MUSEUMS:

Promoting Cultural Awareness

by
Nancy J.Parezo
Arizona State Museum
University of Arizona and
National Science Foundation

A paper presented as the keynote address at the

opening of the new Museum ofAnthropology at
Wake Forest University. Winston-Salem. N.C..
and In honor of International Museum Week, on
May 18.1987
** *
S. Dillon Ripley. retired secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution, has stated that museums are an enigma both to those who enter them
as visitors and to those who work in them. They
are enigmas because few people ever bother to
think about what a museum is and what it does.
Why do we have museums, what goes on behind
the facade of halls and galleries? Even if most
people do not know what a museum is, our society feels they are a necessary part of our lives.
Millions of people visit our over 5,000 museums
each year. Every six days in this country a new
museum is founded. In view of this, it is especially fitting to think about what anthropology museums are and their special role in American
society.
MUSEUMS
Museums are ancient institutions that have
experienced a primarily European development.
They are the product of the Renaissance, humanism. 18th century enlightenment. 19th century
democracy and science. The word, museum, itself comes from the Greek "mouseion" - a temple
dedicated to the nine goddesses of the Liberal
Arts and Sciences. It was, rather than a specific
place or building, a place where a person's mind
could attain a mood of aloofness from everyday
affairs for contemplation. It was an environment suited to creative Inspiration. Today, of
course, while one hopes museums have a connotation of places where knowledge Is sought through
inspiration, the most common idea people have
about museums Is as storehouses for objects, or a
place to see things: i.e., exhibits.

Museums around the world are treasurehouses and storehouses. They hold countless objects: art masterpieces, historical documents,
natural history specimens, and anthropological
artifacts. Of course, these are only a portion of
the obj ects made and used by people. Many objects are made, used, and discarded: some are
meant to be ephemeral in thefirstplace. Many
objects are collected by individuals and remain
in private hands. Only a fraction of the total
number of artifacts ever made are currently
housed in museums, but even that fraction is a
staggering number. In fact, no one knows how
many things are held in museums. To give you
an example of the scope: in the mid-1960s, the
Smithsonian Institution-a single museum complex-estimated that they had over 50 million recorded obj ects. Our society places a value on collecting and saving objects for future generationsand it is in museums that we place these objects
intrust.
In our society museums have a special,
more complex mission than simply collecting
and housing objects; they are institutions that
serve the community, be it a town, village, city,
state, nation, university, or business. Like all cultural institutions, they perform tasks that are
considered essential by the society they serve. In
American and Western European societies, museums can be seen to satisfy a basic need: a craving
for knowledge, a need to know. And museums
satisfy this need uniquely with a special way of
knowing, through the collection and study of
things that one can touch and feel. A museum
then is a constellation of ideas that contributes
to the collective human experience.
But even this is too simple a view. Museums
are multi-functional. We pay for these very costly institutions because they fulfill six basic functions:
1. oJlL This is the oldest and most basic
function. Collecting is a pan-human characteris-

tic. There is evidence that collecting began in the

Upper Paleolithic, and we know today that all
societies collect things and place values on their
collections. In fact, collecting is so basic that
many individuals feel that all other functions of
museums are rationalization for our basic passion for collecting.
When we collect, we take an object out of its
original context. We place it in a museum and
thereby add new values to it In addition to its original values. These associations are that the object has value, rarity, and that it is something
that should be kept. This may not have been the
original intention; for example, a shoe worn by
an immigrant was used until it had all but fallen
apart, yet now it is housed in the American Museum of Immigration at the State of liberty National Monument. Or, consider the thousands of broken pot sherds housed in museums. Originally
thrown out by the people who made and used the
ceramics, they have been kept in numerous museums, reconstructed into entire vessels where possible. These and millions of other objects become
metaphors for a whole range of ideas. They now
contain the Ideas in the original setting and our
ideas about them.
Thus, the museum acquires an object either
directly from the maker orfroma donor- someone who has seen an object, valued it, and eventually given it to a museum to be shared by others.
2. Preserve. Museums save the objects we
collect for future generations. The goal is to save
things forever, although that is an impossibility.
What we do is prolong the life of an object as far
into the future as possible. We do this by putting
them into a safe place that retards their deterioration and protects them. This is the basis of collections management. And we do this by conserving, stabilizing, or restoring objects that have
already been damaged. This, too, is a long recognized
function; there is an ancient Greek saying,
11
.where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves breakthrough and steal."
3. Identify and Record to Understand. We
do this through research. Museums are a scholarly resource. Since 1916, with the establishment
of the National Research Council, our society has
felt that research is something our national cannot do without. Research, especially scientific
research, is seen as an indispensable ingredient
for progress and survival. Because of this notion,
which is almost a truism today, museums serve
as an archive for the preservation of the evidence
of conclusions already arrived at and as a center
of active research towards new conclusions. This
also means that museums maintain type specimens arranged in systematic classifications
which the staff are continually trying to expand
and improve. Museum staff identify "accurately"
each specimen it acquires, and those things
people bring as well. They spend a great deal of

time recording this Information because specimens have little value unless we know what they
are, where they came from and, hopefully, who
made them.
Museums work on the assumption that ignorance is dangerous, and any addition to our
knowledge, therefore, reduces the hazards of our
existence and increases the security of our welfare. Museums concentrate evidence; they are
devoted to the accumulation of pure knowledge
without regard to immediate usefulness. Objects
in our museums are social documents-primary
data sources.
From good researchflowour next functionsinterpreting knowledge and disseminating it to
the public; for things must be understood before
they can be interpreted.
4. Impart Knowledge In AP TnfciHgifrly
Fashion.
a. through supporting formal education in other educational institutions;
b. by maintaining an Independent educational program of its own;
c. through exhibits.
A main function of contemporary museums
is to educate through the Interpretation of the objects in the collection. In our society, we largely
teach through books-reading and hearing spoken words in formal institutional settings, Le.,
schools. But, like other societies, much of our
education is informal-through watching people
perform tasks through imitation, and throjugh
simply looking. Museums concentrate on looking. They adhere to the idea that "a picture is
worth a thousand words."
Museums do not draw conclusions in their
interpretative processes. Instead, we provide material so that people can educate themselves, at
their own pace, and in the way they want. We enculturate-we transmit culture-those values and
accomplishments of our culture that are important, in a non-threatening atmosphere. There
are no tests, no peer pressure, to learn. Museums
are voluntary Institutions; people come because
they want to. We actually stimulate learning as
much as we teach. And we do this in a special
way: what museums do best is show interrelationships-even through the simple placement of
objects-and we provide contexts. Our goal is to
develop the ability to synthesize ideas and form
opinions, while helping people shape a cultural
sensibility.
5. BRING ENJOYMENT. Because of the Puritan ethic in our society-the idea that learning
and work are all-important and that If it is fun,
it must be frivolous-this is often an overlooked
function. If people do not like a museum, they
are not going to use it. Museums entertain, and
entertainment can be of considerable intrinsic
value to human imagination, especially in the
young. Museums are designed for mental recrea-

tion. They add diversity and satisfaction to life,

and they enrich life by creating a curiosity about
nature and culture. They are for people who find
satisfaction in understanding.

ethnography museum was opened in Leiden, the

Netherlands, by Dr. F B. von Siebold, who had
lived in Japan and collected some 5,000 objects.
His goal for the museum was as follows:

6. Combining education and enjoymentEXHIBIT the objects and ideas in the museum's
care. Exhibits are our primary teaching tool. For
the public, this is the most visible and most important function of a museum, partly because it
is the most familiar. Exhibits may create a sense
ofwonder,firethe imagination, or stimulate new
ideas. They hopefully communicate facts, explain processes, or dispel misconceptions. They
bring aesthetic or intellectual enjoyment. Some
cultivate good taste, or aim to change attitudes or
behavior. Whatever the immediate purpose, exhibits present ideas and facts and use objects to
comprise the evidence for implicit and explicit
statements. Then they let viewers decide for
themselves the accuracy of what the exhibits say.
In sum, museums are cultural institutions
that are a national resource.
They are vast repositories of "real things'1 which we hold in stewardship for all people. They also are communication andresearchcenters. They represent our
thirst for universal knowledge and our need to
understand, to place objects and ideas in a context, in newframesof reference. By helping us
summon our natural capacities for empathy, for
vicarious experience, for intellectual growth,
museums summon the humanity in us.

"Man in his manifold development under

foreign climates is the principal subject of an
ethnographical museum. An entertaining and
Instructive, and therefore useful occupation is
provided by following the Inhabitants of foreign
countries and studying their peculiarities. It is
even a moral,religiouswork to occupy oneself in
this way with one's fellow man. to learn the good
qualities in him and to get nearer to his selfby
becoming more familiar with that alien exterior
whichfrequentlyrepels us without knowing
why."

ANTHROPOLOGYMUSEUMS
Anthropology museums have an even more
specialized and yet, at the same time, an even
more far-reaching role in our society. As a special type of museum, or a special type of collection found in a number of types of museums, they
have a special message, a special type of communication to convey. They satisfy a need for a special type of knowledge. I subsume this under a
general rubric: cultural awareness. Anthropology museums promote cultural awareness and
remind us of our place on this planet. They remind us visually that we are part of nature; that
we live in a world with other animals and plants.
Visual exhibits of objects in a cultural and ecological setting convey that we affect the world
around us and that, in turn, the world (nature)
affects us.
Anthopology museums impart knowledge
about other cultures, other ways of Ufe, about cultures that no longer exist, about how we came to
be what we are today as a species. They show us
that we are all different, yet all the same. They
remind us that viewers belong to only one of a
number of perfectly valid ways of life. They help
us understand those ways of life. They remind us
not to be ethnocentric.
This is an old message; one that anthropologists keep reiterating in order to fight prejudice.
Let me give you an example. In 1837 the first

The 1960 statement of purpose forthis

same museum shows that, while the terminology
has changed, the basic sentiment has not.
"When a museum like the National Museum of Ethnology tries to draw the attention of a
larger public to the life and works of fellow men
in far-offparts of the world, it does so in the first
instance not to imbue the public with factual
knowledge, but to make it conscious of the limitations created by its own feelings of prejudice this
strange world of behavior may call forth. The
visitor may then understand the reasons for his
own reactions, and learn how to meet the other
man with a more open mind. The visitor will, of
course, adhere to his own pattern of life and culture, but he may nevertheless learn to understand the undesirability of playing hide-andseek behind his own fixed patterns to protect
himself against imagined foreign hostility."
This is cultural relativity: one tries to
understand another way of life in its own terms.
One suspends one'sjudgment for awhile. Anthropology museums acquaint us with the unfamiliar. They stimulate curiosity about other cultures
and make them understandable. Anthropology
museums do not try to foster an aggressive national consciousness-like some history museums. Anthropology as a discipline finds this
philosophically dangerous.
There is some irony in this, of course, because anthropology museums are in many ways
the result of colonialism (a form of imperialism
and territorial expansion by Western European
societies). Ethnographic objects were seen to
illustrate the customs of native peoples, and it
was thought that through understanding, the colonial administrators could rule better, and assist merchants in increasing their trade. It was
seen that material culture was a reflection of culture as a whole. (Ethnographic objects also made
nice souvenirs.)
Anthropology museums promote cultural
awareness by enriching our lives through know-

ledge of other peoples and, through that knowledge, about ourselves, by adhering to two approaches to knowledge; science and the humanities. We are the only type of museum that does
this.
Anthropology museums are a product of
science and try to convey scientific principles.
The message they convey is deeply rooted in concepts of 19th century natural history.
Museums, and the collecting of ethnographic and archaeological artifacts during the late
19th - early 20th century played an important
role in the professionallzatlon of anthropology.
Objects have been collected and used for their
enormous research potential. As William Sturtevant (1972:1) has stated, ethnographic objects
were and still are "an essential part of the provision of basic documentation on human cultures
at specific points in time and space, quite comparable to the recording in written form of data on
the nonmaterial aspects of these cultures." An object is the only part of culture that has a physical
existence of its own, apart from the people who
use it. It can be taken out ofcontext and seen and
touched by people from other cultures. It is durable and visible. It is frozen behavior. It is also
the only part of culture that has the ability to remain tangible through time. Because of these
inherent qualities, objects, once collected and
housed in museums, may be used again and again
for study and exhibition.
The objects collected by anthropologists
were seen as natural history specimens, or data.
This means that anthropologists did not and do
not. when they collect for a purpose, collect haphazardly. (Of course, everyone collects souvenirs
and has gifts, and many of these wind up in museums.) Collecting for art museums is different
from collecting for anthropology museums, for
each type of museum has different goals in mind.
When an art curator acquires a painting for a
museum, he or she looks primarily for its aesthetic qualities. Anthropologists approach objects
differently: they do not necessarily collect only
the beautiful. In fact, much of what is housed in
museums the members of our culture would define as ugly. Anthropology's goal in collecting is
partly to gather a range of objects that represent
those things made and used by other societies.
This may involve a sweep of an entire culture's
material inventory, or there maybe special
themes involved in the collecting, based on temporal and spatial variation, individuality, ethnicity, or some other variable.
While art museums collect unique, one-ofa-kind objects, anthropologists collect many examples of the same thing. They want more than
one example, and often collect things because
they are the same. What we collect and have
housed in anthropology museums also depends
upon our concept of "sameness." And this has
changed over time. For example, in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, the Smithsonian Insti-

tution gave numerous Zunl and Acoma pots to

museums in Europe in exchange for casts (reproductions) of prehistoric tools. Until recently,
these transfers often involved "nonvaluable" or
"duplicate" objects, however those terms may
have been defined. Today, when anthropologists
are concerned with variation within societies,
rather than typing societies through their material culture, these objects are not considered duplicates or the same, but are seen as representations
of variation within a society. Thus what is considered non-valuable, or a duplicate, has changed
over the years. In 1890, if there was one type of
object in a collection, then a second one that was
"the same" (that is, had the same shape and design. Irrespective ofwhether it had been produced
by a different individual) was considered suitable
for exchange.
One of the significant features of anthropology collections, then, is that they, as a sum,
constitute descriptions for understanding about
a people as another way of life. Anthropology is
a holistic discipline: all parts of life are interconnected. Thus no one object can stand by itself
without Invoking ideas about the culture, and being imbedded in the culture. In order to reflect
this, anthropologists collect systematically. The
collections anthropology museums contain,
then, are systematic collectlons-those that have
been gathered in a logical, comprehensive fashion in order to increase anthropological knowledge (Smith 1902: Sturtevant 1977). They are
representative In some way of the material culture Inventory of a native society.
Systematic collections are an important
feature of anthropology museums, and the beginnings of the comprehensive collecting activity marked a breakthrough in the development of
anthropology as a discipline. Prior to the 1870s,
most private and institutional collections of
ethnographic materials had been casually gathered and displayed as exotic curiosities (see Bell
1967). For example, members of the American
Philosophical Society (begun In 1769). interested
In every sort of human knowledge, collected without a plan or a clear sense of purpose. Indian
showshoes and hatchets were shown interspersed with modem agricultural implements,
stuffed birds, and seashells. Accompanying
documentation was scanty or nonexistent, even
to the omission of the name of the society that
produced it, or an identification of where it was
collected. In response to this situation, scientists, like Joseph Henry,firstsecretary of the
Smithsonian, insisted that only objects that
would add to scientific knowledge and serve as
the basis for natural history research be collected and housed in museums (Henry 1850:194*
Hinsley 1981:65: Washburn 1967:147). Thus,
items today are presented holistically-not as
isolated curiosities, but in order to show the data
for our theories and how we view culture.
Thefirstanthropologists were trained

natural historians and geologists who got their

start on geological surveys and exploration parties, beginning in the 1860s. These men described the customs of Native Americans and the
prehistoric ruins they encountered just as they
inventoried the new types of fauna,flora,and
geological formations of each region. They collected type specimens. Tills perspective can be
seen in the way artifacts are catalogued in an anthropology museum. Artifacts are classified like
natural history taxonomies: for example, whenever an object was collected in thefieldby Smithsonian staff, it was numbered, and at least two
knowledgeable native informants were asked to
provide the native term for the object, describe
its use. function, and history, tell how it was
made, state whether it was rare or common, and
comment on the quality of the workmanship.
Construction techniques were recorded in minute detail, raw materials were identified, and designs and their meanings were recorded. Extensive documentation is as Important as the object
itself.
In addition to collecting systematically to
understand another culture, anthropologists
have used collections to serve as data for specific
scientific theories. Thefirstlarge Smithsonian
collections were made as evidence for the theory
of evolution. The Smithsonian, for example, concentrated on the Southwest because its great diversity ofpeoples and readily apparent continuity with its past was an Ideal area to test ideas of
cultural evolution. The purpose of collecting material culture was to understand the habits, customs, art, and domestic life of non-industrial or
"primitive" peoples, in contrast to "civilized"
groups. Since culture was defined as the end product of human creativity, material objects-a tangible end-product of culture^were the evidence of
universal parallel development. Material culture was how you tested ideas. For example. W. J.
McGee collected Seri objects in 1894-1895 partly
because the Serfs small Inventory of unpretentious and poorly-made obj ects was thought to be
indicative of a lower stage of cultural evolution
of the groups such as the Pueblos.
Anthropology museums, in addition to
having objects that show cultural evolution,
have objects that identify perhistoric cultures
and connect them with living groups. As the
Smithsonian, there is a major collection of ceramics, collected comparatively,fromvarious pueblos and prehistoric sites in the Southwest that
'leads scholars, link by link, along the chain of
evidence which bears upon the unsolved problem
of their origin" (M. C. Stevenson 1881:21).
Objects document culture change, diffusion, innovation, creativity, and culture history
because the histories of groups are reflected in
the things people make. One reason there is so
much pottery in museums is that pottery has
long been recognized as the best evidence for solving the problem of the origins. Thus, anthropolo-

gy museums show us a way to connect our experiences to what is known about the past.
In short, anthropological research, regardless of the problems and processes under discussion, whatever theories are In fashion, is illustrated in museums. We do this systematically,
not as Isolated phenomena. Museums are important for anthropology in this respect, for museums are the main area where anthropological
ideas are de-jargonized and communicated to
non-professionals. Anthropological museums
are the go-betweens for scholars and the public:
they interpret.
In the United States, anthropology, besides its natural history approach, became a humanistic pursuit devoted to helping Native Americans assimilate into Anglo-American society
while simultaneously attempting to collect all
possible information about people before their
cultures were destroyed. The rapidity with which
collections were assembled at the turn of the century reflects this quest: a fatalistic attitude held
that Native Americansand all societies that anthropologists studiedwere doomed by their own
nature and the Inability
of "primitive" groups to
compete with "civilized11 societies. This was a crucial problem in anthropology and .since the native societies could not compete, it was anthropologists' moral duty to save as much as possible of
these traditional llfeways for future generations,
including the descendants of the peoples themselves.
It was an honorable undertaking. Anthropologists were successful. The collections held
today are being used by Native Americans themselves. Native Americans and other native
peoples come to museums and learn about their
past, while continuing to teach us about themselves through demonstrations and workshops.
An extension of this attitude can be seen
today in the way we collect. We collect more selectively now, and we collect partially because of
an object's aesthetic appeal to our society. Many
anthropologists, interested in the economic welfare of the peoples they know and study, have
seen the production of quality wares (pottery,
rugs, baskets) as a potential solution to the poverty which has resulted from the disappearance of
the old ways of making a living. Several began
active programs to develop arts and crafts as an
alternative to traditional economic activities.
For example, during the 1910s. 1920s, and 1930s.
Edgar Lee Hewett. Director of the School of American Research and founder of the Museum of New
Mexico, and his staff successfully stimulated Rio
Grande Pueblo artisans to redirect pottery production from a tourist trinket industry into a thriving craft art. They showed prehistoric potsherds
from archaeological excavations on the Pajarito
Plateau to San Ildefonso potters and suggested
that the best artisans try to revive the old styles.
They stressed adherence to traditional techniques and styles, but at the same time suggested

technical changes to make the crafts more marketable. They also criticized design, and encouraged experimentation.
These men and womenjoined with members of the Santa Fe community and set up the
Pueblo Pottery Fund in 1922 and the Indian Ait
Fund in 1925 to purchase outstanding examples
of craft production. They wanted to demonstrate
to the Indians that good pieces would bring more
money than shoddSy made pieces, and to set up a
collection to inspire future generations of artisans. They also spent their own funds when local
museums could no longer afford purchases. Moreover, they introduced their own standards of
taste, which changed the crafts at the same time
that they helped to preserve them. The Museum
of New Mexico set up workshops utilizing the collections of outstanding pieces, so that the best
artisans in each community could teach others.
They establishedjuried shows and competitions,
and helped to organize the Santa Fe Indian Market. So successful were their efforts that San Ildefonso. for example, went from being one of the
poorest pueblos in the late 19th century to one of
the more prosperous by the 1920s.
Anthropologists and museums have been
very active and dynamic institutions. In addition to enriching our lives, the descendants of
the people from whom these collections were obtained are beneficiaries. Museums save these
objects and help regenerate cultural pride, while
encouraging the revitalizatlon of forgotten
crafts.
Anthropology museums help us come to
terms with cultural pluralism. The U.S. has a
growing awareness of its own pluralism. We have
always been culturally and ethnically divided,
but diversity usually has been seen as a bad
thing. Recently, however, cultural and ethnic heritages have been recognized as a distinctive element ofAmerica. And it is not going to go away.
Twenty-five percent of the annual increase in
U.S. population is due to immigration. No one
knows how many people immigrate, but official
figures estimate over 1 million people each year.
40% are Hispanic, and 40% are Asians. Minorities are the fastest growing sector of the population: by the year 2000.20% of the U.S.population
will be black or Hispanic. Hispanics are the fastest growing group, and. while concentrated in California, the Southwest, Florida, Texas, and New
York, they are living across the country. And
they will no longer be concentrated in urban centers. For thefirsttime in this century, as many
new immigrants live in suburban areas as do in
urban centers. (Museums for a New Century
1985.)
As we all know, whenever there is a new influx of immigrants in a society, people become
anxious: they feel theirjobs are threatened, they
are upset by the "strangeness" of the "new" people.
The languages they speak are unintelligible,
their customs do not make sense. Like all cultur-

al beings, we assume that our customs are right

and natural; everyone else is wrong. We see the
things that we are comfortable with, and take
them for granted. This is one of the things that
makes living in a society possible. When we
encounter new people, we think they are doing
things wrong, that they do not know "how to be
human." When there is a large influx of-new"
people, and they Incorrectly do the things we take
for granted, we feel threatened and abused. These
abuses are little things. The reaction is at best a
feeling of superiority-inferiority: others are
quaint, and act like children. At worst, the reaction is socioeconomic,racial,cultural, and sexual inequality and prejudice.
Racial, class, and ethic diversity is going to
exist, at least in our lifetimes. While we will be
one society, there will be subcultural differences
based on race, class, and ethnicity.
Anthropology museums will help individuals in
our society understand what is happening to us
(and has been happening since colonization began) as a process and help people come to terms
by allowing people to understand new lifestyles
and different value systems. This will help residents and Immigrants.
Anthropology museums will display their
basic message: we are the same people underneath our diversity. But that diversity is real,
and very important. Other ways of life are different; they function under different frameworks
and by different rules, and the people who adhere
to these ways of life have different world views.
They are not in and of themselves bad just because they are differentthey are only different.
We can and will teach those who want to listen to
judge systems on their own terms. We will not
teach people that they necessarily will like or
even approve of some customs In those systems,
but they will understand them. Museums, by focusing on the little things, give the potential to
build cultural self-confidence and bridge the barriers of ethnicity.
Another type of cultural awareness anthropology museums promote is understanding transitions in values. All cultures change; some
change quickly, some slowly. There are Instances where there is quick or rapid acceptance
or resistance, depending on how change and tradition are valued. In most societies, change is
stressful. For example, women's roles are changing in the U.S. Women are earning a living away
from the home. Museum exhibits can portray
women's roles in other societies and show that
they are feasible. They can offer alternatives to
our society. They also offer us the knowledge
that alternatives work-that if things are done
differently, it does not mean that the world will
fall apart.
At the same time, exhibits, especially archaeology exhibits, can show us societies that have
succeeded and societies that have failed. Exhibits
can show how groups have overextended their

environments, for example, and collapsed; and

they can alert us to avoid the same mistakes. If
we are attuned to the messages in the exhibits,
hopefully, we too will succeed. Thus anthropology shows there is continuity in human existence even if there is disaster. This is especially
important in uncertain times.
In sum, anthropology museums have much
to offer to today's society, partly because of their
history and their approach to other cultures,
like all museums, we collect, preseive, identify,
record, research, analyze, educate, interpret, exhibit, and bring enjoyment and intellectual satisfaction. We have evidence in our objects that
there are other ways of life, that people have
other ways of looking at the world that are under-

standable only in their own terms, but that also

have meaning to us if they are properly translated through museum exhibits. With this translation, objects can stand for others. Tills leads to
cross-cultural understanding. We transmit the
idea that people are fascinating. In anthropology
museums we preserve the evidence for the biological evolution of human beings, the interrelationships of prehistoric peoples with their natural
environments and neighbors, and the recent past
for the many peoples who live in other cultures
(see Ford). Anthropological museums enrich our
lives by endeavoring to reflect the whole of human experience. They show our common humanity and Ingenuity. They are the meeting places of
cultures.

REVIEWS, CATALOGUES AND NEW PUBUCATIONS

Feld, Steven
1985 (82)
SoundandSentiment
Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song inKaluli
Expression. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-7829-1 (cloth)
$39.95; 22.5 cmx 15. 264 pp., 19 figures, lmap.
7 plates, 5 tables, illustrations, bibliography and
index. ISBN 0-8122-1124-3 (pbk.) $13.95 plus
postage. University of Pennsylvania Press,
393 Walnut Street. Philadelphia. PA 19104.
Reviewed by Elizabeth Bakewell
Dept. ofAnthropology
Brown University
Providence. RI 02912
There is something very seductive about
an ethnography which chooses one Important
event, story, myth, or occasion in the lives of a
people farfromour own, unravels its intricacies,
places the ingredients on display, reveals the
recipe, and leaves the reader not with an assemblage of the parts but with an instance of the whole.
Steven Feld's Sound and Sentiment truly
is one of the most seductive ethnographies of recent years, and a very important contribution to
an active, but oftenfloundering,aesthetic anthropology. After months offieldworkamong the
Kaluli of Papua, New Guinea, the authorbegan to
realize that the myth of "the boy who became a
muni bird" was something of a key symbol in the
aesthetic and sentimental world of these people.
Feld demonstrates that not only Is it a crystallization of relationships among Kaluli sentimentality and myths, birds, weeping, poetics, song, sadness, death, dance, waterfalls, taboos, sorrow,
maleness. femaleness. children, food, sharing,
obligation, performance, and evocation, but it
stands out as a metaphoric base of Kaluli aesthetics.

"Once there was a boy and his older sister, they

called each other ade. One day they went off together to a small stream to catch crayfish. After
a short while the girl caught one; her brother as
yet had none. Looking at the catch, he turned to
her, lowered his head, and whined, 'Ade. nigalin
andoma' (ade, I have no crayfish). She replied, 1
wont give it to you; it is for mother.'" Later, she
caught another, and another, and another. None
she would give to her brother who was having no
luck. "He felt very sad. Just then he caught a tiny
shrimp. He grasped it tightly; when he opened
his palm, it was all red. He pulled the meat out of
the shell and placed the shell over his nose. His
nose turned a bright purple red. Then he looked
at his hands; they were wings. . He opened his
mouth, .but no words came out, just the high falsetto cooing cry of the muni bird. .He began to
fly off. .His sister was in tears at the sight of
him; she called out, 'Oh ade, come back, take the
crayfish, you eat them all, come back and take
the crayfish.' Her calling was in vain. The boy
was now a muni bird and continued to cry and
cry. After a while the cry became slower and
more steady., .Then it turned to sung crying:
'Your crayfish. You didn't give it to me. I have no
ade. I'm hungry." (p. 21.)
That's the myth, segments of which, in sequence, provide the base of each chapter of Sound
and Sentiment in such a say that the form of the
book Is in fact the form of the myth. Based on the
funeral ceremony of a fellow villager, the main
text begins with the improvisatlonal weeping of
the women (Chapter 3) who are thefirstto announce Bibiali's death. The power of womens'
weeping and song moves men to tears (Chapter 5),
a more formalized expression of loss and abandonment. In thefinalchapter (6). Bibiali appears
in the form of a bird and flies away. Sandwiched