Peter Oakley, MA student in Material Culture, UCL Stamps such as the ones illustrated are used by Navajo smiths to impress images or repeat patterns onto jewellery or silverwork. The earliest Navajo stamps from the 1880s carried similar designs which copied those found on contemporary Mexican ironwork and leather. StampedContinue Reading

Christopher Wright is a lecturer in Anthropology Department at Goldsmiths College, University of London where he teaches on the MA Visual Anthropology course. He can be contacted at – c.wright@gold.ac.uk Print made in 1999 from glass-plate negative by Lt. Henry Boyle Somerville 1893 Courtesy of the Royal Anthropological Institute ofContinue Reading

Paul Williams, Assistant Professor, Program in Museum Studies, New York University On first reflection, we might assume that objects tied to abhorrent events deserve no place in the museum. The association of the museum with all things historically precious and valuable is an idea that remains largely stable in publicContinue Reading

Haidy Geismar, NYU Material Connexion is a “material library” based in New York, Cologne, Bangkok, and Milan. The Library houses over 3,500 new and innovative materials representing eight categories: polymers, glass, ceramics, carbon-based materials, cement-based materials, metals, natural materials and natural material derivatives. It is a resource for designers, architects,Continue Reading

Barbara Kirschenblatt Gimblett, NYU Mitzvah Kinder figurines, right to left: Malkeleh, Moishy, Totty (Father), Mommy, and Baby Chaim. “The ‘Mitzvah Kinder’ has been designed to represent a Yiddishe family in the world of children’s play and imagination. Our charming characters made of soft lightweight rubber, makes them safe, durable andContinue Reading

Dr Jenny Newell, Curator, Oceania (Polynesia), Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the British Museum Tonga, 1967, 39 x 29 cm. Donated by Noelle Sandwith Oc,1994,01.64 This wall hanging was made in Tonga to commemorate the royal coronation on 4 July 1967. I selected this object partly asContinue Reading

Aaron Glass, University of British Columbia Contemporary intercultural representation is facilitated in large part by a number of objectifying media that were relatively novel just a century ago. Barring direct social contact, we tend to experience other cultural groups via mediating technologies of representation—illustrated texts, photographs and films, museum exhibitions,Continue Reading