by Zunaira Choudhury Reposted from the Brown Daily Herald, 2/28/08
Students from Providence public elementary schools will soon be visiting Brown's Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Bristol as part of a pilot program funded by the Office of the President, according to a January press release from the museum. The museum is "excited to reach out to Providence," said Geralyn Hoffman, curator of programs and education at Haffenreffer.
For more information on Summer Camps at the HMA, click here.
Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Bristol, RI is pleased to announce that its new exhibition, Facing Mesoamerica, will debut and open to the public on Friday, September 28, at 5:30 p.m. This exhibit explores the people of ancient Mesoamerica. Representations of human faces and bodies offer a personalized introduction to the Precolumbian past and challenge prevailing ideas about the function and meaning of the “portrait.” Facing Mesoamerica also explores the current state of Mesoamerican archaeology, considering ethical challenges, logistical difficulties, and research questions that confront scholars of the Precolumbian past. The exhibit is co-curated by Museum staff, Brown faculty, and Brown Graduate Student Cassandra Mesick. Ms. Mesick is currently doing research in Mesoamerica for her dissertation through Brown University’s Department of Anthropology.
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall Creation: Tuesday – Friday, November 14-17, 9:30-5:00 p.m. Dismantling: Saturday, November 18, 2:00 p.m.
Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall is pleased to announce the 2006 Barbara Greenwald Memorial Arts Program, The Chenrezig Mandala. This month, monks from H.H. the Dalai Lama’s Namgyal Monastery will visit Brown University to create a Tibetan sand mandala.
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Opens 2nd On-Campus Exhibition
Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology will open its second on-campus exhibition, Believing Africa, on Saturday, May 27, 2006. The exhibition, focusing on African spiritual beliefs, will be on display in the Museum’s satellite gallery at Manning Hall, located on The College Green. The opening coincides with Commencement Weekend.
Drawing on the ethnographic collections of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and other sources, the exhibition aims to explore the ways that Africans, today and in past generations, call on local and global religious traditions for meaning and answers to questions about sickness and health, wealth and poverty, war and peace, power and helplessness, birth, death, and what lies beyond. Believing Africa is co-curated by Museum staff, Brown faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students
LOOKING FOR AN INTERACTIVE ADVENTURE? EXPLORE THE HAFFENREFFER MUSEUM’S 2006 SUMMER CAMPS
Parents looking for a unique and fun camping experience for their 8 to 12-year-old children this summer are invited to register for one or two sessions of our week-long summer camps created and led by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology’s Education Department. Your child will explore fascinating cultures under the leadership of experienced museum staff and volunteers in our beautiful waterfront setting at Mount Hope in Bristol. He or she will receive individualized attention while participating in camp activities that include unique art projects, stories, games, trail hikes, beach exploration, and much more.
The Haffenreffer Museum's inaugural on-campus exhibition, Warp Speeds, closed its doors on March 15th. However, the full exhibition on globalization - developed and curated by Brown University students, staff, and faculty - will now be available to you and the world at www.haffenreffermuseum.org/warpspeeds.html.
18 Mar 2006 by Administrator
Warp Speeds Online Exhibit
We have added a section to the website on our Manning Hall exhibit Warp Speeds. Please visit often, as new content will be constantly added.
02 Feb 2006 by Administrator
Jonathan C.H. King to Speak at Brown on March 9, 2006
Jonathan C.H. King, Keeper of the Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at the British Museum, will speak in the third annual Barbara A. Hail lecture sponsored by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, on Thursday, March 9, at 5:30 p.m. on the Brown University campus. His talk, Dirty Old Kamiks: Perfection for Survival in the Careful Arts of Inuit Women, is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall.
Prof. Noel Broadbent to Speak at Brown’s Haffenreffer Museum on Feb. 25
"Archaeology, Forensics, and the Mystery of the Andrée Ballooning Expedition to the North Pole in 1897"
Professor Noel D. Broadbent, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution, led an archaeological expedition to White Island in the high Arctic Svalbard archipelago in 2000, to discover how and why S.A. Andrée and his two Swedish companions died while attempting to reach the North Pole. He will discuss his findings in a talk sponsored by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology on Saturday, February 25, at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, 300 Tower Street, Bristol, R.I. His talk, Archaeology, Forensics, and the Mystery of the Andrée Ballooning Expedition to the North Pole in 1897, begins at 3 p.m., and will be followed by refreshments. It is free with Museum admission.
Prof. Karen Tranberg Hansen to Speak at Brown on February 9, 2006
Secondhand Clothing and Fashion in Africa
Karen Tranberg Hansen, Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University, will explore the ethics of selling secondhand Western clothing to the Third World and its impact on fashion in Africa. The talk, sponsored by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology on Thursday, February 9, will be held in The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall on the College Green, Brown University, Providence. Her talk, Secondhand Clothing and Fashion in Africa, begins at 5:30 p.m., and refreshments will be available. It is free and open to the public.
Experience Winter Celebrations from Around the Globe
Looking for something new to do with the family this holiday season? The Haffenreffer Museum invites you to explore Winter Celebrations from cultures around the world on the first three Saturdays in December. Drop by the Museum between noon and 3 p.m. for craft activities, and a story or two from two different winter traditions.
Native Dancers to Highlight Schedule for Honoring the Harvest
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and the Bristol Parks & Recreation Department have been busy planning a full slate of interactive, educational, and fun activities for the annual Honoring the Harvest event on Saturday, November 19, from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Tracey “Dancing Star” Brown; William “Winds of Thunder” Guy, and other members of the Pokanoket Tribe, Wampanoag Nation, will begin the first set of dances as visitors arrive at 11:30. Guests will be invited to participate in the Round, Friendship, and Snake Dances. At 12:15 p.m., “Dancing Star” will tell the story of The Three Sisters as well as a short history of the Wampanoag people at King Philip’s Seat, a short walk from the main Museum. The dances will be repeated at 1. At 1:30, the story of traditional Wampanoag Thanksgiving will be told in the Education Wing of the Barn. Native foods, including succotash, pumpkin bread, corn bread, and cider, will be served at 1:45 p.m.
Brown Students Create Days of the Dead Altar in Manning Hall
A group of Mexican and Chicano/a graduate and undergraduate students at Brown University has begun work on a public altar to honor the memory of Mexican and Mexican-American soldiers and civilians who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the full support of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, graduate student Mireya Loza is leading the project along with five others. Construction of the altar begins October 20, 2005, in the vestibule of Manning Hall and will be completed in time for the Days of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) – October 31- November 2. It will include sugar skulls, commissioned by an artist in California, a catrin (papier maché skeleton), and items that personally relate to the soldiers and civilians honored by the installation.
The Haffenreffer Museum invites friends and community members to attend its annual Barbara Greenwald Memorial Arts Program on Saturday, October 15. Sponsored by the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum, this year’s program will feature the Allegany River Indian Dancers who will perform from 3 – 4:30 p.m. in the Outing Reservation Building at our 300 Tower Street, Bristol, location. Refreshments will follow.
Prof. Henry Drewal to Speak at Brown on October 27, 2005
Henry Drewal, Evjue Bascom Professor of Art History and Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, will explore the importance of textiles among the Yoruba-speaking peoples of West Africa in a talk sponsored by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology on Thursday, October 27, in Salomon Hall on the Brown University campus. His talk, Threads of Memory: Textile Arts and Ancestral Masquerades Among the Yoruba, begins at 5:45 p.m., and will be followed by a reception in the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall. It is free and open to the public.
Haffenreffer Museum Welcomes Keni Sturgeon, New Curator of Programs and Education
Keni Sturgeon, formerly of Corvallis, Oregon, is the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology’s new Curator of Programs and Education. Ms. Sturgeon recently relocated to New England, having completed her final teaching commitments at Western Oregon University, where she served as adjunct faculty member in the Anthropology Department, coordinator for two oral history projects, and director of the Jensen Arctic Museum.
Dr. Gary Urton to present the Haffenreffer’s 2005 Jane Dwyer Memorial Lecture on Sept. 29
The knotted string records of the Inka Empire, khipus, remain unique among humankind’s many methods of communication. Intricate combinations of knots on arrays of thread recorded the accounts of this vast empire, the movements of its people, and perhaps far more. Deciphering these still-mute messages remains one of the great challenges facing archaeologists studying the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas.
Professor Gary Urton’s ground breaking research, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, NSF, and the NEH is bringing us closer to understanding khipus than ever before. In this fascinating talk, Dr. Urton helps to unravel the mysteries of the khipu. Was this a true system of writing, comparable to those invented by other ancient civilizations? If so, how close are we to reading these records of one of the world’s great civilizations?
Copyright 2004 Brown University
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
300 Tower Street
Bristol, R. I. 02809
Phone: (401) 253-8388
Fax: (401) 253-1198
Questions? email: webmaster@haffenreffermuseum.org
Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology will open its second on-campus exhibition, Believing Africa, on Saturday, May 27, 2006. The exhibition, focusing on African spiritual beliefs, will be on display in the Museum’s satellite gallery at Manning Hall, located on The College Green. The opening coincides with Commencement Weekend.
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and the Bristol Parks & Recreation Department have been busy planning a full slate of interactive, educational, and fun activities for the annual Honoring the Harvest event on Saturday, November 19, from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Tracey “Dancing Star” Brown; William “Winds of Thunder” Guy, and other members of the Pokanoket Tribe, Wampanoag Nation, will begin the first set of dances as visitors arrive at 11:30. Guests will be invited to participate in the Round, Friendship, and Snake Dances. At 12:15 p.m., “Dancing Star” will tell the story of The Three Sisters as well as a short history of the Wampanoag people at King Philip’s Seat, a short walk from the main Museum. The dances will be repeated at 1. At 1:30, the story of traditional Wampanoag Thanksgiving will be told in the Education Wing of the Barn. Native foods, including succotash, pumpkin bread, corn bread, and cider, will be served at 1:45 p.m.
A group of Mexican and Chicano/a graduate and undergraduate students at Brown University has begun work on a public altar to honor the memory of Mexican and Mexican-American soldiers and civilians who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the full support of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, graduate student Mireya Loza is leading the project along with five others. Construction of the altar begins October 20, 2005, in the vestibule of Manning Hall and will be completed in time for the Days of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) – October 31- November 2. It will include sugar skulls, commissioned by an artist in California, a catrin (papier maché skeleton), and items that personally relate to the soldiers and civilians honored by the installation.
The Haffenreffer Museum invites friends and community members to attend its annual Barbara Greenwald Memorial Arts Program on Saturday, October 15. Sponsored by the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum, this year’s program will feature the Allegany River Indian Dancers who will perform from 3 – 4:30 p.m. in the Outing Reservation Building at our 300 Tower Street, Bristol, location. Refreshments will follow.