Spring 2016 Lectures posted for March and April

The schedule is filling out for late March and April for our Spring Quarter lecture roster.

Spring Quarter 2016 Schedule Developing - Still Some Spaces Open

The Spring 2016 Schedule is filling up, but we've got a few spaces left. If you're interested in presenting at DePaul, see our 'CFP' link above.

Dr. Cesar Astuhuaman presented a method for museum collections studies on 10 March 2016

On the evening of March 10th, 2016, Dr. César Astuhuamán Gonzáles - named faculty at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru - presented his method for conducting research on museum collections. While many scholars favor field research, museum collections present two advantages: first, they are more accessible than overseas field sites for students and advanced scholars; second, scholars have an ethical responsibility to capitalize on the heaps of collections in museum storerooms that may otherwise lay idle and unstudied.

Dr. Astuhuamán's method for museum collection studies can be described as 'collection and artifact biographies.' He suggested that students should first develop a biography of the collection. For example, a collection of artifacts in the Harvard Peabody Museum was collected in 1916 in Peru. It moved several times around the Western Hemisphere before arriving at the Peabody. At the Peabody the artifacts were split up by material (e.g., wood, metal, cloth, human remains), which decontextualized artifacts that went together in real life - for example, the clothing and grave goods that were interred together as part of a mummy bundle in the 15th or 16th century. 

Dr. Astuhuamán traced the biography of the entire 1916 collection as well as the biographies of each individual item. He correlated the numerous inventories, archival records, and research notebooks in Peru and the US in which the objects had been recorded. Following these "biographical" investigations, Dr. Astuhuamán demonstrated that social relationships - like interregional relocation - can be reconstructed through appropriately-recontextualized museum studies.

Though innovative and sophisticated, this kind of research is certainly more feasible than many field studies for scholars, graduate, and undergraduate students - especially under faculty guidance.

3 March 2016 - postponed

today's lecture has been postponed. Have a great weekend!
DOWiA

David Keller presents his work at Chicago's Camp Douglas on Thursday, February 25

We are thrilled to have David Keller, noted Chicago amateur historian and longtime resident, present his archaeological research at Chicago's Camp Douglas site. David is the managing director of the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation as well as the author of two books: The Story of Camp Douglas, Chicago’s Forgotten Civil War Prison and Robert Anderson Bagby, Civil War Diary (Annotated) 1863-1865.

David has worked alongside DePaul's Dr. Michael Gregory in the archaeological excavations and artifact analyses of finds from Camp Douglas. Opened in 1861, Camp Douglas was a Union training and reception facility for over 40,000 Union soldiers in Chicago.  Camp Douglas became a prison camp, housing over 30,000 Confederate prisoners, from 1862 until it was demolished in 1865. Containing over 200 buildings on 60 acres, Camp Douglas was the most significant Civil War facility in Northern Illinois.

Dr. Matthew Thomann parses the relationship between the State, AIDS, and sexual minorities in Africa

In a special edition of DOWiA, anthropologist Dr. Matthew Thomann presented his work in Cote d'Ivoir on Monday, February 15th. His presentation untangled the complicated relationship between AIDS care, NGOs, and sexual minorities as they are understood on Africa's South Atlantic Coast. His talk was the second in a series that departs from DOWiA's initial focus on archaeology and heritage-related presentations. Although it was a special Monday session of DOWiA, Dr. Thomann's presentation saw the DOWiA audience grow to its largest number yet.

Dr. Matthew Thomann presents at DOWiA 

Photo credit: Dr. Robert Rotenberg

Dr. Jay Sosa explained the colors and performed the choreography of Brazilian protest...

On 11 February 2016 Dr. Jay Sosa presented his work on the symbolism of Brazilian protest. His work demonstrates that protests and protesters are a diverse mix of people with varying commitments and interests in political issues. Dr. Sosa explained that protests are effective in maintaining a public foothold in defining important political issues even when participants lack a single, clearly-defined message. Dr. Sosa's presentation provided a significant complement to the DOWiA's inaugural schedule, as it moved away from archaeological examination and the politics of heritage and into a more expansive realm of anthropological investigation, in this case the symbolic analysis of protests. Dr. Sosa even performed some of the essential choreography of Brazilian protests he witnessed; alas, we didn't get a picture of his reenactment.