Mariana Françozo (Leiden University) and Christiano Tambascia (Unicamp, Brazil) invite submissions for a panel on museum anthropology at the upcoming 18th IUAES World Congress, to be held in Florianopolis, Brazil from July 16-20, 2018. The panel abstract and details for submission are provided below:

Open Panel: New encounters with museum anthropology: objects, history, politics [OP 136]

Thematic Line: 26. Museums

This panel focuses on the history of museum collections, including both ethnographic and archaeological materials. After having been largely absent from anthropological research and debates during the mid-twentieth century, in the last few decades museum anthropology has regained momentum and scholars all over the world have been developing new forms of looking into and thinking with museum objects. By taking museums and museum history as anthropological research in its own right, scholars have reengaged with anthropological critical (self-)reflection and developed object-centered theoretical frameworks that have made it to mainstream anthropological debates. Likewise, the political dimension of collecting and display practices have become a central issue in museum anthropology – often a medium to think both about the very basis of anthropological knowledge and ethnographic practice, and the broader political context in which it takes place. The aim of this panel is to take stock of these recent developments and to reflect about new forms of encounter with museum collections and with the history of the discipline. We welcome papers that deal with one or more of the following topics: 1) reinterpreting museum collections through collaborative research with indigenous peoples and stakeholders; 2) refining and expanding knowledge about museum objects through the use of new material culture analysis technologies; 3) reengagements with the history of anthropology and archaeology.

Submissions are accepted in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French.

Deadline for abstract submission: 25 March, 2018.

For more information on how to register, please refer to http://www.iuaes2018.org