Diary for 27th September - 3rd October 2007

THURSDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER - Carpeting Turkmenistan

Tonight I'm heading down to London's Asia House for an evening of cultural events from Turkmenistan. On display will be a collection of textiles courtesy of The Ministry of Carpets in Turkmenistan, accompanied by a lecture from Jon Thompson, an expert in the subject - and music from the country, including a rare opportunity to hear instruments such as the gyjak and the dutar (both types of lute). As a result of the cultural and economic importance of carpets, they can actually tell us a lot more about Turkmenistan society that you might at first think. The venue often holds similar events that give artistic and cultural insights into lesser known places, and anthropologists are frequently amongst the visitors and speakers. The evening starts at 18.30 (with a champagne reception!) and entrance costs £12 for non-members. You need to book in advance on 020 7307 5454 or by sending an email to enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk

FRIDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER - South London Saris

On Friday I want to check out a new exhibition at London's Brent Museum called 'The British Sari Story' - an art and research project that uses saris to spotlight the heritage of British Asians, inspired by the contents of a sari shop in Tooting, South London. The exhibition is being put on by Bridging Arts, an interesting organisation that provides a creative platform for many issues surrounding migration. Like anthropologists, they try to show the human stories behind stereotypes, by exposing the areas of society where cultures and people overlap. In fact, the organisers ran a sari design competition in conjunction with the exhibition, in which instead of the usual 'Asian' images on the saris, contributors used images such as cup cakes and the Yorkshire weather - you can see some of the designs here. The exhibition is open daily at the Brent Museum, from 9.00 until 18.00.


If this exhibition makes you want to find out more, you might like a book called "The Sari" by anthropologists Daniel Miller and Mukuilika Banerjee. The book combine anthropology and photography and was reviewed by Time Out London as: "a fascinating treatise on the relationship between the sari and the women who wear it...Not only is the book beautifully illustrated, it also has a nice sense of humour." Read more about their book, published by Berg here.




SATURDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER - Myths & mermaids in Cornwall

There's an unusual and fascinating course starting today as part of the WEA's learning curriculum, called Cornish Folklore in the Field. It is comprised of two sessions over this Saturday and next, and will look at the anthropology and folklore of several different West-Cornish myths. Among the topics under discussion will be the Stonehenge-like structure Men-an-Tol and the legend of the Mermaid of Zennor. The course starts at 10.30 in Exeter each week, lasts for four and a half hours and costs £26.50 - although it is FREE for 16-18 year olds. To find out more, you can contact South West WEA on 01392 490 970 or email southwest@wea.org.uk, or just fill in the form online.


SUNDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER - Native American poetry

On Sunday I'm going to the October Gallery in London to watch Trudell The Movie - a documentary about the occupation of Alcatraz by a group of Native American activists, led by musician and poet John Trudell. He was at the centre of many political protests in the 1960s and 1970s, until his family died in mysterious circumstances. The film promises to be an interesting examination of the experience of indigenous peoples who feel marginalised by their nation state, a topic which anthropologists often seek to explore and understand. Doors open at 18.30 and tickets cost £6 (£4 concessions).


MONDAY 1ST OCTOBER - Off I go to Indigo (Brighton)

Today I'm going to view an exhibition in Brighton that's been touring the country for some time now - it's all based around Indigo - which has historically been one of the most important dyes, and therefore colours, in the world. As such, indigo is of interest to anthropologists as an important part of material culture - and has even had a whole book published about it. Famous anthropologist Danny Miller - who writes a lot about the material world (and wrote the book "the Sari" mentioned above) - has also mentioned it in his blog, saying he would like to research the importance of denim! The exhibition - 'Indigo: A Blue to Die for' - runs at the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery until January.



TUESDAY 2ND OCTOBER - Spot the anthropologist

On Tuesday I'm going to listen again to the Radio 4 Today programme from last week, covering the events that have recently been occurring in Burma. On air was an anthropologist, Gustaaf Houtman, (editor of magazine Anthropology Today) speaking about the country's history and the role colonialism has played in its present difficulties. He has published several books on Burmese society and is a renowned expert on the country. You can listen to the interview here (it was broadcast at approximately 8.50), and also read an article linked to the discussion here.


WEDNESDAY 3RD OCTOBER - A Different way of seeing...

This evening sees the start of a great little introductory course in anthropology at the University of Sussex, called Ways of Seeing. Run over 20 weeks, in two-hour evening sessions, it promises to analyse familiar situations or themes but in unfamiliar settings. Anthropology is often described as 'making the strange familiar, and the familiar strange' so this seems like a good place to start. You have to be over 18 to attend, and you can enrol online or by phoning 01273 678527 - the course is priced at £44 for students. If you can't make this course, the university offers many other culture and society ones, from shamanic consciousness to British cinema, so read around the website for more details.

NEWSFLASH - event at the Maritime Museum thisThursday!

I didn't find out about this event in time for the blog last week, but it looks pretty good so I'm putting out a newsflash:

Voiceless Odysseys: excavating the unspeakable in enslavement is a symposium open to the general public this Thursday afternoon at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. It's bringing together artists, writers and academics to talk about how we remember and represent the history of slavery. Full details are on the flyer which you can read here and there'll also be poetry readings by John Agard.

Diary for 20th September - 26th September 2007

THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER - Going Commando

Tonight I'm tuning into ITV1 to watch a film directed by Chris Terrill, who spent eight months training as a Royal Marine alongside a group of soldiers half his age. He says he uses his anthropological training to inform his style of filming, ensuring that he becomes immersed in an environment, spending much of the time as a participant-observer. You can read an interview with Chris about his technique from The Times here, as well as watch a preview clip from the first episode (screening at 21.00) here.


FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER - Talking pots

Today I'm heading up to Loughborough University for a research symposium about 'Objects and narratives'. Although it sounds grand, the event is open to any interested visitors, and should be a fascinating look at the many roles that objects can play in our lives and the society around us. Speakers include Geoffrey Gowland, who will be talking about his recent anthropology PhD research on Chinese pot makers, and the cultural importance they place on talking to the objects during their crafting. To find out more about the event, you can contact Jane Tormey on J.Tormey@lboro.ac.uk or on (0)1509 22 8966.

SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER - MAVIS on the big screen

This Saturday sees the screening of the latest batch of films from students on the Goldsmiths MA in Visual Anthropology at the Roxy Bar & Screen in Borough. As usual, there's an amazing range of films on show - from a Peckham barbershop via post-conflict development in South Sudan to an experimental investigation into the subculture of computer gaming. If you can't make it down on the day, there are also more films from previous years' students that you can view on the website. If you're interested in the course at Goldsmiths, then they are now interviewing for next year's course - get in touch with Professor Stephen Nugent to find out more on s.nugent@gold.ac.uk or 0207 919 7805. The screenings last from 10.00 until 14.00 on Saturday and entry is FREE.


SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER - Rushing around in the Docklands

On Sunday, I'm off to the Museum in Docklands in East London to have a look at the video installation 'Rush Hour', which uses real-time video and still photography, together with sounds from a local radio phone-in to depict rush hour in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The two men behind the work, an artist and a journalist, wanted to show a non-stereotypical side of life in the African capital - you can read more about their reasons for doing the project here. The exhibition precedes the November opening of Britain's first permanent exhibition on London's role in the transatlantic slave trade. Rush Hour is open from 10.00 to 18.00 and admission is FREE for students.


MONDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER - Prayers for a martyr

I'm back down to the Roxy Bar and Screen tonight for the Pocketvisions' screening of The Tears of Imam Hussain. Filmed in South Lebanon, it is about the Shiite Ashura Festival that commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. Like other Pocketvisions films, it relies mostly on observational material, and also includes reflections from participants on the ten-day long ceremony and its political and religious significance. The film starts at 19.00, entrance is FREE, and there is a Q&A with the director immediately after the showing (plus probably lots of anthropologists to chat to).


TUESDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER - Smoke signals from London

This evening sees a screening of the first feature film written, directed, and acted by Native Americans. Smoke Signals is being shown in conjunction with the New Dreaming exhibition mentioned previously on the blog, and it tells the story of the journey of two men to collect the ashes of one of a recently deceased family member. For more on the importance of the film to the Native American community, you can read an interview with the scriptwriter here. The film starts at 19.00 and tickets can be purchased on the door at the October Gallery for £6 (£4 for students).



WEDNESDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER - Behaving yourself at the British Museum

On Wednesday it's the annual get-together of the Royal Anthropological Institute, being held in the Clore Education Centre at the British Museum from 17.00. It is followed by refreshments, and then at 18.00 the 2007 Curl lecture by Dr Daniel Nettle from Newcastle University. He will be attempting to answer the question, ‘Nature versus culture, or how is human behaviour to be explained?’. Both events are FREE to attend and open to all-comers - the Curl lecture should be a great introduction to a debate at the heart of much of anthropology.

Diary for September 13th - September 19th 2007

THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER - Dreaming of Native America

It's been too long, so today I'm heading down to the October Gallery in central London to check out the 'Oshki-bawaajige - New Dreaming' exhibition that just launched there. It features the artwork of three Native American artists - father and son Frank Big Bear and Star Wallowing Bull, and Andrea Carlson - a lecturer from the University of Minnesota. They all descend from the Obijwe ancestry, and use their work to express and complicate over-simplistic representations of their community. The exhibition runs until October 27th and is open Tuesday to Saturday 12.30 - 17.30, with a series of linked events and screenings. Next Monday, for instance, at 18.30, there is a presentation evening by a panel of experts followed by a Q&A with the audience, for which entrance costs £6.

If you would like to find out more about Native America arts and anthropology, anthropologist Max Carocci is teaching an introductory evening course at London's Birbeck college next April called "Introduction to Native American Art." Max did his PhD at Goldsmiths on "Two-Spirits: Being Gay and Native American in San Francisco, California" and has also done a lot of research on both historical and contemporary Native American art. The course is a module of a Certificate in Higher Education on World Art and Artefacts but you can also take it as a one-0ff short course.

If you can't make it down to the gallery you could check out the website of Larry McNeil , a Tlingit artist/photographer I love and who won the 2006 AllRoads National Geography prize for his photo essay "Fly by night mythology" which plays with ideas of traditional/modern/nostalgia etc...

REAL INDIANS 1980
hand-colored black and white photograph, self protrait. Larry McNeil.


FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER - Anthropology and divine inspiration

As I browsed the shelves of my local bookshop the other day, I noticed Gods Behaving Badly at number 19 on the bestseller list. It's written by Marie Phillips, who studied anthropology and then Visual Anthropology at university before working in television, and now as an author. The book tells the story of a group of Greek Gods living in North London and their humorous interactions with the mortal world. Marie says she drew heavily on her studies in anthropology in order to become an author, since both roles mean "you're constantly trying to put yourself in the position of someone who's different from you and to see the world in a different way". You can read more about how Marie combines anthropology and storytelling here, and also watch a film about the book here. You can get your copy, as they say, in all good bookshops.


SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER - Unmasking slavery

On Saturday I'm off to to Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery to take in the touring installation La Bouche du Roi ('The Mouth of the King') by West African artist Romauld Hamouzé from Benin (mentioned on the blog before). He has used 300 masks, made out of petrol cans, to create a representation of a slave ship. The work is meant to explore not only the history of the slave trade, but also the current black market in petrol in Benin. At noon, as part of a series of accompanying events, there's the opportunity to join Hazoumé for an hour-long tour of his work - it's FREE to attend, just turn up!





SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER - The table-tennis of love...

Come Sunday, I want to watch the UK premiere of Ping-Pong d'Amour, a collaborative piece of film-making by a group of young German artists. Divided into three sections, the films promise to be an artistic cocktail of reflections on life in the contemporary, globalised world. Most interesting, perhaps, will be Part III, a series of six short films from around the world (places such as Togo, Cameroon and Syria) accompanied by artworks, that examine the 'ethnographic gaze', which means analysing how reliable the practice of understanding other cultures can be, coming from a western perspective. The films are showing at the Whitechapel Gallery all weekend, and you can book tickets for individual screenings (£5) or the whole day (£15). Of special interest to Anth about Town is the screening on Sundayof Les Maitre Fous by Jean Rouch, one of the most famous anthropological film-makers, who died in 2004. You can read all about his work and films here.


MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER - Weathering the storm

Pocketvisions returns tonight with 'Sunny Intervals and Showers', a film about how one family react when the father is diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder, a form of manic depression. The film deals with the consequences of being labelled 'mentally ill' which is also a subject of interest to several anthropologists, who look at the ways in which different societies understand psychological problems. At UCL, you can study for an MSc in Culture and Mental Health, aimed at social workers who think the combination of psychiatry and social anthropology will be enable them to be more sensitive to their patients' needs. There are also several books that have been published on related issues, such as Pathologies of the West. The film starts at 19.00 at the Roxy Bar & Screen, and is followed by a Q&A with the director - entrance is FREE.


TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER - Tribe goes to the Himalayas

This evening I'll be tuning in with great interest to the latest episode of TRIBE on BBC1. It is about the Layap people of Bhutan who live in the Himalayan mountains and are devout Buddhists. Interestingly, they are also known to practice polyandry -where a woman may have more than one husband. The film was directed by Gavin Searle, who studied the MA in Visual Anthropology at Manchester University before going on to work in television, so it should be fascinating to see how he's bridged the gap between the two disciplines.



WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER - The history of Documentary...in 11 weeks

On Wednesday I want to look into a course that's about to begin on British documentary because some the documentaries they are looking at are by anthropologists, including Chronicle of a Summer by Jean Rouch (mentioned above). It's being run by the City Lit college in conjunction with the British Film Institute, and runs a weekly class on how documentary has reflected society from 1922 to the present day. At each session you watch a film from the BFI's archives, followed by discussion and also the opportunity to make your own one minute documentary on site. The The course starts on 26th September and runs from 18.40 for two hours every Wednesday evening, and only costs £32 if you are eligible for the concessionary rate! To enrol, call 020 7492 2652 or email humanities@citylit.ac.uk as soon as possible.

Diary for 6th September to 12th September 2007

THURSDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER - Open Evening at Birkbeck

Tonight I'm off to the Royal National Hotel in Central London for Birckbeck College's open evening for prospective students and existing members of the college. It will be possible to talk to staff about the college's Certificates of Higher Education in Social Anthropology, that are normally around 16 weeks in length and range from broad introductions to the subject to specialisms such as the anthropology of tourism. To find out about more short courses in anthropology check out the special edition of Anthropologist About Town from a few weeks ago.

FRIDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER - Date for your diary

The Black International Film Festival starts today at the ICA, a week of films about, and produced by, the black community. On show will be documentaries, music videos, animation and fictional films - many of them having their UK premiere here. Screening tonight at 19.30 is Diaspora Diaries (tickets are £8) which captures the voices of various African communities across the UK including Dr Hassan Aero, Keeper of Anthropology at the Horniman Musuem. You can watch a trailer of the film here, which also includes contributions from DJs, poets and soldiers. The film will be followed by a Q&A with the director.


SATURDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER - Spin doctors in Strathclyde

On Saturday, I'm hoping to attend a day of the conference on Communication & Conflict: Propaganda, Spin & Lobbying in the Global Age at the University of Strathclyde. It's listed on the Royal Anthropological Institute's events calender, which includes many interesting and relevant conferences happening around the world, as well as useful links to anthropology department webpages. The conference is open to everyone from A-Level students to academics, but you need to register first before attending. If you're interested in anthropology and the media more generally, then it might also be worth having a look at the BA course on offer at the University of Sussex, and the MA on offer at SOAS in London.

SUNDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER -Football in Zanzibar

Today I'm back down at the Black International film festival at the ICA for the 20.30 screening of Zanzibar Soccer Queens, followed by a Q&A with its director Florence Ayisi. It portrays the lives of a female football team playing their matches in a mainly Muslim society. Florence Ayisi teaches film at the International Film School of Wales and was co-director of Sisters-in-law with Kim Longinotto, and they both often use anthropological methods in their film-making. Sisters-in-law, about two female judges in Cameroon, is available to view or buy from the Royal Anthropological Institute in London. You can also watch another of Longinotto's films - 'Divorce Iranian Style' - for FREE on the internet here.

MONDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER - Return of Night Waves

After a summer break, the Radio 3 social affairs programme 'Night Waves' returns to the airwaves tonight. It often features anthropologists discussing contemporary developments in society. Tonight, author and film-maker Naomi Klein is discussing her latest book about government exploitation of disaster. Klein's previous work has included the famous book 'No Logo' and a documentary film called 'The Take' which are sometimes used by anthropology lecturers as examples of community resistance to globalisation and how people adapt to social change. the latter followed a group of redundant Argentinean workers who reoccupied their old factory to continue working. Look out on the Night Waves website and this blog for upcoming episodes featuring anthropologists!



TUESDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER - Resistance and Power

Today I'm going to watch a few of the short films that form part of Al-Jazeera English's 'People and Power' strand. They're all available to watch on youtube for FREE and the theme of looking from the bottom-up at how small communities interact with wider society is similar to anthropology's way of working. A good one to check out is 'The San Bushmen of the Kalahari' about the bushmen's fight to protect their ancestral lands from diamond miners. The film is directed by Oliver Steeds, who also runs an interesting exploration organisation called I-NOMAD, which has in the past employed anthropology students as volunteers.


WEDNESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER - Land of the Rising Sun

Today I'm going to get hold of a copy of a book I saw reviewed last week in The Independent's Arts section. It's called Japan Through the Looking Glass, and is written by Alan Macfarlane, professor of anthropology at Cambridge University. The book makes a thorough examination of Japanese culture from an anthropologist's perspective, from wrestling via public toilets to geishas. Alan Macfarlane has also written several other books that offer a useful introduction to anthropology for people new to the subject, including Letters to Lily - a series of letter to his granddaughter explaining 'how the world works'. He also runs an online resource of photographs, writings and other anthropological information from the Himalayas, which you can easily while away a Wednesday evening with.

Diary for 30th August - 5th September 2007

THURSDAY 30TH AUGUST - Tibetan Pilgrimage on film

There's another chance to watch Werner Herzog's documentary 'Wheel of Time' today at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh. As I've mentioned on the blog before, the film contains rituals never before seen on film during a Buddhist ceremony promoting peace and tolerance, and Herzog's approach to his subjects is often compared to that of anthropologists. For more information contact the Filmhouse on 0131 228 2688.



FRIDAY 31ST AUGUST - Community photographers' magazine

Today I'm going to check out my local bookshop to see if it's stocking the latest issue of Daylight magazine, due out imminently. Published biannually, the magazine uses photography and essays to address some big contemporary issues from the 'bottom-up' with portraits of people and communities around the world. For example, the last issue focused on the theme of 'global commodities', or more specifically the individuals behind global trading networks. Like anthropology, the magazine looks at the social and cultural situations of those involved in such structures - stories and realities often hidden behind business statistics and financial rhetoric. A word of warning - for some reason it's not available in WH Smith but should be in most of the other likely places and online, priced at £7.50, some of which supports grassroots media projects across the globe.





SATURDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER - Singing with Basil

The British Film Institute is currently running a season called Documentary Centenaries, and today it celebrates the work of Basil Wright, whose 'poetic' film-making crops up on many a visual anthropology course. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Song of Ceylon, perhaps his most famous film, about cultural life and religious customs in Sri Lanka. It is amongst four of his works that are screening tonight at the National Film Theatre from 18.00 - tickets are £8.60 (less for students). Interestingly, The Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) now gives out a Basil Wright film prize at its film festival every two years, and you can read more about this year's winners here.

SUNDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER - Chasing plastic bags

Today I'm off to see what I can make of the current exhibition at The Photographers' Gallery, called 'The Movement of an Object'. It is a collection of shots from around London, as photographer Marysa Dowling followed a plastic bag across the capital and captured how it was recycled by thirty different individuals from a 2 year-old to a 77-year old. You can also add your own pictures of plastic bags to an online collection here. Anthropologists often study objects as revealing entities in their own right about how and why society functions, such as in The Social Life of Things which traces the journey of all manner of things from human relics to oriental carpets. The Photographers' Gallery is open from 11.00 (midday on Sundays) until 18.00, and entrance is FREE.




MONDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER - Amore on your mobile

Pocketvisions returns this evening with what is claimed to be the first ever documentary shot entirely on a mobile phone. Referencing Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1965 film that featured Italian's views on life and love, Nuove comizi d'amore (New Love Meetings) gathers amorous confessions from across Italy about sex and sexuality. As usual, it is screening at the Roxy Bar & Screen from 19.00 and entrance is FREE. Pocketvisions has also just opened entries for the 2nd London International Documentary Festival to be held next Spring, so if you've made or are making an ethnographic film it may be worth submitting. The deadline is 6th December 2007 and you can find out more here.

TUESDAY 4TH SEPTEMBER - Tribal happenings

This evening I'm going to catch up with BBC1's Tribe again as the programme visits Anuta in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific. Some academics have labelled Bruce Parry's trips as 'skateboard anthropology', so see what you make of his latest trip to such a hard-to-reach location and people. The Anuta live by the principles of 'aropa', namely sharing their possessions as an expression of love for their community. For an alternative view on the Anuta, you could see if your local library stocks specialist Richard Feinberg's account of the oral traditions of the islands. Also well worth a look is Survival International's blog page, which features short films about indigenous communities around the globe.

WEDNESDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER - Art from Burma

Today I'm going to attend an exhibition currently being held at Asia House in London, called Burma Inside Out. It is a collection of artworks produced by Htein Lin, who was imprisoned in Myanmar from 1998-2004 on charges that were never proven. Whilst behind bars, he used materials such as prison uniforms to create artwork reflective of his time spent under the guard of the military junta. It's an interesting expression of the relationship between the individual and the 'state' and is open from 10.00 until 18.00 daily, with admission priced at £2. On Wednesday there's also an opportunity to listen to music from Myanmar from 18.30 onwards. If that's whetted your appetite, then there's also a display of prisoner art from the UK currently on at the ICA - hurry though as it ends this week.

Diary for 23rd August - 29th August 2007

THURSDAY 23RD AUGUST- Sacrifice in the library

This morning I'm off to a talk at the British Museum's Centre for Anthropology on Sacrifice, Ideology and Political Authority in Moche Culture. It's being given by Steve Bourget from the University of Texas who has done extensive research on Moche high-status burials in ancient Peru. Whilst there, I'm also going to have a read of some of the vast collection of 120,000 anthropological books in the museum's library, which can be used free of charge as long as you have some form of photo identification. It also contains maps, newsletters and a picture archive so is well worth a few hours of your time.




FRIDAY 24TH AUGUST - Granite-cased ethnography

On Friday I'm off to visit the Marischal Museum in Aberdeen, incidentally the second largest granite building in the world. Linked to the University, its collections include many ethnographic objects from around the world as well as artefacts from the local area. At the moment, there is also an exhibition examining the union of Great Britain in 1707 from a wider social perspective, attempting to see the religious and economic, as well as political, reasons behind the event. The museum also holds a series of Tuesday evening lectures, starting in September that address a whole range of subjects linked to the collections. It is open from 10.00 until 17.00 and entrance is FREE, or you can even visit the museum's virtual collections from the comfort of your own home here.



SATURDAY 25TH AUGUST -Bhangra in Britain

I'm going to kick off the weekend by going along to 'Soho Road to the Punjab' at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Part of the capital's India Now season, it's an exhibition that tracks the influence and development of bhangra music from the Punjab in 300BC to its status within contemporary British society as an important cultural form. On Saturday, there is also a music workshop with artist Gursharan Channa. The exhibition is open from 10.30 until 17.00 in The Brunei Gallery and admission is FREE, although if you want to attend the workshop booking is recommended on 020 7898 4915.





SUNDAY 26TH AUGUST - Bringing Africa to Kent

On Sunday I'm going to the Quex Museum in Kent, which houses an extensive collection of artefacts from the Asian and African travels of one Percy Powell-Cotton, a major in the British army in the early 20th century. The museum is open from 11.00 until 17.00 and the array of objects there includes the Major's diary entries and some early film footage of his expeditions. It also has close links with the University of Kent's anthropology department, and there is currently someone doing their PhD research on the museum. And just in case you needed any more incentive to check it out, this weekend the venue also plays host to QUEX FEST, a local music event for anyone who fancies getting on down to some Kentish tunes.


MONDAY 27TH AUGUST - It's a wrap

Today I'm heading down to a favourite haunt - the Horniman Museum - to browse their current exhibition called 'Wrapping Japan', which takes a closer look at wrapping as a Japanese cultural practice. It can be socially significant in a number of ways from protecting modesty to commanding respect, and is a particularly refined art in the Far East. The exhibition is partly inspired by the book Wrapping Culture, by Joy Hendry - who has also published a useful introduction to social anthropology. The collection is on show in the Balcony Gallery until February next year and admission is FREE.


TUESDAY 28TH AUGUST - Bamboozling basket-making

On Tuesday I've booked myself in for a two hour session at the British Museum with one of Japan's most renowned basket makers, Hayakawa Shokosai V. Following my trip to the Horniman, this should be a good opportunity to link theory to practice by listening to a man designated as one of Japan's 'Living National Treasures' - an interesting concept in itself. He will be explaining the traditions and techniques of crafting bamboo and how they have changed over the years. Entrance to the session, which begins at 14.30 and is linked to the Crafting Beauty collection currently on in the museum, is £5, and booking in advance is highly recommended.




WEDNESDAY 29TH AUGUST - A treehouse perspective

This afternoon, I'm going along to the Barbican to clamber around a new exhibition by the Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrc. Much of her work is inspired by issues also of interest to social scientists and 'Forest Rising' is an imaginative architectural installation addressing issues of overpopulation and climate change. On show is a replica 'island community' that could potentially be suspended from the Amazonian treetops as way of overcoming these issues. It sounds like an interesting perspective on rural (or jungle) life, in that it focuses on 'modern' solutions and avoids stereotyping such communities. Therefore, I'm planning to take along a copy of anthropologist Stephen Nugent's (who runs the MA in Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths) book on life in the Amazon, 'Big Mouth' which also challenges overly romanticised depictions of the area. The exhibition runs until 2nd September and entrance is FREE.