Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology

博物馆人类学暑期学院

• 批准号: 1424029
• 负责人: Joshua Bell
• 金额: $ 39.62万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-15 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1424029&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Summer; Institute; Museum; Anthropology

Museum collections of anthropological material are an American treasure. They engage and inspire millions of Americans through exhibits and programs, serving as an important educational resource for communicating knowledge to a wide audience. The objects that museums preserve also constitute an invaluable scientific record of cultural practices, past and present. They are a databank of physical material that can be examined, analyzed, and reassessed again and again as questions and methods change over time. Objects document dynamic aspects of cultural behavior that are not recorded in written sources; they are one of the few ways to gain information directly from past societies that did not have writing. However, these collections are not being used to their full potential. Many interested researchers cannot effectively utilize museum collections because they lack the skills and methods to approach or evaluate this type of data, which presents distinct challenges. There are few graduate-level courses in museum-based research in the United States. The few that do exist seldom can offer the hands-on learning that is essential for object study. Students wishing to tap into the research potential of American museums either have had to study abroad or to train themselves. The result is that we are not fully capitalizing on the investment the nation has made in the assembly and maintenance of museum collections.The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) was created in response to this need. Based in the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology, it is an intensive four-week residential program providing training in museum research methods. Each year it accepts 12 graduate students from across the country who show promise to contribute to development of the field of cultural anthropology through object research. SIMA is a rigorous program that includes a mix of formal class time, individual research work, and extensive mentoring. Support from the National Science Foundation covers student participant costs and the bringing together of a specialized faculty of visiting experts with Smithsonian scholars whose time is contributed to SIMA. The Smithsonian offers its extensive collections as a laboratory for learning, giving students an opportunity for in-depth work with one of the greatest anthropological research collections in the world. Over the period of 2009 to 2013, SIMA has provided training for 60 students from 41 universities and 22 states. It now has a solid training model for graduate students in place, and former participants are beginning to gain university positions where they are using SIMA as a model for their own teaching. Work under the current grant will explore additional methods to disseminate training in collection-based research more widely. While continuing to provide training for graduate students, SIMA will add a module for faculty developing courses in museum research and also will hold a workshop to bring together universities interested in collaborating on institutes similar to SIMA. The goal of all these activities is to create a new generation of American scholars who are able to use anthropological collections effectively in their research. These new scholars will revitalize museums as sites where knowledge is produced as well as disseminated.

博物馆收藏的人类学资料是美国的珍宝。他们通过展览和节目吸引和激励数百万美国人，作为向广大观众传播知识的重要教育资源。博物馆保存的文物也是过去和现在文化习俗的宝贵科学记录。它们是一个物理材料的数据库，随着时间的推移，随着问题和方法的变化，可以一次又一次地进行检查，分析和重新评估。 实物记录了文化行为的动态方面，这些方面没有记录在书面资料中;它们是直接从没有文字的过去社会获得信息的少数几种方式之一。然而，这些收藏品并没有得到充分利用。许多感兴趣的研究人员无法有效地利用博物馆藏品，因为他们缺乏处理或评估此类数据的技能和方法，这带来了独特的挑战。在美国，博物馆研究的研究生课程很少。为数不多的存在很少能提供动手学习，这是必不可少的对象研究。希望利用美国博物馆研究潜力的学生要么出国留学，要么自学。结果是，我们没有充分利用国家在收集和维护博物馆藏品方面的投资。博物馆人类学暑期研究所（SIMA）就是为了满足这一需求而成立的。基于史密森学会的人类学系，这是一个为期四周的密集住宅计划，提供博物馆研究方法的培训。它每年接受来自全国各地的12名研究生，他们通过实物研究为文化人类学领域的发展做出贡献。SIMA是一个严格的计划，包括正式的上课时间，个人研究工作和广泛的指导。国家科学基金会的支持包括学生参与费用，以及将访问专家的专业教师与史密森学者聚集在一起，他们的时间贡献给SIMA。史密森尼博物馆提供其广泛的收藏作为学习的实验室，让学生有机会深入研究世界上最伟大的人类学研究收藏之一。在2009年至2013年期间，SIMA为来自41所大学和22个州的60名学生提供了培训。它现在有一个坚实的研究生培训模式，以前的参与者开始获得大学职位，他们使用SIMA作为自己教学的模式。目前赠款下的工作将探索更多的方法，以更广泛地传播基于收集的研究培训。在继续为研究生提供培训的同时，SIMA将为教师开发博物馆研究课程增加一个模块，并将举办一个研讨会，汇集有兴趣合作建立类似SIMA机构的大学。所有这些活动的目标是培养新一代的美国学者，他们能够在他们的研究中有效地使用人类学收藏。这些新学者将重振博物馆，使其成为产生和传播知识的场所。