Sep 18
I hope that everyone who follows along here at Shreds and Patches will go check out the new issue of Museum Anthropology Review. It is volume 15 (1) and there is so much good stuff in it. Find it here: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/mar/issue/view/2064 Thanks to all of the peer-reviewers, authors, and IU Press staff involved in this issue.
I am happy to note that my article “On Cultural Appropriation” has now been published in the Journal of Folklore Research. Right now, the article can be found in Project Muse (see https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/783863), JSTOR (see https://doi.org/10.2979/jfolkrese.58.1.04) and (more esoterically) in EBSCOhost. In about a year, the paper will be freely accessible in the Indiana University open access (OA) repository in accord with IU OA policies.
Here is an abstract for the paper:
This article starts from the premise that cultural appropriation is a key concern for folklorists and ethnologists, as well as for many of the communities with which they engage and partner, but that it is also one that has received relatively little attention of a general conceptual sort. This is true despite the ubiquity of cultural appropriation discussions in popular media, public culture, and informal scholarly conversation. Drawing on the work of these fields, an ideal-type conceptualization of cultural appropriation is offered, one that situates it as one among a range of modes of cultural change. For cultural appropriation, the key neighboring modes are diffusion, acculturation, and assimilation. The article also briefly addresses cultural appropriation as it is often situated vis-à-vis conceptions of, and processes related to, cultural property and cultural heritage. This heuristic emphasizes the metacultural discourse that marks instances of cultural appropriation as well as the inequality often characterizing the parties to such episodes.
The paper is rather long as such things go. A bibliographic note got cut out of it before publication and I have posted that separately in the IU Open Access Repository. It (“Cultural Appropriation: A Review of the Literature in US Folklore Studies”) can be accessed directly here: https://iu.tind.io/record/3306.
Warm thanks to everyone who helped in the development of this paper, from the then-students, now-colleagues, who took Contesting Culture as Property with me in 2004 all the way up to the JFR editorial team, especially those people around Turtle Island and around the world who have shared their stories, experiences, insights, and battles with me.
Aug 14
Below find a guest post by Carrie Hertz, Curator of Dress and Textiles at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. –Jason Baird Jackson
On Taking Credit: Textile Traditions and Fashion Rip-Offs
by Carrie Hertz
On August 13, the mail carrier delivered the most recent catalog for Boden, a British fashion brand. While flipping through its pages that evening, I stopped dead on a spread for a new “limited-edition collection” of clothes featuring very familiar embroidery patterns. In explanation, the copy reads:
Our designers were so inspired by a vintage rug they discovered on their travels, they dreamed up this limited-edition collection of exquisitely embroidered pieces.
Let’s unpack this.
The Boden designers, clearly positioned here as worldly travelers, admit foreign “inspiration” for their ideas without actually revealing any valuable details about the source. The mention of a “vintage rug” not only suggests a possibly singular, idiosyncratic item, it places that rug’s creation far in the past, likely made by an anonymous and untraceable craftsperson now lost to history. As a limited-edition line of clothes, potential customers could be led to believe these designs are rare, exclusive, and fleeting, requiring their urgent action. These designs, however, are not unique. They are rip-offs.
As a folklorist and curator of textiles and dress, I engage and partner with artists around the globe who often struggle against the living legacies of colonial structures and the inequalities endemic to Western cultural imperialism. Western fashion corporations repeatedly claim the rights of “discovery” to the world’s textile traditions, capitalizing on unfair advantages constructed over centuries of imperial exploitation, profiting off the creative work of others, and actively concealing the sources of their theft.
Perhaps most painful to many of the artists and communities that I work with is the public erasure of their cultural contributions. In this case, Boden didn’t provide proper credit, not even naming the exquisite embroidery tradition it found so inspirational, perhaps because to do so would immediately shatter the illusion of their design team’s innovation, the elite exclusivity of their garments, or even their relative beauty in comparison to much higher quality versions readily available at affordable prices in the global market place.
So, I offer a small piece of this context now.
Suzani (from the Persian word for needle) embroidery has been developed over centuries in Central Asia, traded along the Silk Road, and later survived Communist attempts to suppress it during the Soviet era in places like Uzbekistan. According to Mary Littrell, a textile scholar and research associate for the Museum of International Folk Art:
In the 20th century, Communist rulers in Uzbekistan equated handcrafts with a feudal past. Handcrafts, associated by the Soviets with individual creativity and private production, served no purpose in a unified and mechanized future. Craft production was forbidden or forced underground as the workers turned to mass production. With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbek artisans began the long process of reviving their centuries-old craft traditions and transforming them in new directions for domestic, tourist, and international markets. (http://handeyemagazine.com/content/past-and-future-suzani)
Today, you can readily find gorgeous hand-embroidered garments made with naturally-dyed silks and cottons being sold on sites like Etsy and produced by living artists for which this artform represents multigenerational cultural memory and skill. During every non-pandemic year, the International Folk Art Market (IFAM, https://folkartmarket.org/) features numerous Uzbek artists selling handcrafted rugs, bedspreads, pillows, clothing and accessories. For examples:
Check out the beautiful designs at Bibi Hanum (https://bibihanum.com/) founded by Muhayo Aliyeva and her sisters (http://ifamstories.org/artists/muhayo-aliyeva/);
or the stunning work of Sanjar Ravshanovich Nazarov (http://ifamstories.org/artists/sanjar-ravshanovich-nazarov/);
or the truly exquisitely-embroidered coats produced in Madina Kasimbaeva’s workshop (https://www.instagram.com/madina.kasimbaeva_suzani/?hl=en) in Tashkent (http://ifamstories.org/artists/madina-kasimbaeva/).
These are only a few of the talented and dedicated artists “dreaming up” suzani designs today. Uzbek artists and others have fought hard to sustain and revitalize suzani tradition. At the very least, they deserve credit for their efforts.
August 11, 1963
[Indiana University News Bureau Press Release Launching the Indiana University Museum of History, Anthropology, and Folklore]
[PDF: IU Museum of History Anthropology and Folklore Original Press Release]
Summer 1982
Lighting for Storage of Museum Collections: Developing a System for Safekeeping of Light-Sensitive Materials
https://www.bcin.ca/bcin/detail.app?id=1881
December 1989
Museum Studies in Collection Management
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/museumprogram/25/
October 1998
Mathers Museum Showcases Worldwide Music Connections
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f9f5/2911bff1a2a31145051457d1fbe54f781e55.pdf
August 27, 2002
IU Group Helps Establish World’s First Underwater Shipwreck Museum in Dominican Republic
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/527.html
September 3, 2002
IU Exhibit to Highlight Latino Experience in Bloomington
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/533.html
April 22, 2004
IU helps Dominican Republic Sink Shipwreck Museum
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/1424.html
September 20, 2004
New Laboratory Brings Shipwreck Relics to Indiana University
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/1656.html
November 4, 2005
Museum Studies Journal to be Housed in IU’s Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/2587.html
March 20, 2006
Celebration of Diverse Asian Cultures, History and Peoples at IU Begins March 24
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/3088.html
July 27, 2006
IU Archaeologists Hot on the Trail of Columbus’ Sunken Ships
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/3790.html
August 24, 2006
Hands ‘on’ the Art: IU Art Museum Offers New ‘touch art’ Program for People with Low Vision
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/3932.html
November 28, 2006
American Indian Groups and Mathers Museum at IU Celebrate Native Americans’ Heritage
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/4452.html
December 12, 2007
Indiana University Discovers 1699 Captain Kidd Shipwreck
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news-archive/6997.html
January 24, 2007
Actor Gary Farmer to Kick Off Second Native Film Series at IU Bloomington
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/4728.html
January 18, 2008
‘Bridgwaters Family Photographs’ Opens at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center on Feb. 1
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7271.html
February 6, 2008
IU Lecture: Captain Kidd, Columbus, Taino and the Golden Age of Piracy
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/7451.html
February 21, 2008
IU Bloomington Libraries Publish their First Electronic Journal, Showcasing Faculty Partnerships
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news-archive/7590.html
April 30, 2008
Faculty Member’s Work on Governance Commission Highlights IU-Liberia Connections
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/8118.html
September 2, 2008
IU’s Festival Latino Brings in a Grammy-nominated Group to Celebrate 10th Anniversary
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/8730.html
November 17, 2008
‘Maps Of Time’ Author to Deliver Wilkie Lecture
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/9281.html
November 17, 2008
Captain Kidd’s Treasure: Wood Discovered, “Living Museum” in the Works
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/9265.html
February 9, 2009
One-Man Shows in the Spotlight During IU’s ArtsWeek 2009
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/9859.html
April 14, 2009
Indiana University Museums Receive National Honor
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/10568.html
August 11, 2009
IU’s Mathers Museum Honored with Prestigious Grant from Institute of Museum and Library Services
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/11576.html
August 18, 2009
IU Discovers Stone Tools, Rare Animal Bones — Clues to Caribbean’s Earliest Inhabitants
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/11644.html
September 29, 2009
‘Shadow of Cortes’ Exhibit Traces Route of Conquistador and How he is Remembered
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news-archive/12033.html
2009
Exhibition Review: To Have and To Hold
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/mar/article/view/126
August 26, 2010
Cultures Unite in ‘Indiana in Afghanistan; Afghanistan in Indiana’ Exhibit at IU’s Wells Library
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/15285.html
October 1, 2010
Year-long Celebration of IU and Bloomington Museums begins Friday
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/15733.html
October 10, 2011
American Folklore Society’s National Meeting Begins Wednesday at IU Bloomington
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/19868.html
October 19, 2010
‘From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web’ Opens with Lecture, Museum Exhibit
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/16061.html
December 3, 2010
Anthropology Students, with Extreme Cuisine, Connect Heritage with Food at Public Display
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/16644.html
May 2, 2011
Capt. Kidd Shipwreck Site to be Dedicated ‘Living Museum of the Sea’ by Indiana University
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/18401.html
August 9, 2011
Mathers Museum, Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology Merger Yields Cultural History Powerhouse
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/19258.html
August 12, 2011
Bloomington Herald-Times: IU’s Black Laboratory and Mathers Museum to Merge
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/19270.html
October 25, 2011
Pow Wow on Nov. 5 to Kick Off IU’s Observance of National American Indian Heritage Month
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/20070.html
September 4, 2012
Exhibit, Book Capture Nation’s Vivid Past through IU Alum’s Early Color Photographs
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/23035.html
September 27, 2012
Conference will Highlight French, Native American and African Interaction in Colonial Midwest
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/23192.html
January 29, 2013
IU’s Mathers Museum of World Cultures names Folklore Professor as New Director
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news-archive/23745.html
February 5, 2013
IU’s Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology Appoints New Director
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/23768.html
March 12, 2013
Mathers Faculty Curator Reinvigorates Museum Research with Senegalese ‘Wish Books’
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2013/03/12/mathers-faculty-curator-reinvigorates-museum-research-with-senegalese-wish-books/index.html
Apr. 11, 2013
Curating the Ostrom Collection: IU Students Practice Hands-on Curatorship at Mathers
http://inside.iub.edu/features/stories/2013-04-11-iniub-story-mathers-curatorship-ostrom-collection.shtml
[PDF: Inside IU 2013-4-11 (Ostrom) copy]
April 4, 2013
Mathers Museum Celebrates 50th Anniversary with ‘Treasures’ Exhibition, Programs
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/24048.html
May 6, 2013
Art, Theater, Film Highlight IU’s Annual Summer Festival of the Arts
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/24232.html
June 4, 2013
Mathers Museum to Host Limestone Exhibit Created by Traditional Arts Indiana
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2013/06/04/mathers-museum-to-host-limestone-exhibit-created-by-traditional-arts-indiana/index.html
Summer 2013
[Various Stories] Process [Anthropology Department Newsletter]
https://anthropology.indiana.edu/documents/newsletters/Newsletter_summer13.pdf
June 25, 2013
Mathers Exhibit Highlights Native Americans’ Military Contributions
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2013/06/25/mathers-exhibit-highlights-native-americans-military-contributions/index.html
August 21, 2013
IU Professor Curates Apartheid-era Photo Exhibition for Display in Bloomington and South Africa
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/24509.html
August 28, 2013
Wells Library IQ-Wall Moves to Mathers Museum
https://itnews.iu.edu/articles/2013/wells-library-iq-wall-moves-to-mathers-museum.php
September 3, 2013
20th Lotus World Music and Arts Festival Will Begin with Concert at IU Bloomington
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/24551.html
September 7th, 2013
Once a Hoosier, Always a Hoosier, in Ghana
https://iu.edu/~iunews/blogs/iuglobal/africa/2013/09/07/once-a-hoosier-always-a-hoosier-in-ghana/index.html
September 10, 2013
Exhibit at Mathers Draws President of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance to Campus
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2013/09/10/exhibit-at-mathers-draws-president-of-polands-institute-of-national-remembrance-to-campus/index.html
October 18, 2013
IU Professor is Expert on Little-Known Native American Tribe
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2013/10/18/iu-professor-is-expert-on-little-known-native-american-tribe/index.html
November 12, 2013
Pottery Exhibit at Mathers Features Life-Size Replica of Wood-Fired Kiln
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2013/11/12/pottery-exhibit-at-mathers-features-life-size-replica-of-wood-fired-kiln/index.html
November 19, 2013
IU’s Mathers Museum One of Three U.S. Institutions to Collaborate with Chinese Museums
https://news.iu.edu/releases/iu/2013/11/mathers-museum-collaboration.html
https://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2013/11/mathers-museum-collaboration.shtml
2013
Treasures of the Mathers Museum
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/15561
February 11, 2014
Interchange – Curating Culture: Museums and Meaning
https://wfhb.org/news/interchange-curating-culture-museums-and-meaning/
March 31, 2014
Brilliant Minds at IU Bloomington: The Mathers Museum of World Cultures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eBYKPaIezw
April 2, 2014
Mathers Brings Research Work to Life
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/
April 14, 2014
Ojibwe Art Collected by Ostroms on Display Now at Mathers Museum
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2014/04/14/ojibwe-art-collected-by-ostroms-on-display-now-at-mathers-museum/index.html
May 16, 2014
Musicians to Honor Southern Indiana Artist Lotus Dickey at Mathers Museum
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2014/05/16/musicians-to-honor-southern-indiana-artist-lotus-dickey-at-mathers-museum/index.html
June 16, 2014
Mathers Museum Exhibit “Assessing Authenticity” Exploring Identification and Authentication in Museums
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2014/06/16/mathers-museum-exhibit-assessing-authenticity-exploring-identification-and-authentication-in-museums/index.html
July 21, 2014
Mathers Museum Makeover Creates Flexible Exhibition Space, Hands-on Learning Area
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2014/07/21/mathers-museum-makeover-creates-flexible-exhibition-space-hands-on-learning-area/index.html
December 9, 2014
Traditional Arts Indiana to Create Traveling Show with National Endowment for the Arts Grant
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2014/12/09/traditional-arts-indiana-to-create-traveling-show-with-national-endowment-for-the-arts-grant/index.html
February 16, 2015
‘Graces Received’ Curator to Speak Tuesday about How to Read Meanings in Catholic Folk Art
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2015/02/16/graces-received-curator-to-speak-tuesday-about-how-to-read-meanings-in-catholic-folk-art/index.html
April 27, 2015
Mathers Museum to Host New Summer Institute on ‘Museums at the Crossroads’
https://news.iu.edu/releases/iu/2015/04/mathers-museum-crossroads-institute.html
https://www.museumanthropologyblog.com/homepage/2015/04/mathers-museum-to-host-new-summer.html
March 12, 2015
Traditional Arts Indiana Thriving in New Home at IU’s Mathers Museum
https://news.iu.edu/releases/iu/2015/03/traditional-arts-indiana-mathers.html
https://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2015/03/traditional-arts-indiana-mathers.shtml
May 5, 2015
William Siegmann’s Cultural Legacy Shown in Exhibitions at IU Art Museum, Mathers Museum
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2015/05/05/william-siegmanns-cultural-legacy-shown-in-exhibitions-at-iu-art-museum-mathers-museum/index.html
Summer 2015
Interconnections: Folklore Studies and Anthropology at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures
https://doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.20
2015
Collaborative, Consultative, and Research-Based Public Folklore Programming in Museum Contexts: A Professional Development Project to Strengthen the Work of the Mathers Museum of World Cultures, Traditional Arts Indiana, and the Michigan State University Museum
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/21491
January 15, 2016
Mathers Museum to Host Smithsonian Exhibition on History of Indian Americans
https://news.iu.edu/releases/iu/2016/01/smithsonian-beyond-bollywood-at-mathers.html
https://www.pressreleasepoint.com/mathers-museum-host-smithsonian-exhibition-history-indian-americans
April 11, 2016
Among Old Photos At Mathers Museum, A Researcher Finds His Ancestor
http://www.magbloom.com/2016/04/mathers-museum-a-researcher-finds-his-ancestor/
July 8, 2016
Public Discussion to Share Spirit of Mardi Gras in Conjunction with ‘Arts of Survival’ Institute
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2016/07/08/public-discussion-to-share-spirit-of-mardi-gras-in-conjunction-with-arts-of-survival-institute/index.html
August 31, 2016
New First Thursdays Festival Puts the Focus on IU’s Arts and Humanities, Food and Fun
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2016/08/31/new-first-thursdays-festival-puts-the-focus-on-ius-arts-and-humanities-food-and-fun/index.html
December 7th, 2016
Celebrating Elinor Ostrom and IU’s Continuing Engagement with China
https://iu.edu/~iunews/blogs/iuglobal/korea-china-2016/2016/12/07/celebrating-elinor-ostrom-and-ius-continuing-engagement-with-china/index.html
December 8th, 2016
Continuing IU’s China Connection and Meeting the Global Needs of IU Students
https://iu.edu/~iunews/blogs/iuglobal/korea-china-2016/2016/12/08/continuing-ius-china-connection-and-meeting-the-global-needs-of-iu-students/index.html
2016
Traditional Arts Indiana at Indiana University’s Mathers Museum
http://hdl.handle.net/2022/20993
January 11, 2017
‘Quilts of Southwest China’ Showcases Tradition, Community, Identity at Mathers Museum
https://viewpoints.iu.edu/art-at-iu/2017/01/11/quilts-of-southwest-china-showcases-tradition-community-identity-at-mathers-museum/index.html
February 14, 2017
IU Bloomington’s Mathers Museum to Temporarily Close during Summer for Renovations
https://news.iu.edu/releases/iu/2017/02/mathers-museum-closure.html[PDF: 2017-02-14 MMWC Closure Release]
January 24, 2017
Interchange – Sharing Patchwork: The Quilts of Southwest China
https://wfhb.org/news/interchange-sharing-patchwork-the-quilts-of-southwest-china/
February 27, 2017
China Remixed: IU Presents a 10-Week Culture Festival
http://www.magbloom.com/2017/02/china-remixed-%e2%80%a8iu-presents-a-10-week-culture-festival/
April 26, 2017
Staff and Faculty: Enter to Win a Copy of ‘Quilts of Southwest China’ Book, See Exhibit
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/04/iub/inside/26-mathers-event.html
June 23, 2017
IU Students Learn Many Skills During Mathers Museum Internship
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/06/iub/inside/23-clowes-interns.html
August 22, 2017
Mathers Museum Reopening after Summer Construction
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/08/iub/inside/22-news-roundup.html
October 11, 2017
The Day of the Dead Community Altar Welcomes Artifacts at Mathers Museum
http://www.magbloom.com/2017/10/the-day-of-the-dead-community-altar-%e2%80%a8welcomes-artifacts-at-mathers-museum-gallery/
November 3, 2017
Traditional Arts Indiana at IU Offers New Statewide Folk Art Apprenticeship Program
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/11/iub/inside/03-traditional-arts-indiana.html
November 3, 2017
Mathers Museum of World Cultures Exhibit Offers ‘A Different Look at Syria’
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/11/iub/03-art-mathers-museum-syrian-exhibit.html
November 28, 2017
New Position to Support Growth of Arts and Humanities at IU Bloomington
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/11/iub/releases/28-helene-oleary.html
January 17, 2018
Contributions from the China-US Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage Project
https://doi.org/10.14434/mar.v12i1.24353
February 20, 2018
Jason Jackson: Director, Mathers Museum
http://www.magbloom.com/2018/02/jason-jackson-director-mathers-museum/
March 20, 2018
Mathers Museum of World Cultures Exhibit Centers on Aging, Imagination
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2018/03/entcreativeaging
March 30, 2018
Indiana University Mathers Museum Sisters of the Cloth Quilt Exhibit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TQbteGpS7E
April 2, 2018
Mathers Museum Offers More than Just an Exhibit to IU Freshman Laysha Hawkins
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2018/04/iub/inside/02-mathers-museum-offers-more-than-exhibit.html
July 11, 2018
Mathers Exhibit Shares Memories through Historic Photos
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2018/07/entmathers070918
Aug 29, 2018
Dying in Style: Mathers Museum to Give Talk about Fantasy Coffins
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2018/08/dying-in-style-mathers-museum-to-give-talk-about-fantasy-coffins
August 30, 2018
Fantasy Coffins Take Forms of Uterus, Basketball, Octopus
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2018/08/fantasy-coffins-take-forms-of-uterus-basketball-octopus
September 6, 2018
Fantasy Coffin Designer Paa Joe Bringing his Brand of Underground art to IUPUI, IU Bloomington
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2018/09/iu/releases/06-fantasy-coffin-paa-joe.html
October 1, 2018
Traditional Arts Indiana at IU Launches New Award for Folk and Traditional Artists
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2018/10/iub/releases/01-traditional-arts-indiana-launches-award-folk-traditional-artists.html
October 5, 2018
Mathers Museum Exhibit Showcases ‘Fantasy Coffins’ From Ghana
https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/mathers-museum-exhibit-showcases-fantasy-coffins-from-ghana.php
October 11, 2018
Mexico Remixed will be IU Bloomington’s third annual Global Arts and Humanities Festival
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2018/10/iub/releases/11-mexico-remixed-global-arts-humanities-festival.html
November 5, 2018
Day of the Dead Celebration Kicks Off Mexico Remixed
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2018/11/iub/inside/05-day-of-the-dead-mexico-remixed.html
December 12, 2018
IU Names Bicentennial Professors, Sets Goal of Faculty Presentations in All 92 Indiana Counties
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2018/12/iu/inside/12-bicentennial-professors-named-faculty-presentations-in-92-counties.html
Jan. 30, 2019
IU Center for Rural Engagement Launches New Rural Arts Series Offerings in Three Communities
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/01/iub/releases/30-center-for-rural-engagement-launches-rural-arts-series.html
March 29, 2019
Histories and Realignments: Museum Anthropology Review in a New Era
https://doi.org/10.14434/mar.v13i1.26802
March 29, 2019
Traditional Arts Indiana’s Bicentennial Exhibition
https://doi.org/10.14434/mar.v13i1.24990
March 29, 2019
Exhibiting Moments: Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures
https://doi.org/10.14434/mar.v13i1.26472
March 29, 2019
Shapes of the Ancestors: Bodies, Animals, Art, and Ghanaian Fantasy Coffins
https://doi.org/10.14434/mar.v13i1.26580
March 29, 2019
The American Folklore Society-China Folklore Society Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage Project, 2013-2016
https://doi.org/10.14434/mar.v13i1.25405
May 9, 2019
Vodou Drums Symbolize Clash Between Climate Change and the Sacred in Haiti |
Mathers Museum of World Cultures Exhibition at IU Explores the Intersection of Humanity, the Divine and the Environment
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/05/iub/09-vodou-drums-embody-clash-between-climate-change-and-the-sacred.html
June 11, 2019
Fossils, Flies and Fashion: Meet the Director Who Works with All University Collections
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/06/iu/inside/11-fossils-flies-fashion-meet-the-leader-who-oversees-collections.html
Aug. 12, 2019
Traditional Arts Indiana to Honor 2019 State Fair Masters
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/08/iub/12-rodnie-bryant-ellsworth-christmas-state-fair-traditional-arts-indiana.html
September 5, 2019
Themester 2019 Explores ‘Remembering and Forgetting’
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/09/iub/releases/05-themester-explores-remembering-forgetting.html
September 10, 2019
At Home and Abroad: Reflections on Collaborative Museum Ethnography at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures
https://doi.org/10.1111/muan.12210
September 24, 2019
McRobbie: State of Indiana University is Strong, Innovative as it Prepares for Third Century
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/09/iu/releases/24-president-mcrobbie-state-of-the-university-bicentennial-year.html
September 24, 2019
The State of Indiana University at the Bicentennial
https://president.iu.edu/speeches/state-of-university/2019.html
September 25, 2019
IU President Announces New Museum During State of the University Address
https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/iu-president-announces-new-museum-during-state-of-the-university-address.php
October 11, 2019
Reclaiming a Culture: How IU is Helping an Indigenous Community Restore its Endangered Language
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/10/iub/inside/11-reclaiming-culture-helping-indigenous-people-restore-endangered-language.html
October 16, 2019
Mathers Museum of World Cultures celebrates Day of the Dead
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2019/10/mathers-museum-of-world-cultures-celebrates-day-of-the-dead
Oct. 22, 2019
From the Desk: Creating the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
https://news.iu.edu/stories/2019/10/iub/inside/22-from-the-desk-creating-the-museum-of-archaeology-and-anthropology.html
December 4, 2019
Sacred Drums and Sustainability: A Curator’s Talk at the Mathers Museum
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2019/12/sacred-drums-and-sustainability-a-curators-talk-at-the-mathers-museum
December 8, 2019
15th Annual Parranda Eelebrates End of Fall Semester
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2019/12/15th-annual-parranda-celebrates-end-of-fall-semester
December 9, 2019
200-Year History of Bloomington Focus of Mathers Museum Exhibit
http://www.magbloom.com/2019/12/200-year-history-of-bloomington-focus-of-mathers-museum-exhibit/
December 23, 2019
Advanced Visualization Lab Re-purposes Technology Across IU Campuses https://itnews.iu.edu/articles/2019/Advanced%20Visualization%20Lab%20repurposes%20technology%20across%20IU%20campuses.php
Undated
Images of Native Americans exhibited at Mathers Museum
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/5684.html
Undated
Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival Comes to Bloomington
https://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/4860.html
This listing is very incomplete, even relative to materials available online in December 2019.
Does not included works of scholarship drawing upon MMWC resources.
Does not include event and exhibition notices.
The sixth most popular post on this website is a small item called “Coconut Rattles in Florida and Oklahoma.” I have no idea why this should be true (it is probably some accidental search engine optimization), but to satisfy hearty reader demand for more coconut rattle coverage, Jim Rementer shares here a bit of what he has learned over the years about coconut rattles among the Delaware people in Northeastern Oklahoma (Delaware Tribe of Indians) in the following guest post. Thanks to Jim for this post. –Jason
The Delaware Indians in Oklahoma made dance rattles from various materials. The main thing used in hand rattles was gourds, but at some time they found a new material to make rattles and that was coconut shells. These rattles were (and can be) used in dances like the Bean Dance (Malaxkwsitkan) and also by the men singers who accompanied the main singer who was using a water drum.
I have no idea when the Delawares started using coconut rattles nor how they cleaned them. I never thought to ask how they were made but this first one has a long bolt through the coconut and handle with a nut at the base of the handle (Figure 1). The one was made by James Thompson (1867-1964).
Figure 1. A coconut shell rattle made by James Thompson (Delaware, 1867-1964).
This other rattle pictured here was also made by a Delaware named William Wilson (Figure 2).
Figure 2. A coconut rattle made by William Wilson (Delaware).
Here (Figure 3) is a photo of singers at a Delaware dance held about 1960 at the same place where the annual Delaware Days are still held. Ranny Carpenter appears to be using a coconut rattle but I cannot be sure if it is a coconut or gourd.”
Figure 3. A water drum and coconut shell rattle being used at a Delaware social dance, ca. 1960. The Delaware word for any kind of rattle is shuhënikan.
Mathers Museum of World Cultures Research Associate Janice Frisch, who is editor of Uncoverings, shares the following call for papers.
Call for Papers
Quilt and Textile Studies
Uncoverings 2020
The American Quilt Study Group is looking for papers for the 2020 issue of their research journal, Uncoverings, edited by Dr. Janice E. Frisch.
The American Quilt Study group establishes and promotes the highest standards for interdisciplinary quilt-related studies, providing opportunities for study, research, and the publication of works that advance the knowledge of quilts and related subjects.
We are interested in papers that explore global patchwork and quilting traditions, both historical and modern. Papers that explore topics that influenced the global production of patchwork and quilting are also welcome, such as those that focus on technological changes, influences from other mediums, and impacts of historical and contemporary events. Ethnographic and historic research are both welcome.
Submissions should be complete papers with abstract and end notes (the journal uses the Chicago Note system and no bibliography). Papers should be between 4,500 and 9,000 words, inclusive of notes and must be submitted by June 1, 2019.
You do not have to be a member of the American Quilt Study Group to submit a paper, but you will have to join if your paper is selected. Authors of selected papers will also need to be able to attend the 2020 AQSG Seminar in Harrisonburg, VA (Sept. 9-14, 2020) to present their work. Paper presenters usually receive grants to offset registration, hotel, and travel costs for attending seminar.
Additional information on the submission process and the journal can be found here: https://americanquiltstudygroup.org/manuscript-guidelines/
If you have questions please contact the American Quilt Study Group at: aqsg2@americanquiltstudygroup.org
The journal welcomes paper submissions by June 1 of each year, so please consider submitting next year if you are unable to meet this year’s deadline.
—
The following image is my own selection–Jason.
Sample Florida Seminole patchwork strips from the William C. Sturtevant Collection at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
The MMWC has a huge amount of exhibition related news. This week I devote a series of posts to highlighting some of these developments.
Huang Biyu introduces her work as a textile artist to visitors to the Yulin Museum, which is hosting the exhibition Quilting Art and Tradition–People, Handcrafts, and Community Life (the Chinese version of Quilts of Southwest China), March 16, 2019. (Photograph courtesy of the Anthropological Museum of Guangxi)
After a U.S. tour that saw the collaboratively curated exhibition Quilts of Southwest China move from the (1) Michigan State University Museum (East Lansing, Michigan, USA) to the (2) International Quilt Study Center and Museum (Lincoln, Nebraska, USA), (3) the Mathers Museum of World Cultures (Bloomington, Indiana, USA) and the (4) Museum of International Folk Art (Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA), the exhibition is now at its third stop in China. Titled in China Quilting Art and Tradition—People, Handcrafts, and Community Life, the exhibition has just opened at the (3) Yulin Museum (Yulin, Guangxi, PRC). It has previously been presented at the (1) Anthropological Museum of Guangxi (Nanning, Guangxi, PRC) and the (2) Yunnan Nationalities Museum (Kunming, Yunnan, PRC). The exhibition is one of several collaborative projects arising out of joint work supported generously by the Henry Luce Foundation and various other American and Chinese funding agencies. The American Folklore Society and the China Folklore Society are coordinating partners for the larger effort that includes the museum partnership linking the Mathers Museum of World Cultures to the MSU Museum, the Museum of International Folk Art, the Yunnan Nationalities Museum, the Anthropological Museum of Guangxi and the and the Guizhou Nationalities Museum (Guiyang, Guixzhou, PRC). The exhibition was jointly produced by the six museum partners and was co-curated by Lijun Zhang and Marsha MacDowell.
Colleagues from the three Chinese partner museums (AMGX, YNNM, GZMN) attended the exhibition opening in Yunlin as did featured textile artist Huang Biyu, who did an artist’s demonstration and worked with a large group of local students in an exploration of Chinese quilting design. Photographs from the opening events taken by Chu Chu and Li Jie of the AMGX are shared here.
Did you miss the exhibition or would you like to do a deeper dive into the world of minority textiles in Southwest China? The bilingual catalogue edited by Marsha MacDowell and Lijun Zhang is available from Indiana University Press. Find it on the press website here: http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=808361
Thanks to our friends at the AMGX for managing the Chinese tour of the jointly produced exhibition and thanks to the staff of the Yulin Museum for hosting it. It is tremendous to think that a jointly produced exhibition that first opened at the MSUM in 2015 is still traveling and reaching new audiences.
Don’t miss the recent documentary film “The Flight of the Condor: A Letter, a Song, and the Story of Intangible Cultural Heritage”. by Áslaug Einarsdóttir and Valdimar Tr. Hafstein. If you watch the film (30 minutes) above or via Vimeo, be sure to circle back to the projexct website http://flightofthecondorfilm.com/ and take note of Valdimar’s new book from Indiana University Press: Making Intangible Heritage: El Condor Pasa and Other Stories from UNESCO.
Valdimar is an innovative researcher and a leading scholar in folklore studies and European ethnology. His writings on heritage policy and practice are essential contributions to the field and the new film does an outstanding job of telling a complex and compelling story in an engaging way that, in doing so, illuminates a global phenomena of importance.
While you are still feeling warm feelings about UNESCO’s recent inscription of reggae and dry stone walls on the world heritage list, watch The Flight of the Condor and think more deeply with Valdimar about the work of heritage, the circulation of cultural forms, and the ways that the contexts of our understanding can change so wildly across time, space, and social position.
I am happy to share the call for papers for the 12th joint student folklore conference organized by the students at Indiana University and the Ohio State University. Save the date and get your plans together to attend in Bloomington.
Limitations and Adaptations: Negotiating Aesthetics, Power, and Positionality
Twelfth Annual IU/OSU Student Folklore Conference
February 22–23, 2019
The Indiana University Folklore Student Association, in collaboration with the Folklore Student Association at the Ohio State University, invites submissions for the twelfth annual Indiana University / Ohio State University student folklore conference to be held in Bloomington, Indiana on February 22–23, 2019. We welcome proposals from folklore, ethnomusicology, and related disciplines. Presenters are encouraged to submit proposals related to the conference theme of “Limitations and Adaptations.” Some questions to consider could include the following:
Proposals for papers, posters, roundtables, panels, workshops, and other formats are welcome. All presenters should write a 250-word abstract of their presentations. Prearranged or collective sessions should additionally include a session title, 250-word session abstract, and list contacts for all members of the panel/roundtable, if relevant.
All submissions will be due via google forms by December 30, 2018.
Submission link: https://goo.gl/forms/AX0ngluMRtgLcZZy2
Housing form: https://goo.gl/forms/FnaiT2R7nLOnPMhV2
For additional questions, please contact us at iuosu2019@gmail.com.
Good news everyone. The free-to-download-and-read version of the latest title in the Material Vernaculars series–The Expressive Lives of Elders: Folklore, Art, and Aging edited by Jon Kay is now available. While I hope that you will purchase an ebook edition or a paperback edition or a hardback edition of this great new book, or that you will use the JSTOR Books or Project Muse Books edition if you have access to such from a library with which you are affiliated, it is important to make sure that everyone who needs to access this significant work can do so, hence the importance of durable (its not going to be withdrawn), free access to everyone. Remember, if you can purchase a copy or use one of the toll access, library-supported versions, you are helping Indiana University Press generate the financial resources to continue investing in free and/or open access projects such as the Material Vernaculars series.
How do you access it? Go to https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/22075 and look for the “View/Open button. That will lead you to the PDF download.
Find all of the existing Material Vernaculars titles in free PDF format here: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/21727 Find them described and ready to buy here: http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/index.php?cPath=1037_3130_10392&CDpath=3_5
If you value the work that Indiana University Press does, consider making a donation to support its work or, just browse the press’s website and purchase some great books and journals.
As I prepare this post, the Press is having a 40% off sale!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to Jon and to all of the authors who contributed to The Expressive Lives of Elders. Thanks to the peer-reviewers, to everyone who has already purchased a copy, and to everyone at the IU Press, the IU Libraries, and the Mathers Museum of World Cultures who is supporting the Material Vernaculars series so enthusiastically.
Happy reading!
Shreds and Patches 