[List] Scholarly Lecture announcement

[Brian Hosmer]

TU lecture to address cultural issues surrounding museum exhibitions
World-renown specialist to speak Jan. 28 on creating engaging, respectful
exhibits of indigenous peoples' treasures
 
An upcoming speaker at The University of Tulsa will incorporate audiovisual,
narrative and song during his presentation about creating museum exhibits
that are both engaging and culturally accurate.
 
Paul Tapsell, chair in M?ori Studies and dean of Te Tumu, the School of
M?ori, at the University of Otago in New Zealand, will speak at 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 28 in the Chouteau Room in the Allen Chapman Activity Center on TU
campus. 
 
Internationally known for his provocative views on museum exhibit design,
Tapsell will share his experiences in the Ko Tawa exhibition project, which
challenged New Zealand's Auckland Museum to rethink its practice of
displaying the M?ori tribe's taonga (cultural treasures).
 
The Ko Tawa exhibit addressed the problem of conventional museum exhibitions
that present native people's treasures out of context. By displaying
indigenous pieces according to Western ideas of art and culture, exhibits
masked the deeper meaning associated with these tribal pieces.
 
As director of the Auckland Museum in 2003, Tapsell, gathered a team of 10
M?ori museum employees, supported by colleagues and key industry leaders, to
take the exhibit's artifacts back to their roots. They developed a daring
exhibition targeting New Zealand's indigenous youth as its primary audience.
Through the Ko Tawa exhibit, the Auckland Museum became a venue for
displaying taonga according to the values and perspectives of their
originating communities.
 
The Ko Tawa exhibit and its development generated significant questions and
challenges that are relevant to museums in the United States, in particular
for Native American collections. Museum officials are challenged to
accurately and respectfully display Native American cultural artifacts,
especially when communicating centuries-old narratives to a younger, more
urban generation. His talk will also address ways in which indigenous source
communities might successfully become co-producers of ancestrally bounded
knowledge within museum contexts.
 
Additionally, Tapsell will provide perspectives on broader associations
between museums, universities, and the various publics they serve, and to
whom they are responsible. For more information on the Ko Tawa exhibit,
visit http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/90/ko-tawa
<http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/90/ko-tawa>
 
This lecture is made possible by generous contributions from the Chapman
Trust, the TU Graduate School and the TU Office of Research and Sponsored
Programs.
 
About Paul Tapsell
Dr. Paul Tapsell is chair in M?ori Studies and dean of Te Tumu, the School
of M?ori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the University of Otago,
Dunedin, Aoteoroa/New Zealand. Tapsell previously served as the Tumuaki
M?ori (M?ori Director) of the Auckland Museum. Coming from a well-known
family that traces its descent from the main tribes of Te Arawa, he has a
distinguished academic record. After completing his bachelor's degree in
anthropology at the University of Auckland, he was the curator of the
Rotorua Museum of Art and History from 1990 to 1994. He returned to the
University of Auckland, where he earned his master's degree in anthropology,
before completing a doctoral degree at the University of Oxford. He was then
a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.
 
About Museum Science and Management at TU
The master of arts in museum science and management degree program at TU
provides both interdisciplinary coursework and hands-on experience designed
to prepare future museum professionals in the areas of museum
administration, fiscal management, collections care and research, and museum
education. For more information about the master's degree program in museum
science and management, visit www.utulsa.edu/museum-science-management
<http://www.utulsa.edu/museum-science-management> or contact the Graduate
School at (918) 631-2336.
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