Aboriginal Bark Painting from Northern Australia
Not long ago, the Mathers Museum of World Cultures opened three new early fall exhibitions. I was happy to be the curator for the smallest of these. It…
Author: Jason Baird Jackson
“At Home and Abroad: Reflections on Collaborative Museum Ethnography at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures”
I am happy to note the publication of a paper in Museum Anthropology reporting on, and considering, the work of two collaborative projects of the Mathers Museum of…
Delaware Indian Dance Rattles Made of Coconuts
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…
A Cooperative Craft Survey in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Part 1
A note on photographs. Here just a few photographs from the first day of our May 2019 travel in Yunnan are presented. It will take time to work…
2019 Summer Folklore Institute: Building Capacity for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage
I have just returned from a second summer trip to China. This time I was part of an American delegation to one of the summer institutes jointly organized…
The Seventh Forum on China-US Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Collaborative Work in Museum Folklore and Heritage Studies
The following is a report on The Seventh Forum on China-US Folklore and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Collaborative Work in Museum Folklore and Heritage Studies (第七届中美民俗学与非物质文化遗产论坛: 博物馆民俗与遗产研究的协作工作). …
CFP: Quilt and Textile Studies for Uncoverings 2020
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…
CFP: Studying Traditional Crafts: Goals and Methods in Higher Education
Here is a call for papers for an exciting conference in Estonia. The hosts are wonderful colleagues whom I met while visiting Viljandi last fall. Their call is…
Help! Really. The Mathers Museum of World Cultures Needs You!
An Indiana University event known as #IUDay is nearly here. Scheduled for Wednesday, April 10, 2019, #IUDay is a celebration of Indiana University. It is a day of…
Museum Anthropology Review is a Teenager Now; New Issue is Now Out
Life got away from me last week and I still have more “Exhibition Week” posts to share, but today I turn attention to the new issue of MAR.…
Exhibitions Week: Echoes of the Rainforest: The Visual Arts of the Shipibo Indians
The MMWC has a huge amount of exhibition-related news. This week I devote a series of posts to highlighting some of these developments. I sure wish I could…
Exhibitions Week: Quilting Art and Tradition—People, Handcrafts, and Community Life (a.k.a. Quilts of Southwest China)
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…
Material Culture Journalism, 7
The Material Culture students do not know about Material Culture Journalism yet. Maybe this week I’ll mention it to them. Day one was surely an overload as it…
Picturing Change, Seeing Continuity: Hmong Story Cloths
It is a new year and a new semester at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures and that means new exhibitions! There are new exhibitions still to open…
Material Culture Journalism, 6
The new year has promoted a lot of material culture journalism related to lifestyle changes and consumption habits. Some of the items here fit into this frame, including…
Shreds and Patches in 2018
Which Shreds and Patches posts were most popular in 2018? These were: What is the current status of confidentiality and non-disclosure policies at HAU? Coconut Rattles in Florida…
Material Culture Journalism, 5
Material culture journalism, continued. Thanks to those who share stories… “Gritty’s Evolution from Googly-eyed Hockey Mascot to Meme to Leftist Avatar, Explained | On our burning hunger f…
Material Culture Journalism, 4
“Five Siblings Run the U.S.’s Only Baijiu Distillery in Their Mom’s Backyard” by Anne Ewbank in Atlas Obscura. (HT/TL) #foodways “Chanel Shoes, but no Salary: How One Woman…
Reviews for Material Vernaculars Titles
The Material Vernaculars book series, published by the Indiana University Press in partnership with the Mathers Museum of World Cultures, is maturing. Four titles have now appeared and…
Material Culture Journalism, 3
Thanks to all the friends sharing the material culture journalism. Here is a new batch. The passing of Shan Goshorn is particularly sad to note. “The making of…
Material Culture Journalism, 2
Continuing with the Material Culture Journalism series…. “We Broke Into A Bunch Of Android Phones With A 3D-Printed Head“ by Thomas Brewster at Forbes. (H/T JB) #techology “An…
Material Culture Journalism, 1
Happily, next month I will again teach a graduate course in material culture studies at Indiana University. In that context I will be even more interested than usual…
Make Time to Watch “The Flight of the Condor: A Letter, a Song and the Story of Intangible Cultural Heritage”
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.…
CFP: Limitations and Adaptations: Negotiating Aesthetics, Power, and Positionality
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.…