CONTEXTS The Newsletter of the

Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Fall 2006-Spring 2007

The Haffenreffer Museums second on-campus exhibition, Believing Africa, opened on Saturday, May 27, 2006. This exhibit, located in our satellite gallery in Manning Hall on Brown Universitys College Green, continues to draw visitors from around the world. What is it about? How do such exhibitions come into being? Has it been a success?

The goals and perspectives explored in Believing Africa are described in its intro-ductory panel: Whether one is born into or converts to a particular faith, or professes none, religious beliefs provide answers and guidance for billions of people around the world. In Africa today, global religions compete with local faiths for followers, converge to provide new answers to enduring questions, and emerge or re-energize to explain new challenges in a globalizing world.

Inside This Issue: About Believing Africa - pg. 1

Outlook on 2007 - pg. 2

2006 - 2007 Events - pg. 4

Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum - pg. 8

Bogolan to Bagdad: giving a voice to the voiceless - pg. 10

Recent Donations - pg. 11 Facing Mesoamerica - pg. 12

Believing Africa from Creation to CompletionBy Kevin P. Smith, Deputy Director & Chief Curator

Believing Africa draws largely upon the sub-Saharan ethnographic collections of the Haffenreffer Museum to investigate the diversity and dynamic nature of Afri-can spiritual beliefs. However, it would be a mistake to imagine that Believing Africa, or any other exhibition, could spring into being, fully formed, without months of dis-cussions, refl extion and debates amongst faculty, staff and students, collaborating to create the exhibit.

The initial impetus to develop an exhibi-tion about African spirituality came out of discussions among museum staff about the pervasiveness of religion and religious debate in the contemporary world. As our discussions unfolded, we decided that we wanted to develop an exhibition that would explore the meanings and material culture of belief to practitioners of both lo-cal and global belief systems in a part of the world where diverse faiths were practiced side-by-side, combined in new ways, and

faced each other across gulfs of distrust or accommodation. Upon reviewing the mu-seums collections, we decided to focus on Africa in order to work from the strengths of our African collection (now incorporat-ing nearly 6,000 objects), to explore the complexities of African religious practice, and to draw on the expertise of Brown Universitys many scholars and students working in, and on, African themes.

Two seminars, taught at the museum in the fall and spring terms of the 2006 academic year, with students drawn from eight de-partments at Brown and RISD, developed these early thoughts into the exhibition on view today. The fi rst seminar Museums and Material Culture (Anthropology 240) set the exhibitions tone by developing its primary and secondary themes, its basic structure, and a preliminary list of objects under consideration for display. In the

Continued on page 3

Masks used by members of the Night Society, Bangwa people, Cameroon. Gift of Paula D. Rice.

Volume 35, 1-2

From the Director ContextsNewsletter of the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum ofAnthropology, Brown UniversityVolume 35, 1-2

Friends BoardDavid Haffenreffer, President

Edith Andrews, Vice President

Diana Johnson, Treasurer

Andrew Davis, Secretary

Bolaji Campbell

Ayesha Chaudry

Robert Emlen

Sidney Greenwald

Susan Hardy

Elizabeth Hoover

Alice Houston

David Kertzer, Provost

Winifred Lambrecht

Richard Lynch

Jane Roberts

Paul Sapir

Jeffrey Schreck

Henry Schwarz

William Simmons, Anthropology Dept. Chair

Loren Spears

Patricia Symonds

Shepard Krech III, ex offi cio

Kevin P. Smith, ex offi cio

Museum StaffShepard Krech III, Director

Kevin P. Smith, Deputy Director & Chief

Curator

Thierry Gentis, Associate Curator &

Collections Manager

Geralyn Hoffman, Curator of Programs &

Education

Linda AVant Deishinni,

Education Specialist

Rip Gerry, Exhibits Designer/Storage

Manager/Photo Archivist

Carol Dutton, Offi ce Manager

Elizabeth Barksdale Cooper, Public

Information Coordinator

Casey ODonnell, Offi ce Assistant &

Museum Shop Coordinator

Jennifer Trunzo, Manning Hall Greeter

Dear Friends,

As I write this we are nearing the end of the summer and are looking towards a full fall schedule at both Museum sites, in Providence and Bristol. Our exhibi-tion, Believing Africa, which opened on campus in Manning Hall in May of 2006, has attracted over 9,000 visitors this year. Believing Africa was conceptualized and implemented by undergraduate and graduate students in two seminars last year. Always in the background (and sometimes in the foreground) were mu-seum staff (and budgets!) and specialists who helped with conservation, mount preparation, and installation. With the students, we formed a large exhibition team to explore effectively the multiple ways that Africans have drawn on local and global religious traditions for meaning and answers to enduring existential questions, both in the past and, importantly, today.

Since last summer, we have been focusing on how to use space better in the main Museum in Bristol. For reasons relating to conservation, storage, and teaching and research needs, we have converted one exhibition gallery into secure back room space. We are also in the process of replacing the long-standing exhibit on Hopi Katsinas with an installation called Facing Mesoamerica. This exhibit is being curated by Cassandra Mesick and will open on September 28th! The shop, which had been in a small room off the lower, now closed, gallery and then at the front door of the Museum, has reemerged in the small circular silo off the main gallery. And we have plans to change the exhibits in the main gallery, perhaps section by section, as students wishing to become involved in exhibition projects cross the threshold.

The Museums education programs are fl ourishing in the capable hands of our new Curator of Programs and Education, Geralyn Hoffman, and Education Spe-cialist Linda AVant Deishinni. Before joining the Haffenreffer, Geralyn was the Education Coordinator at the San Diego Museum of Man. Tooled to changing standards in state and national education, the in-house and outreach programs are reaching more children than at any time since 2002.

It may not be surprising that this years programs and lectures, reported else-where in this newsletter, attracted robust and sometime overfl owing audiences as the Museums profi le has increased.

It is always our hope that some reading this Newsletter will want to get involved with the Museum as a docent or volunteer, will join the Friends of the Haffenref-fer Museum, or will visit us in Bristol, our home base, or in Manning Hall, our satellite gallery on the Brown University campus. Please do! Our best wishes for the upcoming year.

Shepard Krech IIIDirectorProfessor of Anthropology and Environmental Studies

Believing Africasecond seminar Exhibitions in Museums (Anthropology 241) students and museum staff forged those ideas into a fi nal exhi-bition script and design, which became the blueprint for Believing Africa. From the outset, we strove not only to explore objects within their original social and sacral contexts, but also to examine how they were used to address fundamental existential questions and how those same questions are addressed today, in Africa, through contemporary spiritual and social experience.

Four of Believing Africas six stages inves-tigate themes linked to key stages in the human life-cycle (birth, initiation, the acquisition of power in adulthood, and death) through in-depth analyses of ritu-ally charged objects from a single culture or region.

plored African spirituality through direct encounters with powerful objects, contex-tualized within contemporary issues.

Since it opened in May 2006, more than 9,000 visitors have discovered Believing Africa, making it one of the Haffenreffer Museums most-visited and most success-ful installations to date. Have you visited Believing Africa yet? We welcome your thoughts and impressions of the exhibit, as well as ideas for future installations, and look forward to seeing you in our galleries and at our programs and events.

Two other stages examine the quest for meaning across Africa through believers adoption (and adaptation) of world reli-gions and through their reliance on local beliefs to explain and infl uence the world around them. Four massive photographic panels explore the personal nature of be-lief, while a rotating slide show displays additional African objects and photo-graphs from the Haffenreffer Museums collections.

While Believing Africa is about Africa and brings the Haffenreffer Museums rich African collections into the light, the ex-hibition is more generally about faith, the quest for meaning, and the co-existence of different faiths not only within regions but also within individuals attempts to un-derstand the world around them and their place within it. The exhibition team hoped, from the beginning, that museum visitors would be encouraged to rethink their own perspectives on belief and faith as they ex-

Excerpts from our visitors book at the Manning Hall Gallery:

Absolutely beautiful! Amazing. I learned so much it made me change my way of thinking. I will never look at some things the same way! Indescribable. Lauren, Switzerland

The way in which you presented my culture and my peoples beliefs touched me in a profound way. May Allah smile upon you all. Thank you.Marilyn Edobor (MIT 08), Morocco

Different outlook: multifocal, divergently convergent. Quite eclectic and rich. Your organization is very much on track and relevant to current global issues.John Ogene (Lecturer, Department of Fine & Applied Arts, University of Benin), Benin City, Nigeria

This was a fantastic teaching tool for my class. It is an out-standing exhibit. James Yarnall (Associate Professor of Art, Salve Regina University), Newport, RI

A beautiful exposition, giving a very forceful impression of tradition in everyday life in Africa now. And such a surprise to discover so much of my old friend Robert Brains work here. Peter Geschiere (Professor of African Anthropology, Uni-versity of Amsterdam), Amsterdam, Netherlands

I loved the Night Society masks! They were fascinating! The section on African explanations for misfortune was also very interesting! Virginia Cross, Richmond, VA

It is nice to see how you have converted our old church space into a wonderful learning experience. Now I have two fond memories of this space.Kezia Ellison (Brown 05), Pittsburgh, PA

Great exhibit!Ashanti Ghee, Silver Spring, MD

I never knew this was here but it is incredible. The pictures have such insight and the artifacts are so unbelievably amazing Danielle Dunlap (Brown 10), Atlanta, GA

Our fi rst visit to Brown University so glad we came across the marvelous ex-hibit. Niel, Mary and Andrew Lewis, Princeton Junction, NJ.

Amazing informative, artistic, and even political we really enjoyed it. Thank you! Rachel and Jake Robards, New York, NY.

An important and interesting exhibition. It confi rms the view that everyone needs to study the different religions to understand the world.Diego Pizano, Bogota, Colombia.

Continued from page 1

3

Epa mask Olomoyeye the mother of many children Yoruba, Ekiti State, Nigeria 1960s, artist unknownWood, pigments

Masks used by the Sande Society of Sierra Leone and Liberia for girls innitiationceremonies

Coffi n in the shape of fi shing boat. Coastal Ghana

Dr. William Fitzhugh, Director of Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution, discusses Viking games with Neil Peterson from the Dark Ages Re-creation Company.

A RISD student creates a soapstone rune-stone using ancient techniques.

Dr. Stephen Mitchell, Harvard University, talks about the famous sagas of medieval Ice-land as sources of history in the Viking Age.

Dr. Michle Hayeur Smith, RISD, discusses adornment, clothing and artwork in Viking Age Iceland.

2006-2007 Events On Thursday, September 14, 2006 in a lec-ture co-sponsored with the Medieval Stud-ies Department at the Annmary Brown Memorial Building in Providence, Dr. Ste-phen Mitchell, Professor of Scandinavian and Folklore at Harvard University, gave a lecture, The Sagas, Oral History and Neo-Literalism. This lecture was the kick-off event for the exciting four-day Viking Fes-tival, The Vikings Return! that took place on the Brown campus on September 14 and 15 and in Bristol on September 16 and 17. Mitchells engaging talk was followed on the next day by Dr. William Fitzhughs lecture The Lure of Providence: Vikings, Romance and Archaeology. Both Dr. Fit-

zhugh, the Director of the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Institution, and Dr. Mitchell spoke again at Bristol during the weekend event.

Fascinating lectures complimented fam-ily activities on both Saturday and Sun-day. Dr. Fitzhugh presented a more gen-eral version of The Lure of Providence: Vikings, Romance and Archaeology; Dr. William R. Short, Higgins Armory Mu-seum, Worcester, MA, presented Viking Age Arms, Armor and Combat; Kevin P. Smith, Haffenreffer Museum of Anthro-pology, Brown University, offered his take on Law and Order in the Viking Age; Darrell Markewitz from the Dark Ages Re-Creation Company discussed Adven-tures in Iron Smelting; Professor Mitchell shared Viking Age Tales of Adventure and History; Neil Peterson, Dark Ages Re-Creation Company and Wilfrid Lau-rier University, wowed the crowd with Its All Fun and Games when Someone

Loses an Eye!; and fi nally, Dr. Michle Hayeur Smith, Liberal Arts/Art History, Rhode Island School of Design, lectured on Dressing the Living, Addressing the Dead: Identity and Adornment in Viking Age Iceland.

There were also Viking-age re-enactors from the Dark Ages Re-Creation Company and hands-on crafts and activities for the whole family throughout the weekend, which included a chance to see medieval combat demonstrations done by volun-teers and staff from the Higgins Armory

Visitors made Viking swords, shields and helmets with the help of docent Kathy Silvia.

The Vikings returned!

Dr. William R. Short, right, from the Higgins Armory Museum, discusses Viking combat techniques with colleagues.

Kevin P. Smith and Keni Sturgeon greet Marc Jacques from the Canadian Consulate, Boston, which was a sponsor of the Viking event.

We celebrated our 5th Annual Honoring the Harvest event with Native Ameri-cans from the Pokanoket Wampanoag on November 18. With the sponsorship of the Bristol Parks and Recreation Department, and the leadership of our new Education Specialist Linda AVant-Deishinni, tribal members came together with local families and friends to celebrate the harvest. Activities included storytelling by Flower Hawk and Tracey Dancing Star Brown, dancing and drumming, craft activities and as usual, we had a great feast of Native foods including succotash, cornbread, pumpkin bread, and cider. A great time was had by all.

Tracey Dancing Star Brown

On Thursday, October 12, we held the 2006 Jane Dwyer Me-morial Lecture in our gallery at Manning Hall. Dr. Suzanne Bli-er, Allen Whitehill Clowes Pro-fessor of Fine Art and African and African American Studies, Harvard University, spoke on Imaging Amazons: Dahomey Women Warriors In and Out of Africa. Her lecture explored

the arts and imagery of Dahomey women warriors, addressing the array of ways in which these strong women shaped the visual culture of the famed West African court. The importance of the role of women as African leaders is often overlooked, yet the imagery Dr. Blier shared with us showed clear documentation of their con-tributions.

On Saturday, October 28, Author Nathan-iel Philbrick came to Bristol to give a talk and do a book signing for his new best- seller, Mayfl ower, which looks at the very beginnings of America: the voyage of the Mayfl ower, the founding of Plymouth Colony, and King Philips War. Discuss-ing his book just feet away from what is thought to be the site of the onset of King

Museum. All in all, about 1000 people attended the event, which was funded in part by the Friends of the Haffenreffer Mu-seum of Anthropology, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, the Canadian Consulate General, Boston, and the Gov-ernment of Iceland.

2006 Jane Dwyer Memorial LectureDahomey Women warriors discussed at Manning Hall

2006 Honoring the Harvest - a beautiful fall day in Bristol

Philips War made the stories he told that much more vivid. Philbrick is also the au-thor of the New York Times bestseller In the Heart of the Sea for which he won the Na-tional Book Award.

Despite torrential rains, fl ooding and fall-ing tree branches, more than 170 fans were on hand. We gained many new members that day, including Mr. Philbrick.

Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick at site of King Philips War on Mayfl ower

5

Traditional Native foods were on display

Hundreds participated in the riverside ceremony. Rose petals were tossed in by partici-pants and fl oated down stream with the sand.

Our fi nal program during our fall sea-son was the 7th Annual Barbara Green-wald Memorial Arts program, which brought two monks from Namgyal Monastery, the personal monastery of H.H. the Dalai Lama, to create a sand

Ceremonially, the monks pour the sand from the mandala into the Providence River.

Lobsang and Tenzin dismantle the mandala by dividing it into sections and sweeping the sand into a holy vessel that will later be taken to the river.

mandala a physical blessing and prayer for compassion, tolerance and an end to hatred. The program was held from No-vember 14 through 18, with the mandala being created in the Museums Manning Hall Gallery Tuesday-Friday and then dis-

A Remarkable Ritual and Blessing at the Haffenreffers Manning Hall Gallery

The completed Chenrezig Mandala in the Manning Hall Gallery

mantled during a beautiful and uplift-ing ceremony on Saturday, November 18. Those who see and experience the mandalas creation and dismantling are believed to partake in its blessings and to be transformed by it.

More than 2500 people from the campus and community had the opportunity to view the creation, to meet and speak with the monks and to participate in the program.

When the Sun Begins to Thaw its time for Piyatokonis!Winter break is a time for fun at the Haffen-reffer Museum in Bristol. On Tuesday, Feb-ruary 20, we held our annual Piyatokonis event. Special family activities included

hot chocolate served by the fi re in our wetu while docent Ray Richard told stories and introduced children and parents alike to Native American traditions. The guided tour to King Philips Chair, led by docent Terry Francis, was a fascinating experience for those who had not been here before. More than 30 children and adults enjoyed the walk and the tales about King Philip and his peoples traditions and lifestyle.

Crafts took place in the Barn while on-going activities in the Museum included an I Spy scavenger hunt game.

The Museum also had special winter break hours offering on-going drop-in activities from Monday through Thursday.

Children enjoyed creating their own patterned masks based on Native American artwork

A large group of visitors take a guided walk to King Philips Chair and hear about its history

On Monday, February 26, Dr. Rogaia Abusharaf joined us in List Hall to talk about the controversial subject of female circumcision or female genital mutilation.Ms. Abusharaf is the Senior Research Associate for the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown. Having just completed years of research on the subject, she has a breadth of knowledge to balance strong opinions about the practice.

In many African countries where it is practiced, and in some communities abroad, supporters regard female circumcision as a coming-of-age ritual that ensures chastity and promotes fertility. Many human rights groups, however, consider it to be life-endangering and oppressive.

Although Dr. Abusharaf made it clear that she is very much against the prac-tice, she took an anthropological teach-ing approach to her lecture and gave us facts and viewpoints from both sides.

Following her talk, she answered ques-tions from the audience that further clarifi ed her viewpoint and allowed her to expand on the three major topics of

religion, womens rights and the infl uence of men relat-ing to this issue.

Bolokoli, tahara, kene-kene?

Professor Haraldur Sigurdsson (left) at the site of Tambora in Indonesia

Volcanic Eruptions: Large Scale Preservation of Art, Artifacts and Victims

On Saturday, April 21, Haraldur Sigurds-son visited Bristol for a talk on volcanic eruptions. Dr. Sigurdsson is a world-re-nowned volcanologist and Professor of Volcanology at the University of Rhode Is-lands Graduate School of Oceanography. He visits the sites of erupting volcanoes all over the world and has been involved

with the excavation of volcanic deposits in the well-known cities of Pompeii and Her-culaneum as well as the less well-known sites of Tambora (Indonesia) and Santorini (Aegean Greece). His Encyclopedia of Vol-canoes received the Excellence in Profes-sional/Scholarly Publishing Award from the Association of American Publishers in

1999 and the Geological Society of Ameri-cas award for best earth science reference source in 2000.

We were honored to have him speak with us and tell us about the importance of volcanic eruptions for archaeological re-search.

7

Timothy & Bobbi HamillNorman HurstKenneth KensingerMr. Peter & Dr. Anita KlausMr. & Mrs. Robert Laible*Samuel MencoffWilliam C. Mithoefer & Renee-Paule MoyencourtJoanne PearsonTimothy PhillipsMark Rapoport, MDAnn RoyWilliam B. Simmons*President Ruth Simmons*Phyllis H. StetsonDavid & Ashley Haffenreffer WagstaffDon & Beverly WeiheEllen & Dick Wilson

Donors Circle 2006-07

Haffenreffer Society ($1000+)Rudolf F. Haffenreffer IVBarbara A. Hail*Dwight & Anna HeathPresident Ruth Simmons*Alva Way

Mt. Hope Society ($500 - $999)David HaffenrefferSusan Hardy

Giddings Society ($250 - $499)Andrew Davis, Esq.*Mrs. Robert DavisAlice W. Houston Diana JohnsonMs. Michele Morrisson & Dr. David Bernstein Dr. & Mrs. Paul E. Sapir*Saville Society ($100 - $249)Alice Boss-AltmanEdith Andrews*Clinton Andrews*Elizabeth Bakewell*Carter & Lucy BuckleyDr. Alton & Elizabeth Byers*Richard & Inge Chafee*Mr. & Mrs. Charles CollisMr. & Mrs. Patrick ConleyJoanna CoppolaJose Delgado, MDJames Elder*Robert & Julia Emlen*Timothy ForbesCharles Greenwald*Sidney Greenwald*Ms. Jean R. HaffenrefferMr. & Mrs. Donald HallDr. Kenneth Hertz*Alma & Fred Ivor-CampbellShepard Krech, Jr.Shepard Krech, IIILouise Lamphere*Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Livingston, Jr.Richard LynchMr. & Mrs. Timothy MoreMr. & Mrs. Paul C. Nicholson, Jr.Dr. & Mrs. Calvin OyerLydia & Barrett PettyMr. & Mrs. Nathaniel Philbrick*Kyoko ReddMr. & Mrs. Robert SelleLisa & Robert SheaMr. & Mrs. SissonMs. Loren SpearsJane StarkeyMr. & Mrs. ThompsonMary Tefft WhitePaul & Betsey Zimmering*Contributing ($50 - $99)Alexandra AllardtMr. & Mrs. John Allen*Peter & Susan AllenEloise AngiolaDr. & Mrs. Edwin BogerAnn Marie ChaseKim & Stephen Clark*Ellen Cotter & Clinton AndrewsMr. & Mrs. Thomas Coyne*Bruce & Jennie Crooks*Joan Dorsey*Margaret GaciochDr. & Mrs. Thomas Gregg*Cathy HadadSture & Doris KarlssonEthan & Helene KischMr. & Mrs. LeeK.B. LiebenowDr. & Mrs. Malone Professor & Mrs. Robert MathiesenJeffrey SchreckBill WhiteCatherine Williams*

The 2007 Barbara A. and Edward G. Hail Lecture

Honorary MembersMonni AdamsFerdinand & Beverly Bach IIIMr. & Mrs. Robert BakerTheresa BellMr. & Mrs. John BockstoceDr. & Mrs. Sidney S. Braman MD*Mr. & Mrs. Harry BrightmanMrs. William BrillMary Katherine Burton-JonesStacy Marcus ChidekelPaul A. CohenMr. & Mrs. Douglas DorseyMr. & Mrs. Barnet Fain*Alison Collins FayVincent & Margaret FayClaudia Giangola & John MenserMr. & Dr. Artemis JoukowskyMr. & Mrs. Roy GreenwaldMr. & Mrs. Adolph Haffenreffer, IIIDavid Haffenreffer JrFrederick HaffenrefferKarl HaffenrefferDr. Mark HaffenrefferRobert HaffenrefferMr. & Mrs.Theodore Haffenreffer

Thanks to the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum and generous donations to the Barbara A. and Edward G. Hail Fund, the endowment for this series of lectures continues to grow. Barbara A. Hail, former Deputy Director and Curator of the Haffenreffer Mu-seum of Anthropology, is a noted scholar of Native American art and culture, whose work spans generations and redefi ned the Museums role in interpreting Native American art. Barbara retired in 2002, after 33 years of devoted service to the Haffen-reffer Museum. Edward G. Hail, Associate Dean at Brown University from 1970-1989, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Haffenreffer Museum and President of its Friends As-sociation. The Hail Lectures at Brown honor their service, support, and scholarship with an annual talk relating to one of their many interests in material culture, collecting, and museums. This years lecture, given by Candace Greene, Ethnologist and Curator, Smithsonian Institution, and Russell Thornton, Professor of Anthropology, UCLA, on March 8, exam-ined the pictorial histories of the Plains Indians known as winter counts. Although winter counts were created or drawn by different generations and were duplicated many times over the years, events in many winter counts can be cross-referenced, thus confi rming the stories that are told and the sequence in which they occured. These calendars of events make it possible for historians and Lakotas, as well, to piece together indigenous histories.

A Lakota winter count Barbara Hail introduces dinner guests

Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum,Membership 2006-2007

General Membership 2006-07

FamilyPamela AngeliniJames AshleyCindy BargerBarrington Public LibraryMrs. Eva P. BasehartBaxter FamilyElisabeth BonnierBruce BrazilMelissa & Jim BrideBrownell LibraryJonathan CainKim ChanVeronica ChanMs. Eunice ChowLori CollinsCara CoraccioMrs. Deborah CoxCharles & Elzbieta Cummings IIIHadassa DavisMaureen DelavioGeorge & Karissa DeweySara EichlerDavid Eifl er & Rachel MorelloMr. & Mrs. Robert FaulknerIrina Finkelstein & Lev FinkelshteynNancy FitzgeraldAnita GallagherYolanda GarciaGeorge Hail Free LibraryKris and Tyler GibbsWilliam & Nellie GillenMarcella Goss*Thierry & Mary GustaveBarrett & Mary HazeltineMary HelmAnn HobbsDaniel KahnJoanna KitchTracy KnowltonMr. & Mrs. Eric KulaMarc & Ozlem LamontagneSusan LeporeCheryl & Keith MardenHumphrey, Faye, Jill & Lily MarisProfessor & Mrs. MathiesenMr. & Mrs. MorrisMary Grace NelliganMr. & Mrs. John NicholasNorth Kingstown Free LibraryKevin OBrian, VMDTerry OrechiaSteve PanitzMr. & Mrs. Arthur ParkerJean & Richard PearceMr. & Mrs. Richard Philbrick*Suzanne PhillippiPortsmouth Free LibraryMr. & Mrs. Walter Quevedo, Jr.Alden & Bob ReadMr. & Mrs. Saul RicklinMr. & Mrs. Frederick RockefellerMr. & Mrs. Ronald RodriguesRogers Free LibraryRich & Maya RudowskiDavid SavittMr. & Mrs. Schnipper

Steven SerenskaMr. & Mrs. ShaddDr. & Mrs. ShollerLisa SilvaClementina St. SouveurRendell TanJoanna TaylorSandee TomShawen Williams & Andrew MacKeithMr. & Mrs. Robert L. Zocca*Karen ZompaSamuel D. ZurierDual/CoupleMr. & Mrs. Will AytonSylvia & Milo BerkingFrederick & Edith BloomRoland & Janet GentreauSarah & Abbott GleasonRichard & Elizabeth GouldRobert & Cynthia GrantJohn & Alice GunnKirk HutchingsLarry & Joyce LaCroixCarol Entin & Daniel LanierMaggie MillarBarbara & Edwin NicholsonMr. & Mrs. Ray OlsonMr. & Mrs. Robert ReichleyGildon & Cindy StillingsElizabeth SublettBeverly Larson & Gary WatrosRichard & Sarah Zacks

IndividualAnne D. ArchibaldPaul G. Benedum, Jr.Jane K. BlountBetsy BruemmerNaomi CaldwellRobin CaswellRhonda J. ChadwickMartha ChristinaAnne ChristnerAmelia L. EntinRod EvansJohn FlournoyLinda Foss NicholsMs. Nancy GarrisonSusan GiffordMargaret GradieMatthew GutmannDaniel S. Harrop, M.D.Harold Hewes, Jr.Roger B. HirschlandPeter JacobsonSheila KramerBarbara LeggRobert LevDoris LittleJoan MacLeanJohn A. MetaxasJone Pasha MorrisonCarol MoserPearl NathanMrs. Alice PashalianWilliam PeckhamMary B. PittsJeannette PollardAnn ProkopowiczLori Richardson

* We would especially like to thank and recognize those members who kindly donated to one or more of our endowed funds this year.Per individual requests, donations were distributed as follows: Barbara A. and Edward G. Hail Lecture - $5,823; Barbara Greenwald Memorial Arts Program - $1660; Jane Dwyer Memorial Lecture - $345; Haffenreffer Special Fund - $30,964

To make a contribution to one or more of our endowed funds for the 2007-08 year, please call our Bristol offi ce 253-8388, and speak to Kevin Smith.

Margot Schevill*Marilyn SeymourDr. Carroll SilverJessica SkolnikoffJoyce SmithMadeleine St. DenisJean TalbotJames Verinis*Robert A. Walsh, Jr.David WatsonSarah X. WheatonJoseph WilsonSarah D. WilsonJoy WolffStudentJulie CerritoNathaniel ClappBarbara FenigSteven G. WapenBrown/RISD StudentsSara Adler-MilsteinBarbara Flinker-RuttenbergKathleen MillarChristine ReiserJennella SambourJane WangComplimentaryMr. & Mrs. Charles AhlgrenKathleen ClaireAnna & William ColaiaceAlfred DecredicoKatherine DemuthWalter FeldmanMilton FreudenheimLawrence GordonJohn & Nikki HatleyMs. Anne HausrathElizabeth HooverMr. & Mrs. Gustavas IdeKevin JarbeauJulianne Jennings GuerciaMr. Aboubacar KabaProfessor Igor KopytoffPhilip & Marcia LiebermanKathleen LukeMatthew MarinoDarrell MarkewitzMr. & Mrs. McCulloch, Jr.Catherine McKinleyMaryellen Blount MeffordCharles D. Miller IIIMark MillmanStephen MitchellSylvia MoubayedRonald NormandeauNeil PetersonElaine ReedJoan & Phillip RitchieDoran RossKao SaechaoPatricia Sanford*Richard SchweitzerWilliam ShortProfessor William SimmonsKeni SturgeonPatricia SymondsThomas UrbanJim WaringDianne Weaver

9

By Thomas M. Urban 05

I never had much interest in textiles. De-spite this, I found myself investing a great deal of time into learning about them. As a student co-curator of a textile exhibit at the Haffenreffer Museums satellite gal-lery, I focused my attention primarily on pre-Columbian textiles from Peru and Bolivia. I considered myself to be more of an archaeologist than an ethnographer, so working with ancient textiles held more interest for me than working with the con-temporary pieces in the museums collec-tion. This was my way around the textile debacle. After all, my curatorial contribu-tion to the exhibit was archaeological; no touchy-feely interpretations of contempo-rary dress here. That all changed about a year later. Notby choice really, rather by necessity. With my graduation from Brown rapidly ap-proaching, I found myself looking for a job. The textile exhibit that I worked on, Warp Speeds, was set to open its doors on Commencement weekend. The gallery needed an attendant; someone to answer questions, keep track of visitors, and pro-tect the objects on display. A job notice was sent out looking to fi ll a position called gal-

Bogolan to Baghdad: Giving a voice to the voiceless

lery interpreter. More than just a guard, the interpreter could give tours of the exhibit and answer tough questions about the cul-tures, ideas, and objects represented in the exhibit. The interpreter needed a broad knowledge of anthropology and a solid understanding of material culture, and good communication skills were a must. I responded to the job announcement and found out two days later that the position was mine if I wanted it. The fi rst few days on the job, I readthrough the exhibit text, over and over, thinking that this would be all that I need-ed to answer visitors questions about the exhibit. I was wrong. Many people asked questions that simply were not covered in the exhibit text, extensive as it was. Look-ing elsewhere to build my knowledge base on textiles, I began reading. And reading. And reading. By the end of the fi rst month on the job, I knew more about the textiles on display than I ever thought possible. Through this activity I developed an ap-preciation for the symbolic meaning many of the pieces expressed, and developed a more penetrating understanding of how these objects fi t into a larger cultural con-

text. Textiles were storehouses of meaning that communicated a story from their cre-ator to their observer. By the end of that month I could talk textiles all day long if need be. Warp Speeds only ran for nine months. Around the time we were tearing every-thing down to make way for a new exhibit, I received a call about a potential summer project. The project director wanted an ar-chaeologist with a background in forensics, military experience a plus, and experience working with and interpreting textiles. It sounded like the position was tailor-made for me. I had been involved in forensic archaeology for several years, and had served seven years in the army. I applied for the job. If hired, I would be working for the U.S. Justice Departments Mass Graves Investigation Team in Iraq. The goal of the project: to put together the evidence for a legal case against Saddam Hussein. To prove, with physical evidence, that Hus-sein had perpetrated genocide against the Kurds in the Anfal campaign and later against the Shias in the Intifada campaign. They wanted someone to process and in-terpret the clothing of the victims men, women, and children. It was several weeks before I heard back. I assumed the position had gone to some-one else. Then I got an email telling me who to call if I wanted the job. I called that person and was hired. In a few weeks I would be on a plane bound for Baghdad. Not my fi rst deployment to a dangerous part of the world, but my fi rst as a civilian. I knew it would be a bit of a shock. I would spend the summer of 2006 in Iraq. I would be turning 30 years old in Iraq just as I had spent my 21st year in Bosnia and my 18th year in Haiti. I wondered if I would be heading to some other war zone for my 40th year. There was much to think about over the next couple of weeks. About a week before my departure date,I headed to the American Museum of Natural History in New York for a crash course in textile conservation. I had plenty of experience now on the interpretive side, but wanted more on the practical side. I received an in-depth training on handling, cleaning, and storing textiles from Vouka Rousakis, the museums top textiles ex-pert. She wished me luck and I caught a bus back to Providence. A few days later I was on a plane bound for California to complete my in-processing and hazardous environment training. From there on to Kuwait to spend several days awaiting a military fl ight into Baghdad. The fl ight into Baghdad was aboard a

Fountain near Forensic Analysis Facility: Photo taken by Thomas Urban.

Expanding Our Collections

Recent Donations

Political cloth with the image of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia. Gift of Catherine McKinley

Commemorative portrait and silk screened sampler,collected in Kumase, Ghana. Gift of Doran Ross

Collection of archaeological stone tools and debitage, Massachu-setts and Rhode Island. Gift of Jim Waring

Set of 24 Taoist scroll paintings, two priests masks, a crown, 2ritual wands, a censer and a ritual water container. Gift of the Mien family of Kao Txieng Saechao

Montagnard textiles, collected by Willis Blount inVietnam and a huipil, Guatemala. Gift of Maryellen Blount Mefford

Ethiopian scroll; Songye mask, Democratic Republic of the Congo; West African iron currency; Pharaonic votive carving of Hathor, (Middle Kingdom). Gifts of Sylvia Moubayed

Maya Late Classic terracotta fi nial depicting God L; terracotta fi gurine of a stand-ing drummer; Orange-ware cup depicting Tlaloc, Mexico. Gifts of John and Nikki Hatley

Girls Day doll set, Japan. Gift of Rebecca More

Sotho mats and broom, Tuareg pillows and Nigerian gourd bowls. Gift of Professor Katherine Demuth (Brown Faculty)

Pre-Columbian featherwork, Peru. Gift of Professor Walter Feldman (Brown Faculty)

24 textiles, Guatemala. Gift of Milton Freudenheim

Collection of 39 Ethiopian artifacts and fi ve artifacts from Yemen. Gift of Anna and William Colaiace

Pre-Columbian terracotta Maraca two-part fi gural urn, Brazil. Anonymous Gift

Terracotta head of the Old Man Fire God; terracotta mold-madefemale fi gure; terracotta standing fi gure. Vera Cruz, Late Classic, Mexico. Anonymous Gift

Headrest, Ethiopia; three African knives; seven African currencies; mask, East Timor, Indonesia; mask, Mexico. Anonymous Gift

Board, gerua, Siane, Papua New Guinea; Bull roarer, Kerewa, Papua New Guinea; Bark cloth beater, Savae, Fiji; Sago pudding spatula, Geelivink Bay, New Guinea; Ceremonial bowl in the form of an abstract Frigate bird, Eastern Solomon Islands; Two masks, Bali, Indonesia; Kava bowl, Fiji; Bowl with two skid feet, Gaua, Iles Banks, Republic of Vanuatu. Gift of Mary Katherine Burton-Jones

Ritual vessel, Lobi, Burkina Faso; Brass bell, Ibo, Nigeria; Seated human effi gy pot, Costa Rica; Seated bronze fi gure with three faces, Benin, Nigeria; Gourd container with fi gural stopper, Makonde, Tanzania; Bronze Mirror, Myanmar (Burma). Gift of Sylvia Moubayed

Yoruba iron double gong currency, Nigeria; Tutsi woven reed and grass screen, Rwanda. Anonymous Gift

For the Library: ten books on Native American Indians. Gift of Dianne K. Weaver

Transfer

Tibetan Mandala painting, 2 Balinese painted textiles, 2 Indian paintings of Hindu deities, Japanese wood block print, Thai painting, Egyptian faience beads, African political cloth, Chinese wooden beads and mahjong game set. Transferred from Lippit House. Bequest of Freddy and Mary Ann Lippit.

Purchases

Two Kuba mats, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Haffenreffer Special Fund

Collection of 3 Mien ritual objects. Haffenreffer Special Fund

military cargo plane packed with both soldiers and civilian contractors. Every-one was issued a kevlar helmet and vest in Kuwait to be worn on the fl ight and used for the rest of their stay in Iraq. Most people took this protective gear off once airborne, however, as the temperature in the plane hovered around one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, with the fl ight being about an hour in duration. After arriving at the airstrip and traveling another forty-fi ve minutes by car, I fi nally reached the forensic analysis facility, a series of labo-ratories set up in army tents. This is where I would spend most of my time over the next several months. I met the rest of the team, twelve in all, and got settled into my new home. I cannot relay many of the specifi cs of thework done in Iraq because a statement of non-disclosure binds me. I can say, how-ever, that textiles came to play a major evi-dentiary role in the trial of Saddam Hus-sein. In order to make a case for genocide, it had to be demonstrated that a specifi c ethnic group was targeted for annihilation. While osteological evidence tells a great deal about the victims, it cannot tell the whole story. The ethnicity of the victims was determined by the clothing they wore - by the textiles with which they communi-cated their identities. Many team members observed that working with the bones of a victim is much less personal. The clothing really tells you more about who a person was and allows you to form a more com-plete picture of that person in life. From a bullet-riddled shirt with a cartoon soccer player taken from the tiny torso of a small child, to the blood stained maternity dress of a pregnant woman, the clothing told many stories, and many horrifi c stories. I think there is a moral to this story some-where. Right. A skill that I never wanted led me to what was perhaps the most im-portant undertaking of my life. I went to Iraq, not as a soldier, but as an anthropolo-gist giving a voice to the voiceless victims of one of the most egregious crimes of our time. When our team leader, Dr. Michael Trimble, presented our fi nding in court, their story was fi nally told. For six hours he stood before a transfi xed audience that included Saddam Hussein and Chemical Ali, and gave the victims back a voice that had been silenced in a hail of bullets, cries of terror drowned out by the report of a rifl e so many years before. Their voices were fi nally heard.

Mr. Urban was an Anthropology concentrator in Browns Class of 2005 and the fi rst guard/greeter at Manning Hall, from May 2005-De-cember 2006. He is currently pursuing oppor-tunities in geoarchaeological research and fi eld-work through Browns Department of Geology. 11

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology

B r o w n U n i v e r s i t y

Contact the Museum at:300 Tower Street, Bristol, RI 02809Tel. 401-253-8388Fax 401-253-1198www.haffenreffermuseum.org

Museum Hours:Manning Hall:Tues. - Sun., 10 a.m.. - 4 p.m.Bristol:September - May: Sat. & Sun., 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.June - August: Tues. - Sun., 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Facing Mesoamerica - our newest exhibitBy Cassandra Mesick 06

The newest exhibition at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, to open Sep-tember 28, 2007, showcases the growing tember 28, 2007, showcases the growing tember 28, 2007number of Precolumbian objects in the Museums collection. To provide a broad overview of ancient Mesoamerican cul-tures, the pieces on display include ma-terial culture from the Classic Period Maya, Veracruz, Western Mexico and Costa Rica.

Incorporating pieces from di-verse cultural groups, geograph-ic regions, and time periods, Facing Mesoamerica emphasizes the varying ways Precolumbian peoples represented the human formranging from large stucco depictions of Classic Maya no-bility to the diminutive fi gurines of the Colima. By offering glimpses of the faces and bodies of ancient individuals, such representations personalize the past. Yet, the variety of portraiture produced in ancient Mesoamerica also challenges con-temporary understandings of the meaning and intention of the portrait as a form of material expression.

Facing Mesoamerica consequently exploreshow such depictions of individuals articu-

late with other forms of Mesoamerican art and how they were involved in wider means of cultural and political commu-nication. It prompts many interrelated questions about the material on display and the people who created, viewed, and interacted with it: Were the makers of Pre-

columbian portraiture attempting to depict their subjects realisti-cally, as is true in many Western portraits? Did the original viewers understand and use such representations as a means to learn about the identity of those being portrayed? Is the term portrait

or portraiture even applicable in the Mesoamerican context?

Asking such questions about the funtion, role, and meaning of Precolumbian por-traiture has become increasingly possible for Mesoamerican researchers aided by the decipherment of hieroglyphic texts, advances in the interpretation of iconog-raphy, and a more comprehensive under-standing of the archaeology and material culture of the area. Facing Mesoamerica ad-

dresses the state of archaeological research in this region, taking a Brown University affi liated project as a case study to illus-trate the types of questions scholars are currently investigating in their work.

Additionally, the exhibit considers impor-tant ethical considerations that arise in excavating, collecting, and curating artifacts from the region, as well as the logistical challenges of working in coun-tries with complex and often confl icting notions of cultural heritage.

Collectively, the artifacts on display in Facing Mesoamerica demonstrate that facing the past ultimately involves both person-

alizing ancient people through a consid-eration of their bodily representations as well as confronting the delicate concerns and challenges inherent in research on Precolumbian material culture.

Cassandra Mesick is the student curator of Facing Mesoamerica and is currently doing research in Mesoamerica for her dissertation through Brown Universitys Department of Anthropology.