Diary for 7th June to 13th June 2007

THURSDAY 7TH JUNE - Pots, pop & philosophy from across the pond

Tonight I'm going to a talk down at the British Museum. A panel of experts including Simon Schama will be discussing how the British have represented America over the last few hundred years and the cultural differences that are portrayed in everything from pop culture to political philosophy. The session - 'America: The View from here' starts at 18.30 in the BP lecture theatre and entry is £5.

If you are particularly interested in the Media, several universities offer specialised degrees in Anthropology and Media. Check out Goldsmiths (Anthropology and Media), Sussex (Anthropology and Media Studies) as well as joint media and anthropology courses at Oxford Brookes, Lampeter, and Roehampton.

Also on this evening is a talk by anthropologist and potter Dr Natalie Tobert. Dr Tobert spent two years observing the potters of Darfur, Sudan, and their creative techniques. She will be recounting her experiences from 19.00 onwards in the Austen Building at Harrow College. It's advisable to phone ahead first on 0208 909 6185 if you're thinking of going.






FRIDAY 8TH JUNE - Getting into the Native Spirit

There's a feast of interesting documentaries showing today at Riverside Studios as past of the Native Spirit film festival I mentioned last week. Starting at 11am, I'm going to watch some more fantastic, but rarely seen, films about the indigenous peoples of North, South and Central America.

Highlights on Friday include the 13.00 screening of 'ABA' about the gathering of 2000 indigenous peoples at the place where the Portuguese colonisers first arrived in Brazil and an evening showing of 'We Are The Indians' about the daily lives of Argentina's remaining Guarani Indians.




Both films will be followed by a Q and A session with the directors. Phil Cox, director of We are the Indians, studied Visual Anthropology in Manchester's Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology before entering into a career in film-making. Tickets are £6.50 for each film.





SATURDAY 9TH JUNE - Imagining the English

On Saturday I plan to spend the day ambling around a new exhibition on at the Tate Britain. How We Are is the first major exhibition of photography they've ever held and images from the entire historical spectrum of British photography are on show from the 1830s to the present day. It's particularly worth looking out for some early anthropological shots in room 1. I'll also be taking my digital camera along with me - if I get a few pictures on the journey to the Tate there's the opportunity to join the exhibition by uploading photos to Flickr in How We Are Now.

Tate Britain is open from 10.00 until 17.40, and entrance to How We Are is £7.50. You can read some thoughts on the exhibition here - especially interesting is Homer Sykes' article on capturing British customs on camera.

SUNDAY 10TH JUNE - Groundbreaking film from Australia

On the back of the inaugural Native Spirit film festival I'm really enthused about the future of indigenous film, and so today I'm off to see Ten Canoes. This is a ground-breaking cinematic production - it's the first ever Australian film made originally entirely in indigenous languages and starring only Aborigine actors. Set in pre-contact times, it tells the tale of ten men preparing their canoes for the annual hunt. The elder, Minygulu, discovers that one of the younger men has designs on his third wife. To restore village order, the old man offers the group a 'morality tale' about a similar situation involving their ancestors many generations before. One of the Associate Producers for the film was an anthropologist, and much of the cinematography was inspired by the photography of early anthropologist Donald Thomson.

The film uses colour film for the distant past, underlining the importance of oral history to the Aborigines, and black and white for the near past, with the footage closely based on Thomson's images from the 1930s. It is showing in London at the Curzon Renoir, the Odeon Covent Garden and the Barbican. In Manchester on Sunday, the Cornerhouse is hosting a special evening screening of the film followed by a 'making of' documentary at 18.10. You can also listen to an interview with the film's director on Radio 3's Night Waves programme here.




MONDAY 11TH JUNE - More great films in your pocket

There are two highly-recommended films showing tonight as part of Pocketvisions' summer season of the best films from its' London Documentary film festival earlier this year.

The films start at 20.00 at theRoxy Bar & Screen in Borough, London. The Everyday Life of Roma Children from Block 71 is a portrait of a Roma family living in a Belgrade skyscraper and presents an alternative and more intimate understanding of Roma life than is often portrayed. It is followed by a short film about another group of marginalised people; The Seeds gives an insight into the lives of a family living in the Siberian mountains and their struggle to get by.


TUESDAY 12TH JUNE - What a load of rubbish...

Today I'm heading down to sunny Cornwall to visit an exhibition running at the Eden Project. 'kNOw trash' is a collection of objects from all parts of the globe - often where money and resources are in short supply - that illuminates the creative ways people recycle waste materials. It's on show in The Core education building throughout the summer - entrance to the whole of the Eden Project site is £14 for adults.





Anthropologists are very interested in what the study of objects can tell us about people. There is even an anthropology of rubbish! In fact, students in an anthropology class at the University of Arizona inn 1971 kick started the Garbage Project (still going on today) which uses rubbish and landfill sites to find out about American lifestyles. Proffessor of Amthropology, William Rathje, together with Cullen Murphy have written a fascinating book called "Rubbish! : the archaelogy of Garbage" about the project. You can also read an article of the anthropology of Polish Christmas rubbish on the website www.anthropologymatters.com


(The picture is of Professor William Rathje doing some research!)








WEDNESDAY 13TH JUNE - Recording identity through photography

Today I'm heading down to a favourite place of mine - The Horniman Museum for some more fascinating photography. One of their exhibitions at present is a photographic documentation of Creole architecture - it's an interesting example of an attempt to 'record' social artefacts that are fast disappearing. The photos are from Freetown, taken by Sierra Leonians, and represent the first archival project of its kind in 21st century Sierra Leone - an effort to recognise the importance of cultural heritage for future identity. The exhibition runs until 1st July and is open from 10.30 to 17.30.

Diary for 31st May to 6th June 2007

THURSDAY 31ST MAY - From fa'afafine films to trailblazing talks...

A bumper start to the week for anthropologists about town everywhere. The Pasifika Styles Festival at the Cambridge Arch & Anth museum continues with two days of plays and films from New Zealand. Today, I thought I might go along to the lunchtime screening of the documentary Siva Pasifika (directed by Lisa Taouma) which charts the migration of Pacific dance across Polynesia. The screening takes place on the top floor gallery at 1pm, and entry is free. If I enjoy it, I may well come back for Lisa Taouma's film showing tomorrow about the fa'afafine community - same time, same place.

After that, there should be time to jump on the train down to London for an evening discussion centred around the National Portrait Gallery's latest exhibition 'Between Worlds: Voyagers to Britain 1700-1850'. Panel members, including anthropologist Claude Ardouin (Head of the African Ethnography at the British Museum), will be debating 'What Should Museums Display?'. They will be trying to get to grips with the extent to which cultural institutions are duty-bound to present distressing images from the past, and whether such presentations risk perpetuating the abuse of bygone eras they seek to document. Admission is free and the event starts at 19.00.

Next up, Professor Robin Dunbar, who I mentioned on last week's blog, is giving another interesting talk at Durham University in the Birley Room, Hatfield College at 17:15. Entitled, 'What can evolution tell us about religion?' he will discuss how much evolutionary theory can explain humanity's capacity for religious belief. Professor Dunbar also appeared on Radio 3's Nightwaves programme last Tuesday discussing similar matters. You can listen again by clicking here.


Also, today is your last chance to get reduced rates on tickets for the 10th Ethnographic Film Festival in Manchester, that runs from 27th June until 2nd July. If you needed any more encouragement, it's just been announced that Kevin Macdonald, director of The Last King of Scotland, is giving the festival's flagship Forman lecture. At the moment tickets for the whole weekend are £49 or £29 for students. See www.raifilmfest.org.uk for more details.





FRIDAY 1ST JUNE - Maori theatre in Cambridge

On Friday, I'm back at the Pasifika Styles festival with a hard choice to make between two fascinating theatre productions showing in Cambridge. At the ADC in Park Street, Niu Sila is a play about the friendship that develops between two children of different cultural backgrounds come to live in the same area in 1970s New Zealand. It promises to be "funny and poignant, irreverent yet touching". Alternatively, 'and what remains' at The Playroom, St Edward's Passage is set in the near future of New Zealand (2010) and portrays a New Zealand where all its indigenous Maori population have died or fled. All, that is, bar a young woman called Mary awaiting her flight to leave also. They story uses her personal journey to explore the links between land and people and should be a challenging play.

Whichever one I go for, they both start at 7.45 and cost £7.


SATURDAY 2ND JUNE - Gypsy music, African languages and anthropologists in the Artic.

I've been meaning to go along to 'The 1000 Year Journey' festival of gypsy and Roma music and film at The Barbican in London for some time now. On Saturday, there are two films showing - at 14.00 there's Latcho Drom, a road movie that celebrates gypsy life and culture across Asia and Europe; and then at 16.00 Transylvania, a love story between two strangers. Both films are priced at the reduced rate of £6 if you also have a ticket for the evening concert that starts from 17.00 and stars 'The Destroyers', a gypsy-jazz group from Birmingham and the main event which is a collaboration of some of Greece and Turkey's most renowned musicians. Tickets range from £10 to £20 and you can hear samples of the music on the Barbican website.

Also starting today is the Word from Africa - a London-wide celebration of Africa and its many languages and cultures– in literature, music and arts. The launch event takes place from noon until 20.00 on Saturday at the British Museum. Entry is free, but pre-booking recommended. Make sure to look out for African Poems on the Underground this week too.



Finally, Freeze Frame, a five-week lecture series at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich starts today, in celebration of International Polar Year 2007. It comprises a series of talks by explorers, artists, historians, anthropologists and scientists looking at the environmental threat to climate change. Look out for anthropologist Hugh Brody's contribution later this month on the way indigenous communities are adapting. The talks run on consecutive Saturdays from 15.15 to 17.30 - prices vary depending on many you want to attend!



SUNDAY 3RD JUNE - The Elvis of cultural theory

Today I'm planning to catch a new film 'Zizek!' at the ICA in London about the eponymous Slovenian sociologist and cultural philosopher who has been labeled, for better or worse, the 'Elvis' of his field. I think this is more because of his energetic thinking and challenging writing than a penchant for blue suede shoes, but he often pops up in anthropology so it would be good to know more about the man behind the ideas. The screening is at 1pm, and I may well stick around for a documentary later that day about life in a Haitian slum, Ghosts of Cite Soleil. Both films cost £8, or slightly less if you're a member of the ICA



MONDAY 4TH JUNE - Opera-inspired study of marginality

On Monday, I want to make my first trip to the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, Newcastle. At the moment, there's an video installation exhibition by Portuguese artist Vasco Araujo produced together with local musicians and community leaders called About Being Different. Inspired by a Benjamin Britten opera about the persecution of a fishermen by his village, it promises to explore ideas of community and marginality in an original and thought-provoking way. The Baltic is open from Monday-Sunday, 10.00-18.00 and entrance is free. About Being Different runs until 28th June.




TUESDAY 5TH JUNE - Native America history and 1st UK Native Spirit Film Festival

At lunchtime today I'm going to the British Museum's temporary exhibition "A New World: England's First View of America" to listen to a free gallery talk by anthropologist Max Carocci. Max's talk is entitled: "Who were the Algonquins?" and begins at 13.15. As well as knowing a lot about Native American history Max recently completed a really interesting PhD at Goldsmiths University called 'Two Spirits: Being Gay and Native American in San Francisco, California.


After looking into some Native American history at the museum, I'm getting a little more contemporary and going along to some of the films in the Native Spirit Film & Video Festival of the Indigenous Peoples of the Three Americas.(4th-10th June, various locations around London).

This festival, organised by the Latin American Association, is really exciting because it's the first festival of its kind in the UK, showcasing some outstanding and innovative films about the indigenous peoples of North, South and Central America. The festival aims to offer the British public a fresh cultural viewpoint and the unique opportunity to learn about some of the world's oldest surviving and most marginalised communities. The film on Tuesday is "Atanarjuat/The Fast Runner (2001)," screening at 7.45pm, Canada House, Free. This a feature film telling an ancient Inuitlegend of survival. It was made by Isuma, Canada's first Inuit production company. You read all about the film, including the production diary and interviews with the actors and Inuit cultural advisers here.



WEDNESDAY 6TH JUNE - Reading religiously

On Wednesday, I want to browse for a few hours around the exhibition 'Sacred' at the British Library. It is a display of religious texts from Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths and examines the differing ways each religion has developed scripturally over their respective histories. Entrance is free, and there are a range of associated talks and events to attend. For more details see the British library website.

Diary for 24th-30th May 2007

THURSDAY 24TH MAY - Clothing exhibition & adventure-anthropology in Oxford

Today I'm strolling on down to Oxford to check out a couple of new exhibitions at the Pitt-Rivers Museum. The first collection, Treasured Textiles, is a display of cloth and clothing (normally stowed away in the museum's reserves) originating from all parts of the globe. It aims to show the way that textile techniques contribute to design, decoration and adornment across different societies. Highlights include vibrantly colourful Guatemalan 1930s women's clothing and Chinese satin robes from the 19th century.


The other exhibition is a slightly maverick collection from the artist Sally Hampton. It charts the life and times of fictional explorer and anthropologist Kitty Lake. Loosely based on the artist's own life experiences, it recounts ethnographic studies of fairies on the west coast of Ireland and expeditions atop a camel through the deserts of Egypt and the mountains of Sinai - using a series of artefacts, journal entries and photographs. Should be an interesting, romantic 'artist's impression' of what being an anthropologist could be like.

The Pitt Rivers Museum is free and open 10-4.30pm Tuesday to Sundays and 12-4.30pm on Mondays. See the listing from the11th March ("My new favourite museum") for more details about the museum.

FRIDAY 25TH MAY - Anthropologist on the radio

On Friday I'm planning to listen to the Making History programme that was broadcast on Radio 4 on the 8th May (you can listen again online). It featured anthropologist Paul Basu, from Sussex University, discussing the history of Scottish emigration.

He was part of a fascinating feature on the accuracy of historical representations of a period in Scottish history called 'The Clearances', when highland clans were forcibly displaced by landowners who wanted to use their land for more productive means. Dr Basu conducted research in Scotland for his PhD





SATURDAY 26TH MAY - Film screening about land disputes in India, London

On Saturday I'm planning to learn more about the dispute highlighted in the film 'This land is Mine' showing at 2.30 over at SOAS (nearest tube Russell Square). The film is followed by a discussion, and explores how citizens of Nandigram, West Bengal are being evicted from their land under a new Government Act that allows corporations to develop previously agricultural land for industry.

There is much debate about whether the Special Economic Zones Act is just a smokescreen for corporate profiteering or than a balanced and beneficial piece of legislation.
In any case, it sounds as though some fascinating issues relating to ownership and grassroots resistance will be raised. The event is free and organised by the South Asia Solidarity group and the 1857 Committee. For more details email:
sasg@southasiasolidarity.org

SUNDAY 27TH MAY - Chitter chatter on the wireless

Today I'm listeing to another anthropologist on the radio. Professor Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary anthropologist and psychologist presided over a debate on Radio 4's 'Men read maps, women gossip' series, about whether men or women are the biggest gossips. Professor Dunbar is perhaps most well-known for his formulation of Dunbar's number - 150 - his theoretical maximum number of individuals with whom a set of people can maintain a social relationship.

Language has long been a key area of anthropological resarch and gossip has been no exception - often cited as a form of 'social grooming' essential for our psychological well-being.


MONDAY 28TH MAY - Yoruba Music next to Buckingham Palace plus an anthropological samba band!!

On Monday, I plan to go and see the percussionist Lekan Babalola at the ICA. He's here as part of the London African Music Festival and in this specially commissioned event he will be performing Yoruba children's songs. The Yoruba are one of the largest linguistic groupings in Africa, with the majority living in Nigeria. If you are inspired by the music you could think about taking one of the evening course SOAS offers in Yoruba language.

On Monday you can also go and check out the University of East London Anthropology department's Samba band: Barking Bateria, who are playing at 6pm, Conway Hall London at the annual Beltane Bash. Barking Bateira was created by University of East London anthropology lecturers Chris Knight and Lionel Sims and is mainly based in the university's anthropology department - although you don't have to be a student to join. Carnival is really interesting area of study for anthropologists (University of East London undergraduate students can join the Samba band plus take an option in the Anthropology of Carnival!). As it says on the Barking Bateria website:

"All and any social, cultural, economic boundary is traversed during carnival, to show how underneath it all we are all humans and all equal. By men becoming women, paupers becoming kings, professionals becoming fools etc we are showing that we are more than the limits society places on us"

TUESDAY 29TH MAY - Learning to hula in Cambridge!

On Tuesday I'm looking forward to attending the activities on offer on Tuesday at the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in Cambridge.

It's part of the Pasifika Styles festival I mentioned a couple of weeks ago and there are things happening all day from 10.30 until 4.30, ranging from the opportunity to make your own hula skirt, to sessions on dance and interactive storytelling workshops. Watch out next week for details of more films and plays from the festival.

WEDNESDAY 30TH MAY - Studying anthropology in the west

On Wednesday, hopefully sporting my brand new hula skirt, I want to investigate the range of short anthropology courses that have just been announced by Bristol University. Raging from one-off sessions on environmentalism and anthropology to a fortnight on rhythm and the body and 10-week programmes exploring development and globalisation, the courses are open to the general public and a great way to get a feel for the subject. The courses don't start til October, but will book up quickly.





BITS AND PIECES

Some sad news this week. Mary Douglas - one of the most respected and influential anthropologists of the last century - passed away last week at the age of 86. You can read a detailed obituary in the Times here.






If anyone is looking for an adult ed course in anthropology, check out the next taster course offered by he London City Lit academy. This is a day course called "A Taste of Anthropology," designed for people with no experience of anthropology. The next on is on the 30th June and there are still places available.

Diary for 17th-23rd May 2007

THURSDAY 17th MAY - Reading forensic anthropology novels!


Today I thought I would try out one of Kathy Reichs's novels about the work of fictional forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (who is also the lead character in the TV series Bones on Sky One).

The author Kathy Reichs is actually quite a famous forensic anthropologist herself. She works for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale in Quebec and is also Professor of Anthropology at the Univerisity of North Carolina.

I don't know what the books are like yet, but I do know that they are inspired by her own experiences, so the forensic anthropology in them is authentic. Kathy has worked as a forensic anthropologist all round this world - she has testified in Rwanda at the UN Tribunal on Genocide, helped identify individuals from mass graves in Guatemala and done some forensic work at Ground Zero in New York. If you are want to find out more about this kind of anthropology, this might be an interesting way to do it!


FRIDAY 18th MAY - Free Native American film screening at the British Museum









The British Museum, as part of it's exhibition "A New World - England's first view of America," is holding a special Native American film screening on Friday, in association with the Royal Anthropological Institute. From 3pm until 6pm they are showing 2 anthropological films: "Techqua Ikacha: Aboriginal Warning" about Indigenous Hopi people resisting oil and mining interests (Director: Alan Georg, 2006)and then "The Spirit of Crazy Horse" about the struggle to reclaim the ancestral homeland of the Sioux, from the battle of Little Big Horn to the 1960s and 70s (Director: James Locker, 1990). The films are free, but booking is advised. See the British Museum's website for details.



After the non-fiction screenings, you can stick around to watch "Smoke Signals" at 6.30pm. This road movie was the first feature film to be written, directed and co-produced by a Native American (Director: Chris Eyre, 1998). Admission £3.










SATURDAY 19th MAY - Exploring ideas about the body in Brighton Museum


On Saturday I'm heading to Brighton to explore the anthropological collections of the Brighton Museum. They have a particularly great gallery called "the Body gallery" (the pictures on the left are of objects from the gallery) which explores, through objects, how we interpret our own and other people's bodies. The museum is open from 10am-5pm on Saturdays. See their website for more info.









SUNDAY 20th MAY - Viva! film festival at the Curzon Mayfair, London

As part of the VIVA film festival, the Curzon Mayfair is showing Un Franco, 14 Pesetas (Crossing Borders) by Director Carlos Iglesias. 2pm, Curzon Mayfair.

This film explores the complexities around migration, a subject often studied by anthropologists. The description on the Curzon website says:

"TV actor Iglesias turns début writer-director to recount this story of his childhood when thousands of Spaniards emigrated to North Europe to escape unemployment and poverty in Franco’s Spain. In 1960, Martín (director Iglesias) and Marcos (Gutiérrez) leave behind their families in Madrid to seek a wage to send home. Switzerland confounds their expectation, with its freedoms and its open, bright spaces. Despite the inevitable cultural misunderstandings, they find work and settle in to enjoy their new lives. But when Martín’s wife and son and Marcos’ girlfriend María suddenly arrive to join them, it becomes apparent that some are better suited to this new life than others."



MONDAY 21st MAY- Free anthropology and film in a London bar!

On Monday, check out the first of several ENCORE! film screenings at London's Roxy Bar and Screen. As an encore to the London International Documentary Film Festival we featured back in March, the organisers are showing some of the festival's films again at Roxy's Bar and Screen a really nice and relaxed place to see a film, get something to eat and chat about the film afterwards with people from lots of different backgrounds, inclduing anthropologists. The first film to be shown is Sargy Man (Director Peter Mann 2006).

Sargy Mann is a successful figurative painter who, despite being registered blind since 1987, has continued to make work about what he sees. In May 2005 Sargy Mann undertook a research trip to Spain with his son, the film's director. As he begun work on a new series of paintings the artist, who has very partial vision in one eye, went completely blind. Despite this, he continues to paint recreating motifs from memory.

This film, directed and shot by the artist’s son, shows how an artist has overcome an apparently insurmountable obstacle, i.e. total blindness. Filmed over a period of more than a year and centred on the making of one painting, it tells a unique story and is a fascinating insight into the creative process. Both Sargy Mann and Peter Mann will be available for a Q and A after the film.

8pm, Roxy Bar and Screen, London. See www.pocketvisions.co.uk for more details.



TUESDAY 22nd MAY - More anthropology of food!

Last week I featured a talk on the anthropology of cooking at Cambridge University and it's the last in the series of these talks this Tuesday. The final talk is called "The Pleistocene journey: humans as the cooking ape" and is taking place from 5-6pm in the Seminar Room in the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies at the university. Directions can be found here.

• The talk by Richard Wrangham, Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University is free and open to the general public.
  

WEDNESDAY 23rd MAY - State Britain: art and protest at the Tate Britain.


Brian Haw became famous for his sustained protest outside the Houses of Parliament against the economic sanction in Iraq which he started in 2001. A year ago today, following the passing of the 'Serious Organised Crime and Police Act' prohibiting unauthorised demonstrations within 1km radius of Parliament Square his protest was removed. Now artist Mark Wallinger has
painstaking recreated the 600 banners, photographs, peace flags and teddy bear used in Brian's protest displays over the years inside the Tate Britain.

I've put this exhibition in the blog because anthropologists are often interested in what is sometimes called the 'politics of representation' and Mark Wallinger's work raises lots of interesting issues about this. You can also watch a clip from an ethnographic film about Brian Haw's protest by Goldsmiths Visual Anthropology student Delphine Gibson on YouTube.