Erenlai - Displaying items by tag: potlach

Monday, 21 November 2011 16:58

Totems, Canoes and Sisiutl Serpent Spoons

Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

After receiving the lecture at the Department of Anthropology, we were guided through the Museum of Anthropology, founded in 1949, which houses over 38 000 ethnographic objects. Of particular interest to our students is that MOA is a world leader in collecting Aboriginal artefacts and there are approximately 6,000 objects from B.C's First Nations in MOA's collections, from totem poles, to canoes and carved boxes, bowls, and feast dishes. Furthermore the museum has an innovative storing methods and interactive software and hardware allowing one to explore the collections from the touch-screen computer or from the Internet. Visiting the MOA was an excellent opportunity for us to see how they run the museum to inspire curiosity, understanding and respect of other world cultures, while promoting innovation and inclusiveness. With the historical and anthropological background it was also a chance for our troupe to explore and share the similarities and differences between their Indigenous cultures.

For readers in Mainland China:

Filmed by C. Phiv, edited by Nick Coulson, subtitled by Adrienne Chu

"Despite not being huge, the Museum of Anthropology, UBC, made excellent use of space, using a system of wooden drawers, which could pulled out be viewed as flat exhibitions. They also made excellent use of new media, with a network of Macs with touch screen systems and practical, easy to use MOACAT digital library database system. As the ‘technology’ island, does Taiwan not have more potential to progress in this area?"

Yahu Kunaw (Department of Indigenous Languages and Communications, National Dong Hwa University, Atayal Nation)

ubc_museum_inside