Summer Institute of Museum Anthropology

博物馆收藏的人类学藏品已经汇集在一起，以记录世界文化，展示研究结论的证据基础，并支持未来的人类学调查。史密森学会的博物馆人类学暑期研究所是一个为期四周的密集项目，旨在培训研究生和教职员工在文化人类学研究中使用博物馆物品。在SIMA期间，参与者学习在人类学当前研究兴趣的背景下，使用一系列定性和定量的方法和途径来分析博物馆收藏品。SIMA利用史密森学会庞大的人类学收藏品和成员博物馆的相关资源，允许参与者在个别项目中亲身体验博物馆标本的工作，这些项目导致论文和研究项目以及新的教学课程。SIMA将博物馆视为一个人种学实地考察场所，专注于体验式学习，将实地考察的元素与正规的课堂课程相结合。该计划培训了大量科学文化人类学的研究生和教职员工，并为广泛的学术产生了支持人类学研究的资源。文化人类学的当前趋势激发了人们对人类学对象(文物、录音、素描、静止和运动图像)的兴趣，博物馆收藏品越来越被认为是丰富文化数据的来源。然而，许多潜在的研究人员无法有效地利用博物馆收藏品，因为他们缺乏接近或评估这类数据的技能和方法。虽然人类学中的理论趋势发生了变化，但这些集合是关键的数据集，可以解决新的研究问题和答案。以博物馆为基础的研究培训很少，也很少能提供对实物研究至关重要的动手学习。SIMA旨在提高博物馆藏品的生产性利用，并允许文化人类学利用前辈的投资。此外，它还寻求促进和参与这些材料发源地社区感兴趣和有价值的研究，从而展示文化人类学方法论对广泛的科学、社会科学和人文学科的价值。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Anthropology collections housed by museums have been assembled to document world cultures, present the evidential basis of research conclusions, and support future anthropological inquiry. The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution is an intensive four-week program to train graduate students and faculty to use museum objects in research in cultural anthropology. During SIMA, participants learn to analyze museum collections in the context of current research interests in anthropology using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods and approaches. SIMA takes advantage of the Smithsonian Institution’s vast anthropological collections and related resources in constituent museums, allowing participants hands-on experience working with museum specimens on individual projects that lead to dissertation and research projects as well as new teaching curricula. SIMA treats the museum as an ethnographic field site and focuses on experiential learning, combining elements of a field school with formal classroom lessons. This program trains numerous graduate students and faculty in scientific cultural anthropology and generates resources that support anthropological research for a broad range of scholars.Current trends in cultural anthropology have stimulated a revitalized interest in anthropological objects (artifacts, audio recordings, drawings, still and moving images) and museum collections are increasingly being recognized as a source of rich cultural data. However, many potential researchers cannot effectively use museum collections because they lack the skills and methods to approach or evaluate this type of data. While theoretical trends shift in anthropology, these collections are critical data sets that can address new research questions and answers. Training in museum-based research is rare and seldom can offer the hands-on learning that is essential for object study. SIMA is designed to increase productive use of museum collections and allow cultural anthropology to capitalize on the investment made by former generations. In addition, it seeks to promote and engage in research of interest and value to the communities where this material originated, and thus demonstrate the value of cultural anthropology methodologies to a wide range of scientific, social science and humanistic disciplines.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.