Anthropology Newsletter/F&hmmj 1995 19

(2) "All children will learn at a highlevel" and other assumptions: Concep-tions of learning held by policymakers,teachers, families, communities andchildren (paper session)—organized byRon Mertz, (314/231-3720 ext 437)Evaluation Research, St Louis PublicSchools, 911 Locust Street, St Louis,MO 63101.

(3) Issues in conducting ethnograph-ic evaluation research in AmericanIndian student programs and schools(joint with NAPA)—special eventpanel discussion organized by JanetGoldenstein Abler (701/777-3158; 701/772-7449) PO Box 7189, U NorthDakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202.

Committee #5: Transnational Issues inEducation and Change

(!) Visual images of community andschooling worldwide—organized byPhyllis M Ryan (ryan@roxanne.unam.mx; 814/234-0134) 927 W WhitehallRd, Unit 3, State College, PA 16801. "

(2) The new South Africa: Dimen-sions of change, impact and conflict inSouthern Africa—organized by DianeL Brook (706/542-6506; 706/546-5968; fax 706/542-6506; dlbrook@uga.cc.uga.edu) Dept of Social ScienceEducation, U Georgia, Athens, GA30602. .

(3) Proposition 187: Education andthe resurgence of racial nationalismworldwide (tentatively cosponsoredwith Committee #8)—organized byJose Macias (801/581-7158; 801/277-0638) Educational Studies 307 MBH,U Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.

Committee #7; Blacks in Education

(I) Recent research on the issues ofAfrican American Diasporic experi-ence as educators, academics andscholars—organized by Ruth Rose(212/772-5749) Hunter College, 695Park Ave #1311 East, New York, NYI002L ' : '

Committee #8: Spanish-SpeakingConcerns/Culture and BilingualEducation

(1) Language, identity and the for-mation of Latino communities—orga-nized by Javier Tapia and MarthaAllysath-Snider (215/898-1830; 215/722-2352) Graduate School of Educa-tion, U Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA.

Committee #9: Women in Schools andSociety

(1) Breakfast Roundtables I and II(cosponsored with Committee #1)—organized by Kathleen Bennett deMar-rais (615/974-8555) 336 HPER, U Ten-nessee, Knoxville, TN 37996.

(2) Social interactions in the Infor-mation Age: Women's ways of work-ing with technology—organized byMihyune Smith (513/767-7331 ext65681; 513/767-8429) Antioch Col-lege, 795 Livermore St, YellowSprings, OH 45387.

(3) Revitalizing conference presenta-tions—Preconference workshop fornovice and experienced conferencepresenters with opportunities for feed-back prior to the AAA meetings—organized by Margot Eyrong (615/527-9802; fax 615/524-4243) PO 11006,Knoxville, TN 37939.

(4) What is violence againstwomen?: Cultural perspectives—orga-nized by Ann Frankowski and HazelLatsoff * (send inquiries ~ to Ann

Frankowski, 410/455-3979; Dept ofSoc/Anth, 819 Administration, UMaryland Baltimore County, 5401Wilkens Ave, Baltimore, MD 21228).

Committee #12: The Study of CulturalTransmission/Acquisition

(1) Places and spaces: Cultural learn-ing outside school—organized byJoEllen Fishkeller (914/332-4989) 2Grove St, Tarry town, NY, and MaryAnne Pitman (513/556-3610; 513/791-0718) C of Education ML#2, U Cincin-nati, Cincinnati, OH 45221.

(2) Learning in likely places:Apprenticeships and diversity inJapanese education—organized byJohn Singleton, Dept of Education, UPittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA and Jacquet-ta Hill (217/351-2174; fax 217/359-7451) 13105MST, Dept of Ed Psych, U;Illinois, Champaign, IL 61821. '

The above list reflects ideas present-ed at the December business meetings.Please remember to participate in theseproposed sessions and also to plan and -submit other volunteered papers, sym-posia and special events. :

Awards and Bates to Remember

Members are encouraged to submittheir nominations for our two awards tothird year member-at-large, OlgaVasquez, by April 1. Jhe SpindlerAward is made annually to a scholarwho has demonstrated a genuine com-mitment to the field and whose exem-plary achievement in the execution ofeducational anthropology research orits application to instructional practiceserves as an inspiration to the membersof CAE. Any CAE member can make anomination for this award. Nomina-tions should be accompanied by a vita,at least 3 letters of support from profes-sional peers and a letter from the per-son nominating the candidate summa-rizing the nominee's merits.

The award for Outstanding Disserta-tion in Educational Anthropology isawarded annually and recognizes a dis-sertation completed within the past 3years. Any member of CAE can nomi-nate a recent graduate for this award.The nomination should include a letterfrom the person nominating the candi-date summarizing the strengths of thedissertation and 3 copies of a 20-pageabstract of the dissertation written bethe nominee. The deadline for nomina-tions is April 1.

Lastly, any CAE member interestedin serving as a blind reviewer for theDissertation Award competition shouldnotify Olga Vasquez as soon as possi-ble. Olga can be reached as follows:Olga Vasquez, Dept of Communica-tions, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA92093-0070 (619/534-5271; 619/284-6023; fax 619/534-7736; ovasquez®ucsd.edu).

Reviewing the above list of accom-plishments and activities it is clear thatCAE is a vibrant organization made tipof researchers and practitioners doingimportant work. As we begin our 25thanniversary year, I join you in lookingforward to continued excellence in ourscholarship and service to the profes-sion and community and to the contin-ued good company and colleagueshipof our members. Members are wel-come to contact Susan Florio-Riiane at1118 Southlawn St, East Lansing, MI48823; 517/351-0693; susanfr@msu.edu: — -r

COIMCILP0M MUSEUM AN3WWK&0GY ^

Museums and Material Culture atthe 1994 Annual Meeting

At the recent annual meeting, both asteady increase in the number of panelsfocusing on museums and material cul-ture (5 in 1994 as opposed to 2 in 1983)and a concomitant increase in panelattendance (at the 1994 meeting, forexample, "Indigenous Curation" playedto a packed house) suggest a renewedappreciation among anthropologists ofthe key role museums and objects playin interpreting past and present cultures.A summary of events of interest toCMA members at the 1994 meetinggives an indication this burgeoningawareness:

,Wine and'Cheese'KpundtablesAt 6 tables, "Reexamining Museum

Studies" (Julie Broyles, organizer)stimulated lively conversationi Some 30participants engaged in discussions thatranged in animation (and decibels) frompolite formality to spirited debate. Theyspanned topics as diverse as buildingmuseum studies programs, the merits ofacademic (versus on-the-job) trainingfor museum professionals, collaborationbetween academic institutions andmuseums, NEH funding considerationsfor university anthropology museumsand the value of utilizing small museumcollections for exhibitions and research.

Invited SessionResponse to "Indigenous Curation;

Alternative Perspectives on Preserva-tion, Collecting and Presentation"(Christina Kreps and Phillip EMinthorn, organizers; Margaret AnnHardin, discussant) was gratifying. Inaddition to Kreps and Minthorn, 7 pan-elists spoke to an overflow crowd aboutthe role of indigenous peoples in inter-preting their own material cultures. Par-ticipants took various approaches to thisescalating trend; their research wasundertaken in Africa and Oceania aswell as North America (regrettably, noindigenous peoples of South Americawere represented). Speakers focused on3 broad themes: the museum in indige-nous homelands (Homer, Kreps, Lee,Miller), indigenous people as curators(Graburn) and the participation ofindigenous curators in mainstreamanthropology museums (McHale, Skellyand Tafoya; Mibach; Minthorn; Rosoff).

Other panels of interest"Digging Museums: Museum Col-

lections as Sources for Interpreting andReinterpreting the Past" (Barbara Millsand Laurie Webster, organizers; Cather-ine and Don Fowler, Clara Sue Kidwell,discussants) considered trie value of

existing museum collections in enrich-ing the analysis of newly excavated ornewly discovered materials. The paperspresented a set of case studies in whichmaterials from localities such as Iranand the American Southwest were com-pared with documented collections inuniversity anthropology museums. Insome cases the'comparison allowedresearchers to identify the media andcontexts of their assemblages that mightotherwise have remained unknown.Among the examples were iron materi-als from Iran, basketry from NativeCalifornia and pottery and lithic arti-facts from the American Southwest.

"Museums .and Cross-Cultural Edu-cation" (Diana Baird N'diaye, MariettaSaravia-Shore, organizers; LindaLevine discussant) considered museumstrategies in exhibitions and related pro-grams for fostering the general public'sawareness and understanding of culturaldiversity in America at the torn of the21st century. Papers considered projectssuch as the controversial exhibition"Bridges and Boundaries: AfricanAmericans''-and American Jews" and itsresonance in the ethnically mixed com-munity of Crown Heights (New York).

"Culture at Large: Aesthetics andAnti-aesthetics" (Debbora Battaglia andFred Myers, organizers; Tricia Roseand Fred Myers, discussants). Arguablythe most intellectually stimulating ofthe panels about museums and objects"Culture at Large," though dampenedby some no-shows, largely fulfilled itspromise. The intent of the organizerswas to question the utility of the catego-ry of aesthetics in cross-cultural com-parisons given the hegemony implicit insuch value-laden, Western-based con-cepts. Papers drew on various aestheticsystems including music and drama aswell as the visual arts. Of particularinterest to CMA members were thoseby Ruth Phillips and Nicholas Thomas.Phillips contrasted the tensions broughtabout by the conflicting meanings ofIroijuois False Face masks to their mak-ers, for whom their sacredness requiresconcealment, on one hand, and to theirWestern patrons, for whom their valueas commodities is increased by publicdisplay, on the other. Thomas's papercontrasted the meaning of a basic ele-ment of Maori design to the Maoripainters who invented it and a success-ful White Australian artist who hasappropriated it and considered the ethi-cal dilemmas posed by the question ofthe design's ownership.

To request copies of the papers writedirectly to the authors. For full names,affiliations and addresses consult the93rd Annual Meeting Abstracts and the1994-95 AAA Guide.

I want to thank Gretchen ChesleyLang for agreeing to joint ContributingEditor responsibilities during myresearch leave to Cameroon from Jan-uary to August 1995. Please send yourcolumn contributions" directly to" her."

Gretchen Chesley Lang, Box 8254,University Station, Grand Forks, ND58202; 701/777-4618; glang@bad-Iands.nodak.edu. Gretchen*s poster ses-sion in Atlanta was a visual treat, withstriking photographs "fromhrerTecent