News from

Anthropology

Reset All Filters
178 Results
Penn Libraries receives major gift of rare photographic plates by Edward S. Curtis
image of a Native American

“Nootka Woman Wearing Cedar-Bark Blanket”(1915). Edward S. Curtis Photography Collection, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts; University of Pennsylvania Libraries. (Photo: Chris Lippa, Penn Libraries)

Penn Libraries receives major gift of rare photographic plates by Edward S. Curtis

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries has received a rare collection of 151 interpositive glass plates by photographer Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952) from collector William H. Miller III. Appraised at $4.2 million, the gift to the Penn Libraries complements holdings across the University, making Penn a major center for research and work on Curtis, one of the most prolific American photographers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 
Tackling the topic of decolonization
A mural on a brick wall. On the left-hand side, on a red background, are the word "Decolonize and Chill" in white. Beneath that are the silhouette of two men riding horses. On the right-hand side is a person with a horse, beneath the words "We are still here."

The mural depicted in this photograph is “Decolonize And Chill/We Are Still Here.” It is by artist and community activist Jaque Fragua from the Pueblo of Jemez, one of the federally recognized tribes in New Mexico, as well as Ishi Glinsky and Shepard Fairey. It is art created out of an ongoing decolonizing space and project called Indian Alley, in Los Angeles. (Image: By wiredforlego, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

  • Q&A

    • Tackling the topic of decolonization

    Deborah Thomas, who runs Penn’s Center for Experimental Ethnography, and Christopher Woods, director of the Penn Museum, discuss a conference on decolonization that starts today.
    ‘The Stories We Wear’ puts a spotlight on fashion spanning 2,500 years
    three garments in glass cases in a museum

    A new Penn Museum exhibition puts a spotlight on fashion,  featuring 250 items spanning 2,500 years, including clothing, jewelry, uniforms, weapons, even tattoos. “The Stories We Wear” will be on view through June 12.

    ‘The Stories We Wear’ puts a spotlight on fashion spanning 2,500 years

    A new Penn Museum exhibition puts a spotlight on fashion featuring 250 items spanning 2,500 years, including clothing, jewelry, uniforms, weapons, even tattoos. “The Stories We Wear” will be on view through June 12.
    Medical anthropologist Fran Barg reflects on three decades at Penn
    A person standing along a black iron fence, one arm hanging over the fence. In the background are trees and a blurred out mural.

    Fran Barg spent more than 30 years at Penn, conducting research that fell at the intersection of medicine and anthropology. Though she technically retired in June 2021, she plans to remain connected to Penn, to the mentoring and research that has enriched her career.

    Medical anthropologist Fran Barg reflects on three decades at Penn

    She spent her career studying the culture of medicine. Through collaborations with colleagues in medicine and anthropology, she’s pinpointed why it’s so crucial to see serious medical problems from both a scientific perspective and a patient one.

    Michele W. Berger

    Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory
    A photo of a metal artifact in the shape of a spear on a black background. In the foreground is a scale that runs from 0 to 5 cm.

    An individual can create a stone tool or a pot without assistance, but creating a metal tool like the spear here is a group endeavor—and a complex one. Artifacts like this found in Thailand showed that such metal technology could be developed and exchanged using an economic model based on communities making decisions about how to participate in regional exchange systems. (Image: The Ban Chiang Project)

  • Q&A

    • Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory

    According to the Penn Museum’s Joyce White and Elizabeth Hamilton, prehistoric communities, rather than the ruling elites, in Thailand were the deciders in how to use metal resources.

    Michele W. Berger

    The pioneering career of Norman Badler
    Norman Badler standing in a lab with arms crossed.

    Norman Badler. (Image: Penn CIS)

    The pioneering career of Norman Badler

    The computer and information sciences professor retired in June. He chats about his recent ACM SIGGRAPH election and his expansive computer graphics path.

    From the Department of Computer and Information Science

    A fieldwork experience, no travel required
    Three people sitting at a table outside all wearing masks. They are around a yellow bin. They are holding tweezers and inspecting small items in the bin. In the foreground are nine styrofoam containers, some with blurred plant material.

    During the archaeobotany lesson led by Chantel White (not pictured) of the Penn Museum’s Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials—part of a two-week archaeology bootcamp—students including (from left to right) Ashley Ray, Emily Gladden, and Sarah LaPorte, learned a technique called dry sieving used to separate out organic materials like carbonized seeds, wood, and nutshell.

    A fieldwork experience, no travel required

    During a two-week in-person bootcamp at the Penn Museum, 11 undergrads learned basic archaeological skills in subjects from ceramics and sample-taking to archaeobotany.

    Michele W. Berger

    Leniqueca Welcome uses photography to explore the human experience
    Three dancers doing back bands with one leg raised on a sunlit beach.

    “The ways their bodies come together to make a continuous form against the backdrop of the water is simply poetic to me,” says Welcome. (Image: Leniqueca Welcome/OMNIA)

    Leniqueca Welcome uses photography to explore the human experience

    Welcome, a doctoral candidate in cultural anthropology with specialties in urban studies and experimental ethnography, is a member of the Collective for Advancing Multimodal Research Arts (CAMRA).

    Blake Cole

    ‘Cities in water’
    Panoramic view of the village of Gangotri at the shore of a river.

    ‘Cities in water’

    Architect and landscape architect Anuradha Mathur and anthropologist Nikhil Anand are collaborating on questions of design and human practices to create new ways of thinking about low-lying coastal cities in India and around the world.

    Kristina García