Call for seminar papers - The Travellers’ Tails Seminars: Exploration

The National Maritime Museum are hosting a series of seminars in autumn 2014 on the theme of exploration to investigate the histories, practices and interpretation of art, science and exploration from the Enlightenment to the present day. The series forms part of the Travellers’ Tails project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Art Fund.

9 October 2014: Lost in Translation

How are the experiences and the material culture of exploration translated for those back at ‘home’?


How have new places and frameworks of knowledge been introduced to Western societies?

20 November 2014: Finding voices and re-shaping

How might established narratives of exploration be accommodated within modern interpretations?


To what extent and with what effect did indigenous peoples contribute to the making and dissemination of European knowledge?

4 December 2014: Empire and the museum

How and with what effects is Empire represented in museums?


How can historical and contemporary exploration be documented and displayed to ensure other voices are included?

29 January 2015: Arts and science: an enlightened approach

How does bringing together the arts and sciences add to the interpretation of exploration?


Where were the cross-overs between the arts and sciences historically, how are they viewed today and why?

Proposals of no longer than 250 words, for presentations of 20 minutes, should be sent to research@rmg.co.uk by no later than Friday, 5 September 2014. We welcome submissions for papers and less-formal presentations from academics, curators, artists and other specialists in the fields. Proposals from postgraduate students and early career scholars are encouraged.

Boundary Objects - ECR support network

Boundary Objects was founded in the summer of 2013 by a group of recent PhD graduates. Life outside of the Ivory Tower can be difficult: publishing research, finding work, staying in the academic ‘loop’. We decided that we A support group can make all of these challenges easier. Boundary Objects is an international network for early career researchers working with museums and collections, run by and for its members. It is free of any institutional affiliation, allowing it to operate purely in the interests of its members.

Boundary Objects support members in three key ways:

By facilitating research and collaboration by providing opportunities online and in person, for  members to meet, share ideas and develop new projects together;

by campaigning for the interests of early career researchers;

       by offering informal guidance, mentoring, a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on when academic life gets tough.  

There are many ways to get involved in Boundary Projects through joining in discussions on twitter @BoundaryObjects and through the blog which will be launched in the coming months.

Good News Story about the return of Maori cultural property

 Motunui panels copyright Friends of Te Papa

Museum Ethnographers Group member Professor Steven Hooper, has played an important role in the recent return of the Motunui panels, considered a masterpiece of Maori Art to Te Papa, New Zealand. To read more on the story visit the Friends of Te Papa website. 

Missionaries, Materials and the Making of the Modern World

15th September – 17th September 2014 Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Registration Deadline: 31 August 2014

While some scholars have understood the activity of overseas Christian missionaries primarily in terms of a ‘Colonization of Consciousness’ (Comaroff & Comaroff 1992), a range of recent scholarship has also emphasised the profoundly material dimensions of much missionary activity. While religious conversion was never unimportant historically, many missionaries have been equally heavily involved in practical projects to remake the world. Their global projects have transformed landscapes, forms of architecture and modes of dress, but have also shaped underlying narratives of modernity and modernisation (Keane 2007).

This flagship international conference will bring scholars from different disciplines together with heritage professionals to explore the global networks of exchange established by Christian missionary organisations, the materials that circulated through these, and the transformational effects these exchanges had in many different parts of the world, including Europe itself. 

Conference programme. 

New resources on Museum Ethnographers Group website

The Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) Arts Council England funded project 'Engaging Curators', came to its conclusion at the end of 2013. The project sought to promote personal and institutional reflection upon the abstract and actual nature of collaborative practice, particularly in regard to curatorial involvement with community work. During two challenging workshops we aimed to think through and document how ethnographic collections are used in community engagement, and the role of curators within that. 

The outcomes of these workshops in the form of case studies are now available in the resources section of the MEG website. We hope that the resources to come out of the project will foster open discussions and reflection on practice and projects. We hope, too, that these documents will provide information and advice for new projects that our membership undertake in the future.

New book announcement - Museums and Restitution by Louise Tythacott and Kostas Arvanitis

‘This book is essential reading for anyone interested in restitution. Its essays bring together global case studies and thematic overviews, exploring the wide range of activities, outcomes, thought and policy involved in restitution, including disputed cases; ethics and issues of power; and the potentially positive effects of restitution on museums as well as the real challenges it poses to museums.’
Laura Peers, University of Oxford, UK
  

This book examines contemporary approaches to restitution from the perspective of museums. It focuses on the ways in which these institutions have been addressing the subject at a regional, national and international level. In particular, it explores contemporary practices and recent claims, and investigates to what extent the question of restitution as an issue of ownership is still at large, or whether museums have found additional ways to conceptualise and practice restitution, by thinking beyond the issue of ownership. The challenges, benefits and drawbacks of recent and current museum practice are explored.

Ethnographic Conservation at the Pitt Rivers Museum

The conservation department at the Pitt Rivers Museum have recently published a short book on ethnographic conservation. The book is well illustrated with case studies from the collections and available to purchase for the modest sum of £5.00 in the Pitt Rivers Museum shop.