding for a complete design overhaul of Museum Anthropology. Below is a sneak peak at the near-completed re-design. Many thanks to the CMA Board and the journal's new Editorial Board for all their input and advice!