Museum anthropology is a domain of scholarship and professional practice in the discipline of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

Characteristics

A distinctive characteristic of museum anthropology is that it cross-cuts anthropology's sub-fields (

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

linguistic anthropology Linguistic anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of how language influences social life. It is a branch of anthropology that originated from the endeavor to document endangered languages and has grown over the past century to encompass mo ...

biological anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly fro ...

) as these are understood in North American anthropology. All of these areas are sometimes pursued in museum contexts (usually on the basis of research work with systematic collections) and all can be (and are) explicated in museum-based exhibitions and public programs. Some museum anthropologists work full or part-time in museum contexts while others are anthropologists (employed in diverse settings) interested in studying museums as social institutions in cultural and historical context. These two sets of concerns—collections-based scholarship and the study of museums—provide the core around which the domain of museum anthropology has self-organized. One theme prominent in recent museum anthropology research concerns reconnecting older collections of ethnographic objects curated in museum contexts with the present-day source communities from which these objects were gathered. Another concern is the development of museums and cultural centers by indigenous peoples in their own home communities.

Other relationships

There is much traffic between museum anthropology and the related, overlapping, and neighboring domains of (general)

, museum folklore,

material culture studies Material culture is culture manifested by the physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The field considers artifacts ...

, historical anthropology,

visual anthropology Visual anthropology is a subfield of social anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnography, ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media. More recently it has been used by historians ...

, the anthropology of art, and the history of anthropology, as well as the

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

of non-western societies and the field of

museum studies Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

Journals

The journals '' Museum Anthropology'', ''Journal of Museum Ethnography'', '' Gradhiva'', and '' Museum Anthropology Review'' are closely identified with museum anthropology as a field.

Museum anthropology and ethnography

Drawing upon critiques of ethnographic representation in written genres, museum anthropologists have asked questions about the strategies used to represent histories and cultures in museum exhibitions and related forms of display (such as worlds fairs). Related is historical work in which museum anthropologists seek to better understand the contexts, histories and biographies that shaped both the field and the collections that contemporary curators steward. Such historical concerns in turn intersect with work addressing repatriation claims and broader cultural property issues as these relate to museums. Use of museum collections as a resource for research aimed at understanding ethnographic and culture historical questions in the lives of particular communities has long been the core motivation for collecting by anthropology museums. Such work has been central throughout the history of the field, but new developments in digital technologies (and the rise of the so-called

digital humanities Digital humanities (DH) is an area of scholarly activity at the intersection of computing or Information technology, digital technologies and the disciplines of the humanities. It includes the systematic use of digital resources in the humanitie ...

) together with the transformations that have motivated the new research interests just mentioned have generated an intensification of such work. A general revitalization of material culture studies is a further factor conditioning the renewal of collections-based research in the present period. The fruits of this work include new digital archives and databases, as well as published studies focusing on particular groups, object forms, and collections.

United Kingdom and North America

Professional organizations central to the museum anthropology domain include the Council for Museum Anthropology (a section of the American Anthropological Association) in the United States and the Museum Ethnographers Group in the United Kingdom.Making connections through world collections
. Museum Ethnographers Group. Retrieved on 2011-05-30. In the United Kingdom and in North America, most universities that possess both anthropology degree programs and campus-based museums of anthropology will also offer specific training and coursework in museum anthropology. Specialized training for graduate students in collections-based research in museum anthropology (focusing on ethnographic rather than archaeological, biological, or linguistics collections) is provided in 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 ...

's Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA), an initiative funded by the U.S.

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

Important persons

Prominent figures in the history of museum anthropology include: *

Augustus Pitt Rivers Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (14 April 18274 May 1900) was an English officer in the British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for innovations in archaeological methodology, and in the museum display ...

(1827–1900) *

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the mov ...

(1858–1942) * Lev Sternberg (1861–1927) * Henry Balfour (1863–1939) * James W. VanStone (1925–2001) * William C. Sturtevant (1926–2007) * Michael Ames (1933–2006)

References

External links

Council for Museum Anthropology Website

Museum Ethnographers Group Website

of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University

Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Website

Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History Website

Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology Website

Mathers Museum of World Cultures, Indiana University Website

Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia Website

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Website

Pitt Rivers Museum Website

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge Website

Museo Nacional de Antropología Website

musée du quai Branly Website
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