Do you teach a course in Museum Anthropology?

In 2014, we asked readers to send us their Museum Anthropology syllabi. Two years later, we are reopening this invitation. We would like to share reading resources and themes for teaching Museum Anthropology with our readers, who range from undergraduates to graduate students to practitioners.

Please send your syllabi or lists of readings/themes to mua4web@gmail.com. We will compile the information and share it with our readers. 

Thank you!

Museum Studies class provides opportunities

By Samuel Yang, University of Alabama's The Crimson White, November 12, 2013


Behind every displayed T. Rex fossil, Spanish fort and Apollo capsule, there is a team of museum professionals. For six years, William Bomar, interim executive director of University Museums, has taught a museum studies course exposing students to museum management.

“There are about 18,000 museums in the U.S.,” Bomar said. “Museums have more visitors each year than all professional baseball, football and basketball games combined. Museums employ more than 400,000 Americans and are regularly cited as among the most trusted sources of information. Despite their importance to society, many people surprisingly enter museum work seemingly by accident. This is changing rapidly, however, as most professional museum positions now require, or at least prefer, a master’s degree in museum studies and academic preparation in a traditional discipline.”

Jeremy Davis, a doctoral candidate in archaeology, said the knowledge he gained from taking the course makes him more competitive in the already rigorous field of anthropology.

More here.

Do you teach a course in Museum Anthropology?

Following up on our survey, we invite you to email us your syllabus so that we can share reading resources and themes for teaching Museum Anthropology (to undergraduates, graduates, practitioners, etc).  Please send your syllabi or lists of readings/themes to mua4web@gmail.com by July 30.  We will compile the information and share it with our readers.
Thank you!

Community Language Archiving Introductory Course

Community Language Archiving
Introductory Course
June 3-28, 2013
Tucson, Arizona

Tribal archives are often the repository for historical documents and records of all kinds.  While language archives have been used primarily by linguists, more tribes are now seeking ways to either establish language archives or to add them to their existing archive program. The American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) is offering a course, Community Language Archiving designed to aid in the understanding, creation and maintenance of a language archive.

In this introductory course students will develop an understanding of best practices as they apply to creating and maintaining language archives with an emphasis on digital archiving and accessibility. The course includes an introduction to best practices, how to decide what to archive, how to create digital resources, and basic web design to facilitate access to resources in a digital archive.  At the end of the course students will have a basic understanding of archival development and an understanding of the resources available to develop a language archive. Students enrolled in this course will be required to bring their own laptop.

Upon completion of the course, participants will earn 3 credits that can be transferred to a college or university program. The course is one of seven that will be offered as part of AILDI’s annual summer training program.  For more information about courses and the training program go to http://aildi.arizona.edu/2013-courses or contact COE-AILDI@email.arizona.edu, 520-521-1068.