ICME Ethnography - Ethnographie - Etnografia
International Committee for Museums of Ethnography -
ICOM/ICME
http://icme.icom.museum
Contents:
ICME Newsletter 52, January 2009
1. Words from the President
2. Report from the 2008 ICME Annual Meeting in Jerusalem
3. Call for archival material on ICME annual meetings
4. Up-coming conferences
5. Call for papers
6. Words from the editor
1. Words from the President
For all the many, many hours of planning and organizing that were
put into the
2008 ICME annual conference in Jerusalem, it seemed that it was
over in the
blink of an eye. All who attended warmly congratulated long-time
and loyal ICME
member, Galia Gavish, for the efforts she and the staff and volunteers
of the
Kaplan Old Yishuv Court Museum put into making the meeting such
a success.
Approximately 70 colleagues from 33 countries attended. Nineteen
insightful
papers were delivered. Countless museums and historic sites associated
with pilgrimage were visited.
And, good food and drinks were shared along with conversations.
The program of the
conference is on the ICME website. I am collecting the manuscripts
to submit a
completed text for publication. More about that when it is realized.
Members of the ICME board met formally while in Jerusalem. Thanks
to those
board members who were able to attend; there are always roadblocks
preventing
everyone from being present. We discussed many topics. Included
were the
website - you will see elsewhere in this newsletter Ralf Ceplak's
request for
materials you or one of your colleagues might have that will complete
the ICME
archives. We also discussed the ICME meetings for 2009 and 2010.
In October
2009, we will be hosted by the National Folk Museum of Korea. Look
for information about that conference in
the near future. The ICME Triennial in 2010 will be held in Shanghai,
China.
If you would like to assist in shaping the theme of that conference
contact Ralf
Ceplak. Ralf is also leading a working group which is revisiting
ICME's long
out-of-date statutes, now called Rules by ICOM. Again, if you'd
like a hand in
determining how our international committee conducts itself, please
contact Ralf
and lend a hand. We hope to have these two items ready to be voted
on in the 2009 meeting.
We have a few tasks ahead of us that we'd like ICME members to
get involved
with. Thanks for Ralf for his leadership in these issues. I hope
a few of you
have the time to work on them through the convenience of cyberspace.
With that I wish you all a healthy and enjoyable holiday season.
With warmest regards,
Annette B. Fromm
up
2. Report from the 2008 ICME Annual Meeting
in Jerusalem
The 2008 annual meeting of the International Committee of Museums
of Ethnography
(ICME) was held in mid-November in Jerusalem. Over 60 participants
representing
museums and universities in 33 nations attended the conference hosted
by the
Kaplan Museum in the Old City. A very busy schedule including 19
papers on the
topics of Migration, Diaspora and Pilgrimage, along with museum
tours,
neighborhood walking tours and festive meals was followed.
The conference began with a pre-conference tour of pilgrimage sites
in
Jerusalem, introducing the group to major sites. Starting off at
Jaffa Gate,
the tour hiked quickly to the Dome of the Rock, only to wait in
the long, long
line to gain entry. We were guided by Professor Amnon Cohen and
the curator of
the Dome of the Rock. The museum on the site, established 1922,
is comprised of
two large rooms with tall vaulted ceilings, whitewashed walls and
stone floors.
It is a magnificent repository of architectural remains collected
from the many restorations of mosque &
schools in area. Also in the museum are over 600 Korans dating from
the 4th
century to end of Ottoman Empire.
Text labeling in the museum is provided in English, French, and
Arabic.
From this magnificent Muslim shrine the group descended to the
kotel or Western
Wall. After a coffee break in the Jewish quarter, they continued
through the
Cardo to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This site, at mid-day,
was swamped
by numerous pilgrim groups from around the world. Our next stop,
after winding
through the busy Arab market of Jerusalem's old city was the Cathedral
of St.
James, and the Armenian Orthodox Monastery and library, guided by
the Armenian
Archbishop. The final destination of the day was compound of the
Four Sephardic synagogues in the
Jewish quarter. Then the busy day ended with a festive dairy meal
at the Isaac
Kaplan Old Yishuv Court Museum.
Early the next day, the conference started at the Tower of David,
Museum of the
History of Jerusalem, alongside the historic Jaffa Gate. Each day
of the
conference started with a museum tour and discussion with staff
members. At the
Tower of David, the group welcomed by representatives of the Ministry
of
Culture, Museum Division and the President of ICOM/Israel. Papers
ranged from
discussions of migration of gypsies in Bulgaria and Shammar Bedouins
to workers
from Romania and Slovenia who worked respectively in Canada and
Egypt. Background on archives and museums
that collect materials relating to identity and memory of diaspora
in Estonia
and Israel were also presented. At some times during the day speakers
had to
make their presentations over the cry of muezzin calling the faithful
the
prayer! In the evening, participants enjoyed a reception in Yemin
Moshe hosted
by sponsor, the Jerusalem Foundation.
The second day, after a morning tour of Yad VaShem, the conference
adjourned at
the L.A. Mayer Museum of Islamic Art. Coincidentally, during the
week of the
conference the recovery of a priceless watch collection stolen from
this museum
was reported in the International Herald Tribune. Papers discussed
the issues
of museums serving as pilgrimage sites with examples from Israel,
South Africa
and Crete. After a dinner hosted by members of the Kurdish Jewish
community the
group returned to their hotels via a walking tour of Rehavia and
Talbieh.
The final day the meetings continued at the Museum of Italian Jewish
Art. This
museum, housed in a former monastery, is noteworthy for the early
19th century
synagogue from Conegliano near Venice. Papers on the final day continued
to
address the triple themes of the conference. The day ended with
a tour and
dinner at the Museum of the Jewish Underground.
Several discussions arose during the conference. One of them was
about
multicultural and single ethnic museums. The comments centered on
contradictions found in each type of museum and in the practical
consequences of
the former because of finances.
Following well-established practice, after the close of the conference
a small
group remained to take part in the post-conference tour. The group
departed
from Jerusalem and traveled northward to Nazareth and the Church
of the
Annunciation. En route the tour bus passed through the newly inaugurated
bridge
under Mt. Tabor. As good pilgrims and museum ethnographers, some
of the group
recited the shehehiyanu, the Jewish prayer expressed before partaking
of new
things.
Our first destination, the church in Nazareth is actually a relatively
new
structure (consecrated in 1969) encasing the historic sites associated
with
Mary. The wall enclosing the courtyard is decorated with mosaic
panels visually
representing Mary holding the baby Jesus. Each panel was donated
by Catholic
communities around the world and executed in the style of the donor
country. I
took a little break from the group and strolled through a very busy
market
place. I was able to see the Church of the Synagogue, a very plain
site Jesus in which is said to have preached.
From Nazareth we drove northward to Kibbutz Yifat. At this location,
we ate a
pioneer kibbutz lunch - eggs, cheeses, vegetable and olives, bread
and fruit.
This Spartan meal prepared us to view the Pioneer Museum to understand
the life
of the early collective settlers of pre-state Israel.
Continuing northward, our next stop was the Museum German-Speaking
Jews at
Tefen. This museum is located in an Industrial Park near the Israel-Lebanon
border at which there are not only businesses, but also schools,
housing and
museums. The day ended at Kfar Giladi in the one of the oldest and
largest
hotels run by a kibbutz. The view up the mountains and down the
valleys was
lovely.
The next morning the group reconvened after a generous modern kibbutz
breakfast
at neighboring Tel Hai. This early kibbutz and historic site has
been
transformed into a museum and was recently redesigned. The exhibits
make
extensive use of video projections with accompanying audio texts
to relate the
story of pioneer life and the significant battle in 1920 at this
outpost.
Another discussion with our hosts was sparked about interactions
between Israeli
and neighboring Palestinians and if and how their stories are shared.
From Tel Hai we descended to the Sea of Galilee and a stop at the
Museum Yigal
Allon at Ginosar to see the so-called 2000 year old "Jesus"
boat. This is said
to be the oldest boat found in freshwater. The high tech display
draws many
thousands of pilgrims to see a fragile artifact from the time of
Jesus. Outside
the museum, numerous sculptures dotted the landscape.
Our next stop was Nebi Shu'eib, a Druze shrine to Jethro, the father-in-law
of
Moses. This impressive structure, built into the side of a limestone
cliff
preserves the site of Jethro's tomb. The site was identified in
the time of
Salahaddin and the tomb built 250 years ago. April 25, the date
of the
principal pilgrimage to this holy site, draws thousands of pilgrims.
Our final stop before returning to Jerusalem was the Yardenit. Here,
along the
Jordan River Christian pilgrims are drawn the see where Jesus was
baptized by
John the Baptist. In addition, many pilgrims submit to the River
for the
sacrament of baptism. None of our group was so moved by their faith,
we were
mere observers.
A complete list of the papers presented at this year's conference
is available
on the ICME website http://museumsnett.no/icme/. The 2009 ICME Annual
Meeting
will convene in Seoul, Korea in October, sponsored by the National
Folk Museum
of Korea. Please check our web-site for notices submit papers or
attend.
Annette B. Fromm
Frost Art Museum
Florida International University
Miami, Florida
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3. Call for archival material from ICME annual
meetings
There is incomplete record of annual meeting programs, proceedings
and
Newsletters on the ICME website.
In 1951 there was a Meeting of the ICOM Commission on Racial Questions,
which
was a subcommittee of ICME in Paris, France. But only from 1991
onwards the
programmes of the annual meetings are online on our ICME web page
http://museumsnett.no/icme/conf.html.
In our effort to complete the incomplete I am asking our ICME members:If
anyone
has the 1951 - 1991 programmes, proceedings and Newsletters (up
to the No. 30,
year 2000), please scan them and send them to Matthias Beitl (Webmaster)
mailto: matthias.beitl@volkskundemuseum.at
and he will put them on the ICME website.
Ralf Ceplak Mencin
In addition I would like to mention that we also lack photos from
the two most
recent annual meetings - in Vienna and in Jerusalem. Therefore,
if any of you
have photos from any of those two occasions, please send them to
Matthias Beitl
(see address above).
Peter Bjerregaard
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4. Up-coming conferences and seminars
January 8-10, "Heritage in Asia: Converging Forces and Conflicting
Values",
Singapore, http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/events_categorydetails.asp?categoryid=6&eventid=814
February 12, "Contact and context: working with source communities",
London
Transport Museum, London, United Kingdom,
http://www.museumsassociation.org/events/contactandcontext
February 27, "Only Human: Social History and Ethnography",
Leeds City Museum,
Leeds, United Kingdom,
http://www.museumethnographersgroup.org.uk/?p=event_show&id=61
March 5-7, "Imagined Horizons: Spatial Configurations of the
Present", Delhi,
India, http://grs.du.ac.in/conferencesWorkshops/conference_2009.html
March 17-21, "Global Challenge, Local Action: Ethical Engagement,
Partnerships
and Practice" 69th Annual Meeting of The Society for Applied
Anthropology, Santa
Fe, NM, USA, http://www.sfaa.net/sfaa2009.html
March 27-28, "Creativity and Innovation", 16th ICC Annual
Conference, Florence,
Italy, http://www.icc-languages.eu
April 4-7, "Traditions and Transformations: Tourism, Heritage
and Cultural
Change in the Middle East and North Africa Region", Amman,
The Hashemite Kingdom
of Jordan,
http://www.tourism-culture.com/64/CMENA/CMENA%20brochure%20&%20registration%20fo\
rm_final.pdf
April 16-18, "Instruction, Amusement and Spectacle: Popular
Shows and
Exhibitions 1800-1914", Exeter, United Kingdom,
http://www.sall.ex.ac.uk/conferences/victorian-shows.html
April 30 - May 4, "The Museum Experiment", AAM Annual
Meeting & MuseumExpo™2009,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, http://www.aam-us.org/am09/
May 6-8, "Re-Imagining Identities: New directions in post-colonial
studies",
Waterford, http://www.postcolonialstudiesassociation.co.uk/id63.html
May 6-9, "Facing the Past/ Facing the Future: History, Memory,
Literature",
Bahcesehir University, Istanbul Turkey, http://www.bahcesehir.edu.tr
May 30-June 1, "Sharing Cultures 2009", Ilha do Pico,
Azores, Portugal,
http://sharing.cultures2009.greenlines-institute.org
May 7-9, "Living Islam in Europe : Muslim Traditions in European
Contexts",
Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin, Germany, for further
information see
http://www.easaonline.org/calendar.htm
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5. Call for papers
April 2-3, "Amateur Passions / Professional Practice: ethnography
collectors and
collections", 2009 MEG Conference, Bristol, United Kingdom,
http://www.museumethnographersgroup.org.uk/?p=cms&pid=1
April 6-9, "Anthropological and archaeological imaginations:
past, present and
future", ASA 2009, Bristol, United Kingdom, http://www.theasa.org/conferences.htm
April 24-25, "VIVA AFRICA 2009", 4th International Conference
on African
Studies, University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic,
for further information see
http://www.easaonline.org/calendar.htm
May 13-15, Third Anthropological Film Festival at University of
British
Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, http://anthfilm.anth.ubc.ca/events.html
July 9-11, "Visuality/Materiality: Reviewing Theory, Method
and Practice",
London, United Kingdom, http://www.geography.dur.ac.uk/conf/visualitymateriality/Home/tabid/2944/Defaul\
t.aspx
July 27-31, "Humanity, Development and Cultural Diversity",
XVI ICAES, 2008,
Kunming, China, http://www.icaes2008.org/
August 18-22, "Rethinking the material, the visual and the
narrative in
culture", The 31st Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference,
Helsinki, Finland,
http://www.helsinki.fi/kansatiede/nefk/engindex.html
September 1-4, "Objects - What Matters? Technology, Value
and Social Change",
CRESC Annual Conference, University of Manchester, http://www.cresc.ac.uk/events/conference2009/callforpapers.html
September 21-24, Vth International Congress of Ethnobotany (ICEB),
San Carlos de
Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina, mailto: pochett@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar
November 6-7, "Representing the People", Reims, France,
http://www.univ-reims.fr/index.php?p=2705
April 8 - 10, 2010, "Continuities, Dislocations and Transformations:
Reflections
on 50 Years of African Independence", Biennial conference of
the German
Association for African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz,
Germany,
for further information see http://www.easaonline.org/calendar.htm
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6. Words from the editor
First of all a Happy New Year to all of you out there!
Actually, this newsletter was posted just before New Year as I found
some
interesting conferences and calls for papers that needed immediate
action from
potential attendants. But apparently the mail never came through.
I apologize if
any of you have already received one version of this newsletter.
Most of the contributions to this newsletter are obviously related
to the
successful annual meeting in Jerusalem. It was a pleasant surprise
to hear of
the large number of attendants for this years meeting - hopefully
we can keep
the pace next year in South Korea.
As mentioned by Annette in the 'Words from the President' she will
try to bring
the papers presented in Jerusalem together in a volume. I would
like to mention
that we also still welcome papers presented in Vienna 2007 for publishing
at the
ICME website.I would like to thank everybody who have contributed
to the ICME
Newsletter in 2008. We try to keep pace with what is happening in
the field of
ethnographic museums while not overloading with information we would
all be able
to access elsewhere.
Therefore I will encourage all of you to contribute with your ideas
and
reflections for the newsletter in 2009 as well.
Best wishes
Peter Bjerregaard
The deadline for the next issue is April 24 2009. Please send news
and
contributions to: editor@icme.icom.museum
Peter Bjerregaard
Editor, ICME News
Moesgård Museum/
Dept. of Anthropology and Ethnography
University of Aarhus
Moesgård
DK-8270 Højbjerg
Denmark
Phone: +45 89424642
Fax: +45 89424655
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Collections of Ethnography
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Jan 22, 2009
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