Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 21 of 21
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Bolting The Landscape: An Ethnography Of Yosemite As A Significant Climbing Destination, Vanessa Taylor
Bolting The Landscape: An Ethnography Of Yosemite As A Significant Climbing Destination, Vanessa Taylor
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Yosemite Valley is a transformative landscape that helps to shape climbers’ identities and fosters a unique sense of community, which continually reinforces its status as a renowned and evolving climbing destination. The historical influence of Yosemite Valley on rock climbing began in the 1950s and has since defined itself as a prominent destination for climbers worldwide. This ethnographic research analyzes how climbers forge a meaningful connection with the Valley by forming a deep sense of place that intertwines with their personal identities as climbers and investigates the intricate relationship between climbers’ identities and the Yosemite landscape. This research also explores …
Queer Is Here, Hopefully To Stay: The Incorporation And Reception Of Lgbtq+ History At The History Colorado Center, Madeline Ohaus
Queer Is Here, Hopefully To Stay: The Incorporation And Reception Of Lgbtq+ History At The History Colorado Center, Madeline Ohaus
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Historically, the documentation of LGBTQ+ histories, struggles, and accomplishments has been absent from museum collections and exhibitions. Scholars argue that given the authoritative nature of museums and their influence on the public, exclusions of LGBTQ+ history can mount to institutional erasure of queer identities. However, in the past decade, there has been an increase in attempts to document and curate exhibitions highlighting and encouraging the public to engage with LGBTQ+ history. While this history is imperative to preserve and display, it can be met with controversy, leading some LGBTQ+ history exhibitions to be relocated or even removed. During the summer …
Stories Of Return: A Collection Of Repatriation Narratives, Lydia Degn-Sutton
Stories Of Return: A Collection Of Repatriation Narratives, Lydia Degn-Sutton
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This thesis examines the museological phenomena of repatriation beyond NAGPRA and the incorporation of Indigenous curatorial methods into museum collections practices. The project explores repatriation and collections caretaking practices at ten settler institutions through narratives of experience collected from museum staff. The findings of this research suggest that repatriation beyond NAGPRA and the Indigenization of collections care are situated processes that should be understood contextually and historically. This thesis argues that, in some cases, repatriation beyond NAGPRA and the integration of Indigenous perspectives, practices, and protocols into museum collections stewardship demonstrates a willingness by institutions to go beyond the minimum …
Remembering Together: Native Boarding School Stories On Display, Lydia Nancy Wood
Remembering Together: Native Boarding School Stories On Display, Lydia Nancy Wood
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Recent scholarship on Native American boarding schools has focused on drawing out the complexities of boarding school history and emphasizing the plurality of experiences of students. This thesis examines how Native American boarding school stories have been displayed using two current museum exhibits: “Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories” at the Heard Museum, and the Phoenix Indian School Visitors Center, a small gallery in one of the remaining school buildings. For this analysis I interviewed key players in both current exhibits and did close readings of the exhibits themselves, in conjunction with archival research about two model schoolhouse …
Time Is A Construct(Ion): Heritage And Becoming In Quito's Historic District, Samuel Abate
Time Is A Construct(Ion): Heritage And Becoming In Quito's Historic District, Samuel Abate
Senior Projects Spring 2020
Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.
People And Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, And Heritage, Sarah Beals
People And Place: A Journey Through Film, Tourism, And Heritage, Sarah Beals
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Old Tucson Studios is a theme park where film, tourism, and heritage all converge through the American Western genre. During national social change, Westerns increase in number to reflect national values and identity. Westerns that ally with landscapes and people are potentially the most powerful storytelling tool in mainstream media. My research shows that this paring of people and place creates a prevailing image in the audience’s memory. The results suggest that the current image of the West comes from films made between 1951-1970, despite there being newer Westerns. John Wayne and saguaro cactus are enduring images with historic, cultural, …
When Repatriation Doesn’T Happen: Relationships Created Through Cultural Property Negotiations, Ellyn Demuynck
When Repatriation Doesn’T Happen: Relationships Created Through Cultural Property Negotiations, Ellyn Demuynck
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This thesis analyzes the discourse of repatriation in connection to the Encounters exhibition held by the National Museum of Australia in 2015. Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander artifacts were loaned to the Australian museum by the British Museum. At the close of the exhibition, one item, the Gweagal shield, was claimed for repatriation. The repatriation request had not been approved at the time of this research. The Gweagal shield is a historically significant artifact for Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians. Analysis takes into account the political economy of the two museums and situates the exhibition within the relevant museum …
Behind The Exhibit: Exploring The Processes Of Indigenous Rights Representation At The Canadian Museum For Human Rights, Madison Caroline Dillard
Behind The Exhibit: Exploring The Processes Of Indigenous Rights Representation At The Canadian Museum For Human Rights, Madison Caroline Dillard
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Focusing on the representation of Indigenous human rights at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, this study examines how museums can represent, educate, and advocate for Indigenous human rights. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out at the museum in July 2019 and the literature on anthropology and human rights, decolonizing museum practices, and museums as spaces for human rights dialogue. The study shows how museums can change their history of racist and inaccurate representation of Indigenous people. Through extensive and “deep collaboration” between Indigenous partners and museum staff, Indigenous culture, history, and rights …
Manifestations: Displays Of Internal Beliefs And Perspectives, Manuel Ferreira
Manifestations: Displays Of Internal Beliefs And Perspectives, Manuel Ferreira
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This thesis aims at better understanding and sharing the internal beliefs, influences, and insights of specific Field Museum staff in regard to exhibitions and the future of the Field Museum. It is people that make up museums and create exhibitions, and their beliefs not only influence and guide them, but also their institution and what they develop. Grounded in museum anthropology, and framed by new and critical museology, entanglement, contact zones, museum as method, and a queer mezclando (mixing) perspective, this research employs museum ethnography as a way of exploring relations and meanings among museum staff, beliefs, and manifestations. In …
Beyond Interventions: A Case Study Of The Denver Art Museum’S Native Arts Artist-In-Residency Program, Madison Sussmann
Beyond Interventions: A Case Study Of The Denver Art Museum’S Native Arts Artist-In-Residency Program, Madison Sussmann
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Denver Art Museum’s Native Arts Artist-in-Residency Program is an inter-departmental project dedicated to the collaboration between the museum, artists, and visitors. The residency and the physical studio were established to formalize artist involvement in the museum. There is no written mission statement for the program, but visitor engagement is central to the organization of the program and experience of the artist. This thesis explores the question: What can the experiences of the artists and museum professionals involved in the Native Arts Artist-in-Residency program tell about the residency’s contribution to critical museology and decolonization? Through exploring the definitions of critical …
Museum To Museum Collaboration: Exploring The Relationships Between Museums And Cultural Organizations In Denver, Colorado, Leah Zavaleta
Museum To Museum Collaboration: Exploring The Relationships Between Museums And Cultural Organizations In Denver, Colorado, Leah Zavaleta
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Collaboration has become a cornerstone of contemporary museum practice. In the United States, the anthropological literature on collaboration and museums has tended to be dominated by discussions on collaboration between museums and Indigenous communities in the course of implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. To date, little has been written on how collaboration is enacted among museums. This thesis explores the relationships among four museums in Denver, Colorado. By exploring how collaboration is defined, what a collaboration between museums looks like, and identifying the benefits and challenges of inter-museum collaboration, this study attempts to provide …
Whose Community Museum Is It? Collaboration Strategies And Identity Affirmation In The Amache Museum, Ting-Chun (Regina) Huang
Whose Community Museum Is It? Collaboration Strategies And Identity Affirmation In The Amache Museum, Ting-Chun (Regina) Huang
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Amache Museum is a preservation project that has multiple communities involved in preserving Amache history. It represents Japanese American as well as American history and is owned and maintained by the Amache Preservation Society (APS), which is comprised of local Granada High School students. By approaching the Amache Museum as a community museum and noticing its distinct collaborative strategy, this thesis investigates the community collaborations and the identity affirmations within the museum, and addresses the question of whose community museum the Amache Museum represents. My research explores the overlapping conceptual models of the Amache Museum: community museum and ecomuseum, …
Children During The American Steamboat Era - A Museum Exhibit, Emily Ruoff
Children During The American Steamboat Era - A Museum Exhibit, Emily Ruoff
All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects
“Children During the American Steamboat Era” is a portion of the submitted Alternative Paper Plan (A.P.P.) in partial fulfillment Emily Ruoff’s Master of Science in Applied Anthropology at Minnesota State University, Mankato in Mankato, MN in 2019. Discussions in this paper include a summary of the new exhibit, “Children During the Steamboat Era” at the Arabia Steamboat Museum (Kansas City, MO) and the reasons as to why this topic was chosen as the theme for this display. Goals and reasons for topic choice are: to create a sense of connectivity and inclusion for the thousands of children that visit the …
Looking Through The Trees: An Anthropologist, A Museum, And The Sasquatch, Carissa Kepner
Looking Through The Trees: An Anthropologist, A Museum, And The Sasquatch, Carissa Kepner
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Sasquatch is incredibly popular in American society. This project explores the impact of the Sasquatch phenomenon on those that live in and visit Bailey, Colorado. It focuses on how the Sasquatch Outpost museum contributes to this impact, especially through outdoor activities, visiting the museum, visiting the Outpost general store, and the sharing of sighting stories. This work takes an in-depth look at the concept of the amateur museum, or micromuseum, and how it can contribute to the larger museum world, particularly through the ideas of Outsider Art and serious leisure. By evaluating the processes, exhibits, and procedures of the …
Women's Work: Sumbanese Textiles From The May Weber Collection, Catherine Nichols, Grace Iverson, Jill Forshee
Women's Work: Sumbanese Textiles From The May Weber Collection, Catherine Nichols, Grace Iverson, Jill Forshee
Anthropology: Faculty Publications and Other Works
This catalogue was produced to accompany Women’s Work, an exhibition of textiles from the May Weber Ethnographic collection held from March 16 — June 2017 in the Damen Student Center. The exhibition was curated by Anthropology student Grace Iverson (B.A. Loyola University Chicago 2017).
The Dynamics Of Community Museums And Their Communities: Museo De Las Americas' Spanish Happy Hour Fostering Social Inclusion For The Latino And Denver Metro Area Communities, Maritza Hernandez-Bravo
The Dynamics Of Community Museums And Their Communities: Museo De Las Americas' Spanish Happy Hour Fostering Social Inclusion For The Latino And Denver Metro Area Communities, Maritza Hernandez-Bravo
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Many museums are now aspiring to collaborate and engage with Latino communities and the community as a whole. Due to Museo de las Americas status as a community museum, I predicted that I would find a collaborative effort already occurring between the institution and their community, which can aid in creating a sense of social inclusion by being committed to including diverse voices by having clarity of purpose that makes sense both within the context of the community and the institution itself. I used staff, volunteer and visitor interviews and observations of the program to evaluate the degree of collaboration …
We Call It Pulling A Thread: Deconstructing Femininity At The Molly Brown House Museum, Emily J. Starck
We Call It Pulling A Thread: Deconstructing Femininity At The Molly Brown House Museum, Emily J. Starck
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Despite making up around half of the global population, women are consistently underrepresented in museums. Where women's experiences are present in exhibitions and programming, they are often misrepresented within an entrenched heteronormative and patriarchal framework. Through this thesis, I show how Denver's Molly Brown House Museum works to upset traditional narratives through their dynamic interpretation of the life of their namesake, Margaret Tobin Brown. Using new museology, feminist anthropology, and performance theory, I analyze data from staff interviews and tour participant observation to explore how the museum deconstructs popular understandings of historical femininity. Through visitor surveys, I measure the extent …
Interpreting American Indian Cultural Heritage: Visitor's Educational Experience At Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, Kara Lynn Underwood
Interpreting American Indian Cultural Heritage: Visitor's Educational Experience At Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, Kara Lynn Underwood
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The following research and analysis explore the various methods in which American Indian heritage is interpreted at Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site in Colorado Springs, CO. Attention was given to the distinctive ways this space acts as an educational institution that displays and interprets Colorado's cultural heritage through object-centered learning and participatory education. The goal for this research was to discuss ahistorical biases that have existed in museums for centuries, while encouraging dialogue and discourse about the appropriate methods for interpreting American Indian cultural heritage. Through the presentation and examination of visitors' educational experiences using observations, questionnaires, and informal interviews …
Interpreting The Intangible: Challenges To The Display Of Dance Objects In Museums, Kathryn Louise Brundige Grossman
Interpreting The Intangible: Challenges To The Display Of Dance Objects In Museums, Kathryn Louise Brundige Grossman
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This thesis analyzes Indigenous and non-Western dance objects in museums, examining the role of theory from material culture studies, critical museology and museum education on approaches to their interpretation and display. To explore this topic, I conducted a comparative analysis of Indigenous and non-Western dance object displays at four museums - Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman, Oklahoma - investigating the use of Native voice, reflexive analysis and multisensory elements in the exhibits' organization, narrative …
The Role Of Amache Family Objects In The Japanese American Internment Experience: Examined Through Object Biography And Object Agency, Rebecca Michele Cruz
The Role Of Amache Family Objects In The Japanese American Internment Experience: Examined Through Object Biography And Object Agency, Rebecca Michele Cruz
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This project investigates the meaning of Japanese American families' personal possessions associated with internment through the concepts of object biography and object agency. It uses material culture analysis to help anthropologists understand the Japanese American internment experience, specifically through a case study at Amache, the Japanese American internment camp in southeastern Colorado. Five semi-structured phone interviews, and one structured email interview, are the primary data used to explore the importance of material culture associated with the site and to help preserve the cultural heritage of Amache. Object agency and object biography are key components of the new material culture theory. …
The Historical Development Of Basic Woodworking Hand Tools, Sidney R. Deane
The Historical Development Of Basic Woodworking Hand Tools, Sidney R. Deane
Graduate Student Research Papers
It was the purpose of this study to (1) present a history of the evolution of basic woodworking hand tools; (2) to relate the tools and methods used by frontier craftsmen; and (3) to compare the structure of modern woodworking hand tools with older tools.