Prudential Foundation Grant Helps Students “Meet the World”
Thanks to a generous $90,000 three-year grant from the Prudential Foundation, the Penn Museum is once again offering economically disadvantaged school children an opportunity to “Meet the World” through International Classroom educational enrichment programs. Last year, more than 700 students from Lower Eastern North Philadelphia public schools—part of the Prudential Neighborhood Partnership participated in International Classroom school-based programs and took bus trips to visit the Museum’s world-renowned galleries. Interacting with International Classroom speakers, students gained a first-hand understanding of the different perspectives, traditions, and values of other cultures and an appreciation of the challenges and possibilities of living in an interconnected global society. The Museum is honored to continue its partnership with the Prudential Foundation in providing these multicultural educational programs.
Penn Museum Hosts Live Demonstration of Internet2
On the evening of September 21, 2005, the Museum hosted a live demonstration of Internet2—the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium led by research and higher education. “Bridging the Ancient and Modern” showed how next-generation Internet technologies are changing the way archaeologists and anthropologists work. Using a high-speed network connection and advanced videoconferencing technology, Museum staff interacted in real-time with collaborators around the world. One demonstration had Tlingit fiber artists at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, inspect and discuss artifacts housed in the Museum’s American Section. Another had scholars in Croatia and Delaware and at Penn talk about fossil human evolutionary studies while taking questions from students at the University of Delaware. In addition to these demonstrations, Museum Director Richard M. Leventhal announced the formation of an Internet2 Special Interest Group in Archaeology and Anthropology.
Maya Shamans, Magic Heroes, and Spirit Healers
Maya ritual leaders, often called shamans, interact with the supernatural world to intervene in times of crisis—sickness in a family, misfortune, or disharmony within a community. Their spiritual practices include achieving altered states through powerful medicine, ecstatic dance, intensive prayer, and dreams. Ancient myths speak of magical transformations by deities and their power to bring the fallen back to life. This spring, the Museum’s 24th Annual Maya Weekend presents “Maya Shamans, Magic Heroes, and Spirit Healers,” a program focused on shamans and religious leaders whose traditional medicine has long sustained the health and well-being of Maya society, April 7–9, 2006. Our program combines illustrated talks by top scholars, engaging films, and interactive workshops exploring the cultural traditions and hieroglyphic writing of the Maya. For more information and a brochure, call (215) 898-4890 or email us at events@museum.upenn.edu
Gastronomia Toscana: Italian Food Culture and the Mediterranean Diet
The Women’s Committee of the Museum is sponsoring a tour of Tuscany, Italy, from May 26 to June 4, 2006. Its purpose will be to enjoy Tuscany (and Tuscan wine and food!) while learning about Mediterranean food systems, healthy eating, and Italian food culture. The tour will be led by Janet Chrzan, a University of Pennsylvania Nutritional Anthropologist. To learn more, visit http://www.museum.upenn.edu/ new/events/world_tour/tourprogram.shtml. To request a brochure, which includes registration information, deadlines, and costs, call The Women’s Committee at (215) 898-9202 or email Anna Gniotek (gniotek@pobox.upenn.edu).
Research Partnership with Santa Clara Pueblo
In May 2005 the Penn Museum signed a five-year research agreement with the government of Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico to study the history of their tribal constitution. The Santa Clara Pueblo Constitution was adopted in 1935 under the Indian Reorganization Act—a New Deal program administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that advocated the establishment of constitutional governments on reservations. Dr. Marilyn Norcini of the Museum’s American Section will serve as the Research Coordinator and collaborate with Robert Jenkins, the Pueblo’s Project Coordinator, on this innovative partnership. A project team will conduct oral histories with the elders, examine tribal records, and collaborate on publications. The Museum and the Pueblo negotiated protocols to protect the Pueblo’s culturally sensitive information from public access. Our shared goal is to understand Pueblo perspectives on the political change from a theocracy to a representative democracy This project represents a new area of study in the political anthropology of American Indian communities in the Southwest.