MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY
Terri Castaneda, Ph.D.

Department of Anthropology
ANTH 276 (note: this class will be offered again in Fall 2006)

Spring 2003


Required Texts

Course Schedule

Reserve Room Readings

Thursday Evenings, 6-8:45 pm. Mendocino Hall 4003 

This course is a graduate level seminar geared to students with an interest in museum studies and an undergraduate background in anthropology.  Readings, discussion, and written assignments will explore the historical, theoretical, and political dimensions of museum anthropology, with special  emphasis on California. Opportunities for practical experience in collections management and interpretation will be coordinated through the Anthropology Museum. Students will be expected to participate in several  field trips to local repositories and regional museums, including the Turtle Bay Museum (Redding) and the Hoopa Valley Tribal Museum in Northwestern California. 



Required Texts  (Also see Reserve Room Readings, listed below.)

Ames, Kenneth L., Barbara Franco, and L. Thomas Frye (eds.)

     1997  Ideas and Images: Developing Interpretive History Exhibits. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.

Burcaw, G. Ellis

     1997  Introduction to Museum Work (3rd ed.).  Walnut Creek:  AltaMira Press.

Krech, Shepard, III and Barbara A. Hail (eds.)

     1999 Collecting Native America, 1870-1960. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Mihesuah, Devon A. (ed.)

     2000  Repatriation Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains? Lincoln: U of Nebraska Press.


Tentative Course Schedule*

Please check weekly for new or confirmed fieldtrips, tours, or guest speakers

Dates

Topics of Discussion

Readings Assignments
1/30

Course Introduction; Tour Museum

   
2/6 Museum Studies & Museum Anthropology Burcaw, Chpt.s 1-7; Kirshenblatt-Gimblett  ("Objects of Ethnography")  
2/13 Collectors & Collecting Krech & Hail (all except chpts. 3 & 5) Luke ("Inventing the Southwest: Fred Harvey....")  
2/15 Fieldtrip: Turtle Bay Museum "THE EARTH IS SINGING: The Art of Frank LaPena"  Maidu Dancers and Traditionalists Saturday: 2 pm
2/20 2/27 California: Museum Founders, Patrons, Collectors, and Anthropologists  Krech & Hail (chpts. 3 & 5); Jacknis & Schevill (all). Bates & Lee (on reserve. Tour  CA Indian Basketry  Collection at the CA State Parks Museum Resource Center  (2/27) Museum Review # 1 Due 2/20
3/6

Interpretation

Burcaw, Chpt. 12-14; Ames, Franco & Frye (all) Research Paper Topics Due 
3/13 Tour:  El Dorado County Museum  King, Shukla, Wilson, Sturtevant  
3/20 Collections Management &  Curation Burcaw: Chpts.9-10, Gamble Museum Review # 2 Due
3/28 Hands-on Workshop    
4/3 4/10 The Critique of Representation:  the Poetics and Politics of Museum Display Kratz & Karp, Butler,  Kirshenblatt-Gimblett ("Ellis Island"), Luke ("Museum Pieces: Politics & Knowledge at the AMNH" & "Southwestern Environments as Hyperreality."), Clifford ("Paradise"), Desmond (all 3 chpts. listed below) 4/3 Catalog Worksheet Due
4/17

Spring Break

No Class  
4/24 Contemporary Issues I Self-Representation Ostrowitz; Flynn & Hull-Walski,, Dunstan, Erikson; Clifford "Four NW Coast Museums,"  
5/1  5/8 Contemporary Issues II NAGPRA & Repatriation (Guest Speaker on 5/1)  Mihesuah (all), Museum News 2000 ("NAGPRA at 10"), Childs, Clifford ("Museums as Contact Zones") Exhibit Review  Due
5/15

Oral Presentations of Research Papers

  Research Papers Due

* Dates and topics are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.


Evaluation

Grading will be based upon written assignments.  The three review papers will each be worth 20 points. The research paper will count for the final 40 points.  Attendance, participation, and quality of oral abstracts will influence the final course grade, particularly in cases of borderline averages (A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70--79). 


Reserve Room Readings

Note: All book chapters (see bullet lists) are reserved as individual articles, unless otherwise noted.

Bates, Craig and Martha Lee

1990    Tradition and Innovation:  A Basket History of the Indians of the Yosemite-Mono Lake Area. Yosemite National Park: Yosemite Association.

Butler, Shelley Ruth

1999    “The Politics of Exhibiting Culture: Legacies and Possibilities.” Museum News. Vol. 23(3): 74-92.

Childs, Terry S.

1999    “Contemplating the Future:  Deaccessioning Federal Archaeological Collections.” Museum Anthropology. Vol. 23(2): 38-45.

Clifford, James

1997    Routes: Travel & Translation in the Late 20th Century. Berkeley: U of CA Press.

  •  “Four Northwest Coast Museums: Travel Reflections.”

  •   “Paradise.”

  • “Museums as Contact Zones”

Desmond, Jane C.

1999    Staging Tourism. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.

  •  “Looking at Animals.

  • “The Industries of Species Tourism”

  • “In/Out-Of/In-Fake-Situ”

Dunstan, Carol

1999    “Fostering Symbiosis: A Collaborative Exhibit at the CSUS Museum of Anthropology.  Museum Anthropology. Vol. 22(3): 52-58.

Erikson, Patricia Pierce

1999    “The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Mashantucket, Connecticut.” Museum Anthropology.  Vol. 23(1): 31-40.

Flynn, Gillian A. and Deborah Hull-Walski

2001    “Merging Traditional Indigenous Curation Methods with Modern Standards of Care.” Museum Anthropology. Vol. 25(1): 31-40.

Gamble, Lynn

 2002    “Fact or Forgery: Dilemmas in Museum Collecting.” Museum Anthropology. Vol. 25(2): 3-20.

Jacknis, Ira and Margot Blum Schevill (editors)

1993    Museum Anthropology in California, 1889-1939. Museum Anthropology (Special Issue) Vol. 17(2).

  • Jacknis, Ira ("Introduction" and "Alfred Kroeber as Museum Anthropologist")

  • Bates, Craig ("Scholars & Collectors Among the Sierra Miwok, 1900-1920: What Did They Really Find?")

  • Bernstein, Bruce ("Roland Dixon & the Maidu")

  • Griset, Suzanne ("C. Hart Merriam: The Naturalist as Ethnographer")

  • Buzaljko, Grace Wilson ("Isabel Kelly:  From Museum Anthropologist to Archaeologist")

  • McLendon, Sally ("Collecting Pomoan Baskets, 1889-1939")

  • Smith-Ferri, Sherrie ("Basket Weavers, Basket Collectors, and the Market: A Case Study of Joseppa Dick")

  • Schevill, Margot Blum ("Lila M. O'Neale and the Yurok-Karok Basket Weavers of Northwestern California")

King, J.C.H.

 1999    “Pomo Indian Basketweavers, their Baskets and the Art Market.”  American Anthropologist. Vol. 101(3): 619-627. 

 Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara

 1998    Destination Culture:  Tourism, Museums & Heritage. Berkeley: U of CA Press.

  • "Objects of Ethnography" (Pp. 17-78; entire book on reserve)

  • "Ellis Island" (Pp. 177-187; entire book on reserve)

Kratz, Corinne and Ivan Karp

1993    “Wonder and Worth:  Disney Museums and World Showcase.”  Museum Anthropology. Vol. 17(3): 32-42.

Laird, Carobeth

1975    Encounter with an Angry God: Recollections of My Life with John Peabody Harrington.  Banning: Malki Museum Press.

Luke, Timothy

2002    Museum Politics.  Minneapolis:  Univ. of Minnesota Press.

  •   “Southwestern Environments as Hyperreality:  The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.”

  •  “Museum Pieces:  Politics and Knowledge at the American Museum of Natural History.”

  • “Inventing the Southwest:  The Fred Harvey Company and Native American Art.”

Museum News

2000    “NAGPRA at 10: Examining a Decade of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act.” Museum News (Sept/Oct).

Ostrowitz, Judith

2002    “Concourse and Periphery:  Planning the National Museum of the American Indian.” Museum Anthropology. Vol. 25(2): 21-37.

Rydell, Robert

1988     All the World's A Fair. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Shukla, Pravina

2000    “Pomo Indian Basketweavers, their Baskets and the Art Market.”  Museum Anthropology. Vol.24(1).

Sturtevant, William C.

1994    “Museum Europa:  An Exhibition about the European Museum from the Renaissance to the Present Day, Danish National Museum.”  Museum News. Vol. 18(2): 49-59.

Wilson, Diana

 1992    “The Seven Spirits of the West (Permanent Installation at the Autry Western Heritage Museum).” Museum Anthropology. Vol. 17(2).


Send problems, comments or suggestions to: tac@csus.edu

California State University, Sacramento
Anthropology Department

Updated: January 30, 2003