Adrienne Lois Kaeppler (July 26, 1935 – March 5, 2022) was an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

, curator of oceanic

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. She served as the President of the International Council on Traditional Music between 2005 and 2013. Her research focused on the interrelationships between social structure and the arts, including dance, music, and the visual arts, especially in

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. She was considered to be an expert on Tongan dance, and the voyages of the 18th-century explorer

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

Career

Kaeppler attended the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a Public university, public Urban university, urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropo ...

, and received her master's degree and PhD from the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. In the 1970s, she was an anthropologist at the

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

. She has taught anthropology,

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

, anthropology of dance, and art history at the

; the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

; the Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland;

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

; and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. She was also a member of the State Council on Hawaiian Heritage. She was appointed by the Smithsonian Institution as Curator of Oceanic Ethnology at the

in 1984. In November 1990 Kaeppler gave the keynote address at the Taonga Maori Conference in New Zealand. In 1998, she worked in Tonga at the Tongan National Museum, setting up a special exhibition on the 80th birthday of King

Taufa'ahau Tupou IV George Tupou I (4 December 1797 – 18 February 1893), originally known as Tāufaʻāhau I, was the first king of modern Tonga. He adopted the name Siaosi (originally Jiaoji), the Tongan equivalent of '' George'', after King George III of the ...

. In 2004, she was vice-president of the

International Council for Traditional Music The International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) is a scholarly non-governmental organization which focuses on the study, practice, documentation, preservation, and dissemination of traditional music and dance of all countries. Founded in L ...

, and she was elected as president in 2005, taking over from Krister Malm. She was a curator and anthropologist at the

of the

. Her research focused on material culture and the visual and performing arts in their cultural contexts, including traditional social and political structures and modern cultural identity. One such project was on tattoo practices of Rapa Nui, where she explored its significance for men and women, such as

Ana Eva Hei Ana Eva Hei, also Uka ʻa Hei ʻa ʻArero, or Reina Eva (Queen Eva) (c.1849 – c.1949), was the consort of the penultimate ruler of Easter Island, Rapa Nui, Atamu Tekena. She was one of the last surviving Rapa Nui people to have been Tattoo, ta ...

Personal life

Kaeppler was a majorette for her high school band, played violin in high school orchestra, and studied voice at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Kaeppler died on March 5, 2022, at the age of 86.

Awards and honours

Honours

* : **

TON Royal Household Order of Tonga ribbon

Commander of the Order of The Most Devoted Royal Household Order of Tonga.

Awards

In 1978, Kaeppler was honored by the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

as a leading female scientist whose work increased the understanding of native cultures. Kaeppler was also lauded for the book ''James Cook and the Exploration of the Pacific'' (published in 2009). The work was recognized with the 201
First International Tribal Art Book Prize
organized by Tribal Art magazine in partnership with Sotheby's Paris Headquarters, and in April 2010, it was named Book of the Month by Hodern House in Australia. In 2010, Kaeppler delivered a Smithsonian Secretary's Distinguished Research Lecture Award, which "recognizes a scholar’s sustained achievement in research, longstanding investment in the Smithsonian, and outstanding contribution to a field, as well as his or her ability to communicate research to a non-specialist audience."

Publications

Selected writing

* * * * * * ''Poetry in Motion: Studies in Tongan Dance'', 1993 * * ''Polynesian and Micronesian sections of Oceanic Art'', published in French, German, and English, 1993–1997 * ''From the Stone Age to the Space Age in 200 Years: Tongan Art and Society on the Eve of the Millennium'', 1999 * * ''The Pacific Arts of Polynesia and Micronesia'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2008 * * *

Editing

* Co-editor, ''Australia and the Pacific Islands,'' volume 9 of the

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music ''The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music'' is an academic reference work. It was initiated by editors at Garland Publishing in 1988 as a 10-volume series of encyclopedias of world music. The final volumes appeared in 2001, but editions have si ...

, 1998 *

References

* ''

Who's Who of American Women Marquis Who's Who, also known as A.N. Marquis Company ( or ), is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in A ...

''. Ninth edition, 1975–1976. Wilmette, IL {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaeppler, Adrienne L. 1935 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers American anthropologists American ethnomusicologists American ethnologists American women anthropologists Dance historians Smithsonian Institution people Women ethnologists Writers from Milwaukee American women curators American curators