Matters of Care Conference
How can ethnographic and world cultures museums use their collections and galleries as spaces which create active discussion around the impact of humans on the planet, while also highlighting what long-term perspectives can tell us about sustainability for developing positive futures? This conference, part of a European research project titled Taking Care, places ethnographic and world cultures museums at the centre of the search for strategies to address issues regarding the future of the planet.
Taking Care Introduction and In Conversation with Wayne Modest
Thursday 8 April 2021
In the opening session of our 6-week webinar series, project leader Claudia Augustat introduces the Taking Care Project and museum partners. Our keynote speaker for this session, Wayne Modest, then shares his thoughts on museums as 'Spaces of/for Care', followed by a discussion with Laura Van Broekhoven.
Speakers: Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum; Claudia August, Curator at Weltmuseum Wien and Taking Care Project Leader; Wayne Modest, Professor and Director of the Research Center for Material Culture, National Museum of World Cultures, Netherlands.
Watch the recording of the session here.
Discussion on Indigenous Knowledge and Community Environmental Justice
Thursday 15 April 2021
In the second week of the Matters of Care Conference series, we hear from two speakers about environmental justice, community conservation and the preservation of environmental knowledge from different global perspectives. Through their experiences, they showcase the diverse ways of documenting and capturing environmental knowledge, discussing the ways that these processes of learning and gathering are ethical and sustainable.
Reflections from Environmental Anthropology
Speaker: Pauline von Hellermann, Senior Lecturer in International Development, University of East Anglia, UK
Becoming (in)visible in environmental justice struggles: using participatory mapping, filming and writing to support the indigenous research agenda
Speaker: Dr. Iokiñe Rodríguez Fernandez
Discussant: Ashley Coutu, Pitt Rivers Museum
Watch the recording of the session here.
Climate Change Activism through Film
Thursday 29 April 2021
In the third week of the Matters of Care Conference series, we are joined by two filmmakers, Itandehui Jansen and Camilla Andersen, who talk to Lotten Gustaffson Reinius and Thandiwe Wilson about the process of creating thought-provoking films as a form of activism.
Ki Nche Ndutsa (Time and the Seashell)
Speaker: Itandehui Jansen, Filmmaker and Programme Director, Film & TV, School of Design, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Eyes on and from the Changing Arctic
Speaker: Camilla Andersen, Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker, Oslo, Norway
Discussants: Lotten Gustafsson Reinius, Professor of Ethnology, Stockholm University and Nordic Museum; Thandiwe Wilson, Taking Care Project Assistant, Pitt Rivers Museum
Watch the recording of the session here.
Matters of Care: In Conversation with Cissy Serrao
Thursday 6 May 2021
In the fourth week of the Matters of Care Conference series, we talk with Cissy Serrao, founder of Poakalani & Company, Hawai'i. Cissy and her family have been creating Hawaiian quilts for many generations. In conversation with Jeremy Uden and Misa Tamura, she shares her thoughts with us on the cultural significance and symbolism of quilting in Hawaiian culture, why the patterns and tradition are so important to keep alive, and how she teaches this exciting and beautiful art.
The Art of Hawaiian Quilting
Speaker: Cissy Serrao, Founder of Poakalani & Company, a quilting guild and school in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Discussants: Jeremy Uden, Head of Conservation at the Pitt Rivers Museum; Misa Tamura, Senior Conservator on the Talking Threads textile research project at the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Watch the recording of the session here.
In Conversation with Subhadra Das
Wednesday 12 May 2021
In the fifth week of the Matters of Care Conference series keynote speaker Subhadra Das asks us the fundamental question "What is a museum for?" In conversation with Marenka Thompson-Odlum, Subhadra asks us to question our museums, collections and stories that we tell.
Taking Care of Business: What is a Museum for?
Speaker: Subhadra Das, Curator, UCL Science Collections, London, UK
Discussant: Marenka Thompson-Odlum, Pitt Rivers Museum
Watch the recording of the session here.
In Conversation with Naman Ahuja and Concluding Thoughts
Thursday 20 May 2021
In the final week of the Matters of Care Conference series, keynote speaker Naman Ahuja will share thoughts on the decolonisation of museums, the globalisation of art history and issues around the showcasing of difference and the inability to translate one culture into the language of another. He will discuss the complexities of taking ideas of a universal museum and global art history to a non-western audience in conversation with Clare Harris.
From India IN the World to India AND the World
Speaker: Professor Naman Ahuja, Curator, art historian and Professor for Indian Art and Architecture at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India.
Discussant: Professor Clare Harris, Curator for Asia Collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum and Professor of Visual Anthropology at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.
Watch the recording of the session here.
