Oceania

Bishop Museum showcases Polynesian anthropologist

HONOLULU (AP) — Bishop Museum is paying tribute to the first Polynesian to receive widespread recognition for his research and scholarship on Pacific cultures.

The Honolulu museum's newly renovated Pacific Hall will showcase Sir Peter H. Buck, also known as Te Rangi Hiroa.

Buck served as Bishop Museum's director for 15 years starting in 1936.

As director, he focused on the anthropology of Pacific people, their origins, language and material culture.

More here.

Review: Chiefs and Governors: Art and Power in Fiji, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge

Necklaces made from whale ivory and fish hooks of ivory, pearl and turtle shell were part of a lavish system of gifts between Fiji’s chiefs and their first British governor in the nineteenth century.


The importance of the sea resonates through the exhibition: whales, turtles, pearls, shells and coconuts. Jewellery and breastplates were made using an ingenious system designed for building canoes. 

More here.

Jared Diamond Sued

Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, is being sued by two Papua, New Guinea, men who claim the award-winning science writer lied about their lives to prove that tribal culture is violent.

More here

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.

Directorship Open: Anthropology Museum at the University of Queensland

From a University of Queensland email circular:

Applications are invited for the position of Director of the Anthropology Museum at The University of Queensland. The appointment is part of the University’s initiative to promote the Museum nationally and internationally in the areas of public exhibition, community engagement, research and teaching.

The Role The successful applicant will be an advocate for the Museum and its collection, and will supervise new engagements with potential funding bodies and supporters of appropriate public exhibitions. The Director will be responsible for managing the collection, liaising with the University and relevant community groups to initiate research projects, and building the public profile of the collection through digital and related technologies.

The Person The successful applicant will possess a higher degree in anthropology, archaeology, museum studies, or related fields. Experience with collections and/or related research activities in Aboriginal Australia and/or Melanesia and the broader Pacific is highly desirable.

Learn more about the position here.

Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific wins Shep Book Award

From a Textile Society of America press release:

The Textile Society of America is pleased to announce the recipient of this year’s R. L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Book Award, Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific by Roy W. Hamilton and B. Lynne Milgram, editors, published in Los Angeles by The Fowler Museum at UCLA. Chosen from a field of 17 nominated titles, this book exemplifies the goal of the award to recognize exceptional scholarship in the field of ethnic textile studies.

While many books earned high scores and strong positive comments from the committee, ultimately Material Choices was selected for the stellar quality of field research and its vital contribution of new material to the field. Two books tied for second place: The Worldwide History of Dress by Patricia Rieff Anawalt, published by Thames & Hudson Ltd., and Uzbek Embroidery in the Nomadic Tradition, by Kate Fitz Gibbon and Andrew Hale, published by Art Media Resources, Ltd.
Material Choices reminds us in an elegant and erudite manner that before cotton and artificial fibers subsumed the textile field, societies used a range of other materials from bast to leaf fibers. Many of the customs associated with these fibers remained embedded within those societies, but over time their use largely dwindled and only marginalized segments of populations retained their use. Today these weavers are reinterpreting their positions in terms of ethnic, gender and national identities given the new opportunities presented by globalization. This book takes these textiles directly to the heart of current cultural studies and anthropology, fields which are re-examining such marginalized segments of a society.

It is a thought-provoking perch from which to view what follows in the book, with essays written by Asia-Pacific specialists of each of the eight regions covered. The entries examine the traditional functions and modes of production within a society and then trace responses to globalization within the society. They are amazing in their variety. In some instances there is a turn to considering these textiles as more “authentic” statements of a larger culture and a movement to bring these onto an expanded scene as national identity markers. In other cases women have seized newly available opportunities to better the position of their gender. In still other cases women continue local production out of a sense of pride, but know their efforts are uneconomic.

The book also provides a botanical overview of the fibers in question, a needed review considering how few of these are documented in readily available literature. This is because once the apparent usefulness of bast and leaf fibers declined, contemporary scientific studies also faded.•
Given annually to a publication judged to be the best book of the year in the field of ethnic textile studies, the award consists of a cash prize, funded by an endowment established by R. L. Shep in 2000. The endowment is administered by the Textile Society of America, through an Awards Committee comprised of members Mattibelle Gittinger, Barbara Sloan and Chair, Victoria Rivers.

A formal presentation of this award, along with that of the 2006 R.L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Book Award winner, will take place at the Textile Society of America’s 11th Biennial Symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii, September 24-27, 2008.

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2008 R. L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Book Award WILL BE ACCEPTED IN MARCH 2009. For additional information visit the TSA website at http://www.textilesociety.org

•Text prepared by Victoria Rivers, Chair, R. L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Book Award Committee

MIA Curatorship Goes to Africanist

It seems that the number of museum anthropologists filling curatorships in major art museums continues to grow. As reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has hired Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers to head its department of African, Oceanic, and Native American Art starting June 9." Grootaers is a University of Chicago-trained anthropologist who has worked among the Zande of the Central African Republic. Find the story here.

Oceanic Art Symposium

Announcement: Oceanic Art Symposium

Organised by the Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA) and the Vanuatu Cultural Centre (VKS)
Port Vila, Vanuatu, 6–8 May 2008
Final date for Registration Monday 14 April 2008

The first Oceanic Art Symposium on “Oceanic Art Today: Status, Production and Tendencies” provides a space for international art scholars and museum professionals to share new ideas about creative traditions and contemporary arts practice in the Pacific region today. The symposium, organised by PIMA and the VKS in collaboration with the French Embassy in Vanuatu, aims to ensure the safeguarding of intangible creative traditions, the transmission of knowledge and the stimulation of interest amongst young generations of artists to keep contemporary practice alive and evolving. The symposium will include the opportunity for participants to identify opportunities for international and regional interaction with Pacific Islands’ museums, artists and creative industries. It will be an opportunity to promote recognition of PIMA’s Code of Ethics for Pacific Islands Museums and Cultural Centres, and to develop the relationship between PIMA and the Pacific Arts Association (PAA). The symposium aims to produce a set of recommendations advocating the way forward for enhancing ethical research and practice in the field of Oceanic Art.

Optional Tour (additional cost)
The two-day symposium will be preceded by an optional one-day field trip to Chief Roi Mata’s Domain on Efate Island, Vanuatu’s first World Heritage-nominated site.

Of additional interest to visitors, the Vanuatu National Sand Drawing Festival will be held on the island of Ambrym from the 13th to the 15th of May, the week after the Symposium.

Please see http://www.culturepacific.org for further details of the Symposium program, discounted accommodation and flight options, the Field Trip, and links to Vanuatu Sand Drawing.

Registration includes
* Attendance at all symposium sessions on Wednesday 7 May and Thursday 8 May, 2008;
* Registration materials (information package, program, symposium proceedings etc.);
* Refreshment breaks and lunch on Wednesday and Thursday;
* Welcome reception on Wednesday 7 May;
* Closing reception on Thursday 8th May.

Registration does not include accommodation or travel costs. PIMA has negotiated discounted accommodation and travel prices for symposium participants. Please check the PIMA website for details and updates.

To Register for the Symposium
Registration forms in Word or PDF format are available online at http://www.culturepacific.org/en/bm/whats_on/
Please return completed registration form (with payment) by email, post or fax to:
PIMA, c/o Vanuatu Cultural Centre,
PO Box 184, Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Fax: +678 26590.
Email: pima@vanuatu.com.vu.

Enquires may be directed to Secretary-General, PIMA.

Curatorship Open at Yale University

From the AAA job list...

Curator of Pacific Arts in New Haven, Connecticut

Yale University offers exciting opportunities for achievement and growth in New Haven, Connecticut. Conveniently located between Boston and New York, New Haven is the creative capital of Connecticut with cultural resources that include two major art museums, a critically-acclaimed repertory theater, state-of-the-art concert hall, and world-renowned schools of Architecture, Art, Drama, and Music. The Yale University Art Gallery seeks a Curator to create a new Department of Pacific Arts. Yale University Art Gallery, founded in 1832, is the nation's oldest college art gallery, with broad-based collections representing American Painting and Sculpture, American Decorative Arts, Early European Art, Coins & Medals, Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Modern and Contemporary, Ancient, Asian, and African Art. The Art Gallery is committed to interacting with professors and students in the Yale community as well as with the general public, and teaching from original works of art is an important part of the Gallery’s mission. The collection of Pacific Arts for which this department will be established is a new promised gift from one of the world's most renowned private collectors of this area. It consists of indigenous sculpture, masks, and architectural ornaments primarily from the islands of Southeast Asia as well as textiles from Indonesia. The curator, who will hold an endowed position, will have the opportunity to create a department under the aegis of the department of Asian art and to design and mount a permanent installation in a large designated gallery, as a part of the Art Gallery’s ambitious project of renovation and expansion. Application: For more information and immediate consideration, please apply online at www.Yale.edu/jobs - the STARS req ID for this position is 2818BR. Please be sure to reference source code IAANA when applying for this position. We invite you to discover the excitement, diversity, rewards and excellence of a career at Yale University. One of the country's great workplaces, Yale University offers exciting opportunities for meaningful accomplishment and true growth. Our benefits package is among the best anywhere, with a wide variety of insurance choices, liberal paid time off, fantastic family and educational benefits, a variety of retirement benefits, recreational facilities including the largest gym in the country, and much more. Yale University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. Yale values diversity in its faculty, staff, and students and strongly encourages applications from women and members of underrepresented minority groups.

Qualifications: Ph.D. in Art History, Anthropology, or a related humanities discipline and eight years museum curatorial experience or equivalent combination of education/experience, including a record of publications and professional achievements, including exhibit organization. Successful record of major exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and donor stewardship. Comprehensive and specialized knowledge of art history appropriate to the collection, with strengths in the sculpture and textiles of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.