scholarly journals Nova Pesquisa Sobre as Coleções de Richard Spruce na Amazônia: uma Colaboração Brasil - Reino Unido

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviane Fonseca Kruel ◽  
Luciana Martins ◽  
Mark Nesbitt ◽  
William Milliken ◽  
Márlia Coelho-Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Indigenous Plant ◽  
Royal Botanic Gardens ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Northwest Amazon

The Northwest Amazon comprises a large region of equatorial forest on the border of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, which has been inhabited by indigenous peoples since the pre-colonial period. Today they occupy 80% of its area. Travellers such as Richard Spruce, who visited the region in the 1850s-1860s, described the vitality and dynamics of these populations, demonstrated by the size of their longhouses, their extensive inter-communal ceremonies, and their rich material culture. The biocultural objects and associated information collected by Richard Spruce constitute a unique point of reference for the useful plants, ethnobotany, anthropology and environmental history of the region. Housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the British Museum, both in London, this under-researched collection incorporates indigenous plant-based artefacts, samples of useful plant products, detailed archival notes on the use of plants by inhabitants of the Amazon, and accompanying herbarium voucher collections. This paper focusses on an ongoing research programme aimed at building capacity in Brazil to research, cataloguing and mobilising data from these biocultural collections, and developing these important resources for improved understanding of the useful and cultural properties of plants. It aims to build collaborative relationships, making biocultural collections and associated data freely accessible online, and above all to strengthen capacity of indigenous communities on the Rio Negro for autonomous research into material culture and plant use. We present the activities we have developed in the first two years of the programme. Workshops at Kew, Rio de Janeiro and São Gabriel da Cachoeira have enabled the Spruce collections to be fully digitised and artefacts made available through the Reflora portal (reflora.jbrj.gov. br). Training has been given in collection and study of biocultural objects, both to museum staff and representatives of indigenous communities, and a research agenda developed that focuses on better understanding of the shifting relationships between people and natural resources over the last 200 years. We discuss how a broad collaboration has led to constructive, culturally appropriate engagement with local communities, providing a portal into the world of scientific knowledge and helping to mobilise both scientific and indigenous knowledge in a mutually beneficial manner.

scholarly journals Nova Pesquisa Sobre as Coleções de Richard Spruce na Amazônia: uma Colaboração Brasil - Reino Unido

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviane Fonseca Kruel ◽  
Luciana Martins ◽  
Mark Nesbitt ◽  
William Milliken ◽  
Márlia Coelho-Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Indigenous Plant ◽  
Royal Botanic Gardens ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Northwest Amazon

<p>The Northwest Amazon comprises a large region of equatorial forest on the border of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, which has been inhabited by indigenous peoples since the pre-colonial period. Today they occupy 80% of its area. Travellers such as Richard Spruce, who visited the region in the 1850s-1860s, described the vitality and dynamics of these populations, demonstrated by the size of their longhouses, their extensive inter-communal ceremonies, and their rich material culture. The biocultural objects and associated information collected by Richard Spruce constitute a unique point of reference for the useful plants, ethnobotany, anthropology and environmental history of the region. Housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the British Museum, both in London, this under-researched collection incorporates indigenous plant-based artefacts, samples of useful plant products, detailed archival notes on the use of plants by inhabitants of the Amazon, and accompanying herbarium voucher collections. This paper focusses on an ongoing research programme aimed at building capacity in Brazil to research, cataloguing and mobilising data from these biocultural collections, and developing these important resources for improved understanding of the useful and cultural properties of plants. It aims to build collaborative relationships, making biocultural collections and associated data freely accessible online, and above all to strengthen capacity of indigenous communities on the Rio Negro for autonomous research into material culture and plant use. We present the activities we have developed in the first two years of the programme. Workshops at Kew, Rio de Janeiro and São Gabriel da Cachoeira have enabled the Spruce collections to be fully digitised and artefacts made available through the Reflora portal (reflora.jbrj.gov. br). Training has been given in collection and study of biocultural objects, both to museum staff and representatives of indigenous communities, and a research agenda developed that focuses on better understanding of the shifting relationships between people and natural resources over the last 200 years. We discuss how a broad collaboration has led to constructive, culturally appropriate engagement with local communities, providing a portal into the world of scientific knowledge and helping to mobilise both scientific and indigenous knowledge in a mutually beneficial manner.</p>

Transferring Sinosphere Knowledge to the Public: James Summers (1828-91) as Printer, Editor and Cataloguer

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-84
Author(s):  
Uganda Sze Pui Kwan
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Book History ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
British History ◽  
The Public ◽  
Victorian Britain ◽  
King's College ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Ardent Supporter

Abstract James Summers occupied the professorship of Chinese for two decades at King’s College London. He was also a trailblazer in promoting the study of Japanese culture in Victorian Britain, but he has been an underrated and understudied figure in British history. Summers was an ardent supporter of modern printing. He believed printed media was the most effective medium to transform British perceptions of Asia, which in turn would help support Britain’s foreign political, commercial and missionary enterprise. He also orchestrated the printing of catalogues and journals in his capacity as library assistant to the British Museum and the India Office Library. He even set up his own press to print a newspaper in order to disseminate knowledge of East Asia to a broader readership. Based on primary materials that have rarely been used before, this paper positions Summers in the study of book history, material culture and print mediums in order to reassess his pioneering efforts in Sinological studies.

At Home in Renaissance Bruges

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie De Groot
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Domestic Spaces ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
At Home

How did citizens in Bruges create a home? What did an ordinary domestic interior look like in the sixteenth century? And more importantly: how does one study the domestic culture of bygone times by analysing documents such as probate inventories? These questions seem straightforward, yet few endeavours are more challenging than reconstructing a sixteenth-century domestic reality from written sources. This book takes full advantage of the inventory and convincingly frames household objects in their original context of use. Meticulously connecting objects, people and domestic spaces, the book introduces the reader to the rich material world of Bruges citizens in the Renaissance, their sensory engagement, their religious practice, the role of women, and other social factors. By weaving insights from material culture studies with urban history, At Home in Renaissance Bruges offers an appealing and holistic mixture of in-depth socio-economic, cultural and material analysis. In its approach the book goes beyond heavy-handed theories and stereotypes about the exquisite taste of aristocratic elites, focusing instead on the domestic materiality of Bruges’ middling groups. Evocatively illustrated with contemporary paintings from Bruges and beyond, this monograph shows a nuanced picture of domestic materiality in a remarkable European city.

Water in the Wilderness: The Group of Seven and the Coastal Identity of Lake Superior

2021 ◽  
pp. e20200049
Author(s):  
Isabelle Gapp
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Lake Superior ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Coastal Lake ◽  
Group Of Seven ◽  
North Shore ◽  
The North ◽  
The People ◽  
Coastal Landscapes ◽  
History Of

This paper challenges the wilderness ideology with which the Group of Seven’s coastal landscapes of the north shore of Lake Superior are often associated. Focusing my analysis around key works by Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, J.E.H. MacDonald, and Franklin Carmichael, I offer an alternative perspective on commonly-adopted national and wilderness narratives, and instead consider these works in line with an emergent ecocritical consciousness. While a conversation about wilderness in relation to the Group of Seven often ignores the colonial history and Indigenous communities that previously inhabited coastal Lake Superior, this paper identifies these within a discussion of the environmental history of the region. That the environment of the north shore of Lake Superior was a primordial space waiting to be discovered and conquered only seeks to ratify the landscape as a colonial space. Instead, by engaging with the ecological complexities and environmental aesthetics of Lake Superior and its surrounding shoreline, I challenge this colonial and ideological construct of the wilderness, accounting for the prevailing fur trade, fishing, and lumber industries that dominated during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A discussion of environmental history and landscape painting further allows for a consideration of both the exploitation and preservation of nature over the course of the twentieth century, and looks beyond the theosophical and mystical in relation to the Group’s Lake Superior works. As such, the timeliness of an ecocritical perspective on the Group of Seven’s landscapes represents an opportunity to consider how we might recontextualize these paintings in a time of unprecedented anthropogenic climate change, while recognizing the people and history to whom this land traditionally belongs.

scholarly journals Speaking Stones: Oral Tradition as Provenance for the Memorial Stelae in Gujarat

Heritage ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1085-1096
Author(s):  
Durga Kale
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
The State ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Western India ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Museum Displays ◽  
Anthropological Fieldwork ◽  
Rich Material

Anthropological fieldwork in rural settlements on the west coast of India has unraveled the close connection between lived experiences, spaces and objects. These “inalienable possessions”, in the words of Annette Weiner, help reconstruct the past through the supplementation of oral traditions. Following this vein, the paper attempts to mesh together the material culture and oral histories to establish the provenance for the plethora of memorials in the state of Gujarat. A series of oral narratives collected in Western India since 2014 has highlighted the role of medieval memorial stelae that commemorate the deceased heroes of war and their wives and companions. This paper creates a niche for the Gujarati oral tradition as provenance for the continued veneration of these memorials. Field observations from 2014–2016 and notes from research in Gujarat from 1985 onwards enabled the study of patterns in the oral preservation of literature. A systematic documentation of the existing stelae and associated oral traditions has informed the views in this paper. The paper speaks to all levels of interaction and the making of an identity for the memorial stones that are unique to the state of Gujarat. A case for the inclusion of such rich material in museum displays is made in connection with this case study of the memorial stelae in Gujarat.

The Northwest Coast

Anthropology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie H. Tepper
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
European Contact ◽  
The North

The distinctive culture of the Indigenous populations on the Northwest Coast (NWC) and their colonial history—from European contact in the 17th century to contemporary issues of land claims and reconciliation—have helped to frame many of the themes and models of ethnographic theory and practice, particularly in American anthropology. The NWC is often defined as the geographic area stretching from Alaska to California. For the purposes of this bibliography, the study area is limited to what is sometimes called the “North Pacific Coast,” which begins at the southern border of Alaska, continues down the coastline of British Columbia (BC), and ends in northern Washington State. Its rocky coastline is broken up by deep fjords and offshore islands, including Vancouver Island in the south and Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) in the north. Several major river systems provide access to the BC interior through the mountainous Cascade Range. Though local resources vary along the coast, almost all the Indigenous groups followed a similar seasonal cycle of fishing, hunting, and gathering from spring to fall. The winter months were dedicated to the manufacture of material culture, social feasting, and ceremonial gatherings. Large oceangoing canoes and smaller river crafts linked well-established villages into an extensive series of trade routes. Walking trails over the mountains allowed the exchange of seafood and other coastal products for animal skins and goods from interior forests. Warfare brought additional wealth to the victor by means of raiding stored foods and manufactured items. European contact began in the late 18th century with the arrival of Spanish and British explorers. They were followed by English, American, and Russian fur traders. The discovery of gold along the Fraser River in 1858, and later finds in the Cariboo Mountains, brought tens of thousands of American, British, and other immigrants to the area. British sovereignty over the area north of the 49th parallel was quickly reinforced by the Royal Navy and an expanded colonial administration. In 1871 the province of British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation and NWC Indigenous communities came under the control of the federal Indian Act. This act is still in force.

Museum Anthropology

Anthropology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaka Wali ◽  
Rosa Cabrera ◽  
Jennifer Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Human Ecology ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Field Research ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Cultural Patrimony ◽  
Museum Displays

The field of museum anthropology predates the institutionalization of anthropology as an academic discipline in universities. The formation of collections from as early as the 17th century spurred the study of the cultures that produced the objects destined for display. Early on, anthropology collections were integrated either into national museums (e.g., the British Museum), museums of “folk culture,” or, especially in the United States, natural history museums. The first major anthropology and archaeology museum was the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, founded in 1866. Eventually, the collections became the foundation for research and documentation of the lifeways, material circumstances, and human ecology of diverse cultures. For more than a century, anthropologists situated in museums curated the collections by documenting them through catalogues and publications and by creating public displays. However, after the 1970s, museum anthropology became more research oriented, moving beyond collections-based documentation to an emphasis on field research. Simultaneously, it became more difficult to acquire objects because of diminishing resources and international and national policies on cultural patrimony. In the 1980s, a growing critique of the representation of cultures began to emerge from outside the museum walls. The critiques concerned the ahistorical, evolutionary-oriented display of non-European cultures, and the lack of inclusion of “first voice” (the perspective of the peoples themselves). The authority of the curator was questioned, as were the colonialist perspectives that museum displays embodied. Critiques came from academically situated scholars as well as from the communities whose cultures were represented in museum displays. The response from within the museum has been transformative. Curators developed new forms of representation, more attuned to contemporary theory, and they began to collaborate with communities to include their perspectives. Studies of material culture and human ecology continue to dominate museum anthropology, but they are very diverse and cover a huge geographical terrain. Interest has also revived in material-culture studies outside of museums, and we have included some sampling of this work here. Museum-based education programs and publications oriented toward the general public cover the classic four fields of anthropology. Museums of specific cultural groups or heritage-based museums may not always include anthropologists on staff; however, their work represents an important contribution to the understanding of the role of culture and ethnicity in social life. “Eco-museums,” museums dedicated to a single place or a single cultural heritage, represent an important trend of this kind.

Teaching Authentic Soil & Plant Science in Middle School Classrooms with a Biochar Case Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-268
Author(s):  
Yamina Pressler ◽  
Mary Hunter-Laszlo ◽  
Sarah Bucko ◽  
Beth A. Covitt ◽  
Sarah Urban ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Middle School ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Plant Interactions ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Promote Plant Growth ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

We designed two NGSS-aligned middle school classroom experiments to investigate the effects of biochar on plant growth and soil respiration. Biochar is a carbon-rich material, produced by heating organic matter under limited oxygen, that is added to soils to improve fertility, to promote plant growth, and as one possible strategy to help mitigate climate change. The experiments offer an ideal case study for students learning fundamentals of soil and plant interactions. Soils and biochar are accessible, are connected to global issues such as agriculture and climate change, and are the focus of ongoing research in soil science. These classroom experiments promote authentic science because students design replicated experiments, collect and analyze data, discuss variability in the data, and interpret their results in the context of recent research.

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