Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Leipzig, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 399-448) and index.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Anthropology, 2005. / Adviser: Joelle Bahloul. UMI # 3199412 Includes bibliographical references. Bibliography: p. 201-219.

The diploma thesis deals with the ethnological contribution and the extensive academic publishing activities of Professor Alois Musil, a remarkable Czech Arabist and Orientalist, especially with scientific pieces published in New York in the six-volume edition of the American Geographical Society between 1926 and 1928. The special attention is given to the sixth edition of the 'Oriental Explorations and Studies' entitled 'The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins' and this Musil's fieldwork is compared with later anthropological field surveys of the Bedouins ar-Ruwallah. The main part of the thesis is an analysis of Professor Musil's works and its contribution to the ethnographic and ethnological studies of manners and customs of traditional tribes and clans of the Arabian Peninsula and surrounded areas (such as modern Syria, Iraq and Jordan). The diploma thesis is also focused on a brief outline of the life of Professor Musil in a cultural-historical context with regard to his political activities on the Arabian Peninsula and his research of the North-Arab Bedouins ar-Ruwallah, the Banú Sakhr of Jordan and the Shammar tribe. The main aim of the thesis is a comprehensive evaluation of the ethnographic and ethnological contribution of Alois Musil's works in the social and historical science. The...

This doctoral thesis introduces the Wakhi ethno-linguistic group living in the region of the Pamiri-Hindu Kush mountain knot on territories of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. As a result of the strategic economic and political rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia during the 19th century (the so- called Great Game), part of the so far homogeneous ethnic group was forced to leave their native Wakhan Corridor in the late 19th century. The Wakhi people then found themselves on the territory of future states with diametrically opposite development to their own. The goal of this work is a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of the material and spiritual culture of the Wakhi ethnic group or groups living on the territories of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan with emphasis on their current status. Very important part of my work deals with the visual context that by means of images and photographs presents significant features associated with the Wakhi everyday life. My primary aim is to uncover the material and spiritual phenomena that are closely related to everyday life, historical and political contexts, socio-economic situation, Shia Ismaili, religion and affiliated features which the members of Wakhi ethno-linguistic...

In the last two decades, a shift in the museological paradigm has changed the way in which Native American history and culture is interpreted and represented to the general public. As legal mandates and growing institutional pressures increasingly call for the integration of tribal representatives into the decision-making bodies of museums and authoritative institutions, cross-cultural collaboration and partnerships have increased significantly. With little precedent guiding public historians and museum professionals through this new and complex system of collaboration, the path unfolding in the journey towards the “indigenization”; of museums has been marked with achievements and challenges that have both taught and tested historical professionals. The following is a case study that examines the ways in which this unfolding shift in Native American representation manifested itself in the reconstruction of a Chinookan plankhouse in the early 21st century. With a common objective of educating visitors about the significant cultural and natural history of the former site of the Cathlapotle village, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Chinook Indian Nation teamed up to design, fund, construct and interpret the Cathlapotle Plankhouse in Ridgefield, Washington. Despite sharing a common goal for the reconstruction of a full-scale Chinookan plankhouse, different motivations and agendas guided the decision-making process and required both partners to make compromises that challenged each other’s understanding and expectations of the project. In this work, I analyze how these two organizations navigated the rewarding yet challenging realm of cross-cultural collaboration to create a meaningful and significant heritage site for a wide range of user groups. From this analysis, I hope to provide public historians and museum professionals a detailed example of a cross-cultural partnership that will assist them as they move forward through a continuously unfolding and largely uncharted system of collaboration.

En 1974 et 1981, deux musées nationaux d’un genre nouveau ont été fondés au Japon : successivement, le Musée national d’ethnologie dans le Kansai, et le Musée national d’histoire et de folklore dans le Kantô. Le premier expose l’ensemble des cultures étrangères ainsi que celle de l’archipel, à travers une approche ethnologique, quand le second se concentre sur l’histoire, le folklore et l’archéologie du Japon. Ce travail vise à analyser le processus de construction et la manière dont le Japon est (re)présenté à travers ces deux musées, en les inscrivant dans une histoire aussi bien muséale que disciplinaire. Leur création dans un Japon en plein essor économique et, par surcroît, qui venait de rejoindre les grandes puissances sur la scène internationale, les associe d’emblée à une volonté de positionner la culture et l’histoire nationale, afin de rendre compte de son particularisme, ou encore de son homogénéité ; théories alors largement répandues à cette période. Si ce contexte idéologique rejaillit en partie dans les choix muséographiques et programmatiques, ce n’est pas tant pour y adhérer que sous forme de tensions propres au caractère national de ces deux musées. La muséographie étant à la charge des chercheurs et non des conservateurs, ce sont d’abord des enjeux disciplinaires qui conditionnent l’exposition. La tension se situe aussi bien dans la peur de l’instrumentalisation que dans l’exigence de la rigueur scientifique pour se légitimer ; ce qui se traduira sous forme de négociations et d’ajustements entre l’autorité du discours scientifique et celui, plus politique, de l’État-nation. / In 1974 and 1981, two national museums of a new kind were established in Japan : successively, the National Museum of Ethnology in the Kansai region, and the National Museum of History and Folklore in the Kantô region. The first exhibits foreign cultures, as well as cultures of the Japanese archipelago, using an ethnological approach, whereas the second focuses on the history, folklore and archeology of Japan. This work aims at analysing the process of construction and the way Japan is (re)presented in these two museums, while replacing them in both museum and disciplinary history. Their establishment, in the context of Japanese economic growth, in a country who had just joined the ranks of global powers is thus linked with a strong will to present national history and culture in order to show its particularism, or its homogeneity ; both such theories were widely prevalent in this period. If this ideological context is partly reflected in the museographic and programmatic choices, it’s not so much to adhere to them, but can be perceived in the form of tensions, pertaining to the national character of these two museums. Since the museography was left to researchers and not curators, it is first and foremost the disciplinary stakes which condition the exhibition. The tension arises from the clash of intrumentalisation, and the demand for scientific rigor to legitimate certain claims, materilazed by negociations and adjustments between the authority of the scientific discourse and that, more political, of the nation-state.

A Escultura Dogon, produzida no Mali, ao noroeste do continente africano, constitui um dos mais importantes acervos das artes africanas, recolhidos a partir das Missões coloniais Etnológicas-Etnográficas coordenadas por Marcel Griaule desde 1931. ITINERÁRIO, ESTUDO ESTÉTICO E ESTILÍSTICO DE UMA ESCULTURA DOGON: \"FIGURA HERMAFRODITA\" DO MESTRE DE YAYÉ, trata da construção de uma análise dos estilos dessa arte estatuária assim como a análise específica sobre o percurso da peça em questão, desde o vilarejo de Yayé em Bandiagara, no Mali, até o acervo do museu du Quai Branly, na cidade de Paris, França. O objetivo dessa pesquisa foi fortalecer os estudos sobre a Arte Africana no Brasil, contribuindo para o conhecimento da sociedade Dogon a partir de sua expressão artística, e como pensar a Arte Africana e a África a partir de sua produção estética. / The Dogon sculpture, produced in Mali, northwest of the african continent, is one of the most important collections of African art, collected from the Colonial Missions Ethnological-Ethnographic coordinated by Marcel Griaule since 1931. ITINERARY, AESTHETIC AND STYLISTIC STUDY OF A SCULPTURE DOGON \"HERMAPHRODITE FIGURE\" THE MASTER OF YAYÉ, is the construction of an analysis of styles such statuary as well as specific analysis on the route of the piece in question, from the village of Yayé in Bandiagara, Mali to the museum\'s collection du Quai Branly, in Paris, France. The objective of this research was to strengthen the studies on African Art in Brazil, contributing to the knowledge of the Dogon society from their artistic expression, and how to think African Art and Africa from its aesthetic production.

This thesis is a critical study of two exhibits, First Encounters Spanish Exploration in the Caribbean and A Tribute to Survival. The objective of the thesis was to understand if and how indigenous activists, using the media as tool, were able to change curatorial approaches to exhibition development. Chapter 1 is broken into three sections. The first section introduces the exhibits and succinctly discusses the theory that is applied to this thesis. The second section discusses the objectives of the project and the third provides a brief outline of the document. Chapter 2 discusses the historical background of American museums in an attempt to highlight changes in curatorial attitudes towards the public, display, interpretation, and authority. Chapter 3 gives a more in-depth overview of the methodology and materials utilized in the thesis. Chapter 4 is a critical analysis of the literature for both First Encounters and A Tribute to Survival. Chapter five is a summary of the thesis and offers a conclusion of the effectiveness of using the media as a tool. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

In order to illustrate why museums are frequently sites of conflict and mediation, this dissertation examines the complex conditions under which knowledge is produced and disseminated at three Canadian museums. Approaching museums as social arenas or contact zones, the dissertation exposes power struggles in museums and dislodges a whole set of assumptions about what museums are and how they function. For the study I selected the following museums with anthropological mandates: MacBride Museum (Whitehorse), Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (Yellowknife), and Vancouver Museum (Vancouver). The three museums were chosen because their geographical proximity to large communities of Aboriginal Peoples enabled an exploration of the changing relationships between them. Historically, museums have held the power to classify and define Aboriginal Peoples. Relatively recently, however Aboriginal Peoples have in various ways (by imposing constraints on how they and their cultures are exhibited, and through land claims and repatriation requests) been challenging their historic relationships with museums. In chapter one I discuss my objectives, methodology, and the work of those scholars who shaped this dissertation. Chapter two explores the invention of museums in the western world and begins linking the three Canadian museums with knowledge and power. In chapters three, four, and five I portray the mobility and productivity of three museums (MacBride Museum, PWNHC, and Vancouver Museum) in three distinct regions of Canada. I illustrate their ability to articulate identity, power, and tradition as well as the role they perform in the social organization of power relations. Each chapter begins with a description of the historical roots of power relations at each institution. This leads into a discussion of each museum's present system of authority: the state, governing bodies, professional staff and, increasingly, Aboriginal representatives. In the process I reveal some of the political pressures, institutional hierarchies, and personal conflicts that shape knowledge within these institutions. Chapter six is a review and critical analysis of systems of authority of the three museums and the challenges presented by Aboriginal Peoples. I conclude with the issues raised at the outset, which continue to confront the Canadian museum community, issues of inclusion and the limitations of cross-cultural translation, repatriation, and representation.

This thesis is an ethnographic account of the indigenous history and colonization of the upper Tapajós river in Brazil. Research was conducted using archival materials in which I searched for the different conceptualizations of river movements and routes, of either Indians or colonizers. During the period of penetration in the region called “Mundurucânica”, several native groups living in the savannah and at the riverbanks, started to be used as a labour-force, but above all, they worked as interpreters thereby enabling colonization on these Amazonian rivers around the Tapajós. If, on one hand, native groups were violated by colonization, on the other, they have shaped and influenced the penetration, demonstrating their active involvement in this historical process. With the arrival of Franciscan priests and the ultimate establishment of the Cururu Mission, exchanges between indigenous people and colonizers became impregnated with mythical fragments. These relations of displacements and encounters between indigenous groups—that in turn influenced colonization efforts—with local cultural values and practices is still a relatively little explored topic in anthropology. This thesis synthesises the history of the colonization of a region of the Brazilian Amazonian rainforest from the point of view of its indigenous inhabitants. It considers the pacification of the Indians in the 18th and 19th centuries, presenting ethnographic material of the indigenous groups that have moved into the Tapajós region and examines their social logic of interethnic contact. I analyze fragments of material culture, myths and naming such as they appear in the literature so as to track down the spatial dynamics of indigenous Amazonia and its landscape transformations.