Exhibiting Native American Cultures:
Planning the Eiteljorg ‘Points of
Contact’ Symposium and the World Archaeological Congress Inter-congress Indigenous
Peoples and Museums: Unraveling the Tensions
Topics in MSTD A460/A560
Dr. Larry J. Zimmerman
MSTD A460 (Section
25626), MSTD A560 (Section 25627)
CA 434 and Eiteljorg
Museum, 4:00-6:40 PM Tuesday
Office: 434 Cavanaugh
Telephone: 317-274-2383; Fax:
317-279-5220; E-mail: larzimme@iupui.edu.
Office Hours: Generally, MW 10:00-Noon, TR 11-Noon; 2:00-3:30 PM or
by arrangement. See me before or after class too. You may also make an
appointment with the Anthropology department secretary (CA 409) who will
also take your phone number so I can confirm the appointment or change it.
Course Description
This is the second of three
courses geared toward reinstallation of the Native American galleries at the
Eiteljorg Museum. This class is specifically aimed at working with Eiteljorg
Museum staff members to build an academic symposium around a possible theme for
the exhibits, Points of Contact. “Points of Contact” is meant to be a
broadly defined theme covering the history of contact between American Indians
and Euro-Americans, but also contact between Indian nations during the
millennia of Native habitation of North America. The first class in the series focused on the
academic issues surrounding situations of Contact. The third will find students
working with Eiteljorg curators, translating the information gathered into
designs for exhibits and programming.
The class also has the
opportunity to participate in planning a World Archaeological Congress
Inter-congress Indigenous Peoples and Museums: Unraveling the Tensions
that IUPUI, the Eiteljorg, and others have proposed to host in 2008 (we will know if this offer has been
accepted—highly likely—by January 15th). Some of the skills and concepts from the
Eiteljorg Symposium are directly transferable to the WAC Inter-congress.
The course is a practicum
where you will learn by actually planning two small academic conferences. For
the Eiteljorg Symposium, students will learn basics of conference symposium
organization, then work a bit with Eiteljorg staff members to select 4-5
academic experts for a two-day symposium during which the academic experts will
discuss key issues in Contact. This will be followed by a public conference
with invited and offered papers and presentations by academicians, Native
experts, and members of the public. After the general session, the academic
experts will meet for another day to identify key themes for possible exhibits.
IUPUI students will be in all aspects of planning the sessions.
Objectives
Although the objectives of
this course are many, several are key:
1. You should
recognize the names and primary research interests of Native Americans,
anthropologists, historians, and other scholars who have dealt with issues of
Contact.
2. You will
become familiar with key issues in the study of Contact between groups, both
Indian/Indian and Indian/Non-Indian.
2. You will
learn the organizational principles of academic meetings.
3. You will
learn the importance of collaboration and teamwork in organizing meetings.
4. You will
learn some aspects of budgeting, marketing, and dissemination of scholarly
information.
5. You will
learn some of the cultural protocols of dealing with both scholars and Native
peoples.
OnCourse & Web Site
This class will use OnCourse
as a primary organizational tool, especially for communication of information
and discussion of ideas for the symposium. Eiteljorg curators and staff will be
added as participants. Please use it regularly; it will be a crucial tool.
Class
Format
This class primarily will be
a practicum where you learn by doing. We initially will do an overview of the
symposium and its focus. We will then move quickly to principles of good
meeting organization. Finally, we will do detailed planning for these
particular meetings. Mostly the class will be discussion-based and hands-on.
You will be assigned tasks as part of teams and will report on progress and
problems each meeting.
In a performance-based practicum it
is difficult to use standard testing or similar devices to assess grades. You
will be expected to commit a minimum of 150 hours to this class, and you will
be expected to give brief oral reports of progress on assigned tasks. The
grades will be assigned on a +/- system. Grades will be assigned as follows:
·
20% of your
grade will be assessed on the number of hours you record. 150 hours will be
recorded as a C, 160 Hours as a B, and 170 hours as an A, with amounts in
between as a +/-. (Note: this includes
scheduled class times.)
·
20% of your grade
will be assigned by peers. They will evaluate your performance based on their
assessment of your contribution to collaborative projects. The grades assigned
by classmates will be averaged to reach a single grade.
·
20% of your
grade will come from your assessment of your own work in the class.
·
20% of your
grade will be assigned by at least one Eiteljorg staff member; if more than one
assigns a grade, the grades will be averaged.
·
Undergraduates: 20% of your grade will come from a journal and a
short, 5-10 page final report that will be instructor-graded.
·
Graduates
Students: 20% of your
grade will come from a journal and a 10-15 page final report on the conference
plan that will be instructor-graded.
Because of the
nature of performance-based classes, earning extra credit will not be possible.
Obviously grades in a practicum for
the most part are “subjective,” but with a base component of hours worked and
several assessments of your performance by different evaluators, there should
be a substantial degree of fairness in the process. When a practicum depends
heavily on collaborative efforts, the biggest sins are not attending and not
doing your part of the work.
There will be a midterm grade
assessment based on hours worked and the peer evaluations.
Graduate Students
As well as a
longer paper, graduate students can volunteer or be assigned as team leaders
for collaborative projects. Your tasks will include planning of group meetings,
overseeing any arrangements or necessary research, and coordinating reports to
the whole class and Eiteljorg curators.
You will also have an additional weekly meeting with the instructor to
discuss issues related to the class, conference, and academic themes.
Readings
Required texts: You can find copies at the Jags Bookstore, or you
may wish to buy copies online from Amazon or a similar bookseller. They are:
Recommended Books: The following
book is recommended, not required. You can order it from many online
sources such as Amazon. It is available as a hard-copy volume or e-book.
You will receive additional reading
assignments from articles, book chapters and web sites as warranted. These will
be available in the Department of Anthropology office and/or will be made
available online.
Schedule of
Activities & Topics
This schedule is considered to be
tentative. I reserve the right to make changes in dates or topics/activities
based on class needs or opportunities for learning experiences as might arise.
Week 1 Introduction of the course; The Concept of Contact; discussion of themes
developed by prior course in the series
Week 3 (Note well: This may change due to availability of Eiteljorg
staff members!) Meet with Eiteljorg curators about their
expectations for the Points of Contact symposium: What does the Museum want out
of the symposium?
Week 4 Examine and evaluate November 2005 American Indian
Art symposium: What went well and what didn’t? How do these apply to Points of
Contact?
Week 5 Topic: Suggest and discuss key scholars who
will provide possible themes for Points of Contact: Who are the experts in the
field and how do we attract them to this symposium?
Week 6 Select team activities and members: What are the main
elements of every conference? Readings: Start reading and continue with Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies
Week 8 Developing marketing strategies: How do you
get people to come to the symposium?
Week 9: Local arrangements: How do you arrange for meeting
space, registration, hotel and food services?
Week 10 Planning for dissemination of information about the
meeting: How do you get the results of the meeting out to interested parties
who couldn’t attend?
Week 11 From planning to execution: How do
we make all of this work?
Week 12 Developing
accompanying public programs: How can we get the general public involved?
Week 13 The difficulties of cross-cultural communication and
representation: How do you work with Native American elders and other
representatives?
Week 14 The details can kill you: What have we forgotten?
Week 15 Discussion with Eiteljorg curators and staff members
about the entire conference plan
Academic Misconduct
All work in the course is conducted
in accordance with the University’s academic misconduct policy. Cheating
includes dishonesty of any kind with respect to assignments. Plagiarism is the
offering of someone else’s work as your own: this includes taking material from
books, web pages, or other students, turning in the same or substantially
similar work as other students, or failing to properly cite other researchers.
Please consult the University Bulletin’s academic misconduct policy if you have any questions about what constitutes
academic dishonesty. In this class, misconduct also includes purposeful
violation of ethical museum practice and particular Eiteljorg Museum rules. If
academic misconduct is discovered, you risk losing all credit for the class.
Attendance
Policy
As Woody Allen says, “Eighty percent
of success is just showing up!” This class is the same: to do well, you have to
be there. Because we only have 15 weeks,
there is a great deal to accomplish. Also, because the class is small, your
absence will be obvious. For three unexcused absence your final grade will be reduced by one letter
grade, then each additional absence will result in the loss of an additional
grade. Excused absences are the usual: documented illness, emergencies,
participation in sanctioned university events, extreme weather that would
endanger you. If at all possible, please send me an e-mail or phone if you know
you won’t be attending. Note well: the one major attendance sin
is not to show up when you have a presentation due in class. Better to show up
and not have it done than just not to show up.
Administrative Withdrawal
The School of Liberal Arts supports
IUPUI’s administrative withdrawal policy. You may find detailed descriptions of
standards and policies for administrative withdrawal at http://registrar.iupui.edu/withdrawal-policy.html.
Contact the Anthropology Department Chairperson with questions about
Anthropology Department policies.
Other Matters
Need Special Assistance?
If you have learning problems that might require special accommodation for completion of class assignments, please notify me of these matters within the first two or three class periods. I’ll make every effort to make things work for you. You may wish to contact Adaptive Educational Services (AES), Cavanaugh Hall, Suite 001E , 425 University Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46202–5140, Tel: (317) 274–3241, TDD/TTY: (317) 278–2050, Fax: (317) 278–2051, Email: aes@iupui.edu. Staff there can provide a range of assistance.
Student Advocate
Office
Do you have a problem you don't know how to solve?
Is there information you cannot find?
Do you have a question that needs an answer or a problem that is affecting your class attendance?
The Student Advocate Office is here to help! I will answer your questions, direct you to the appropriate departments and people, familiarize you with university policies and procedures, and give you guidance as you look at ways to solve problems and make choices.
The Student Advocate Office is located in UC002 and can be contacted by phone at 278-7594 or email at stuadvoc@iupui.edu. For more information, see the Student Advocate website at: http://www.life.iupui.edu/advocate/
General Comments
Within
reason, I will do everything I can to facilitate your learning, but I can only
do so much. Ultimately, because this is a practicum, learning the course
material is your responsibility and you will learn best by practice. Please
feel free to contact me if you have concerns or issues. Regarding missed assignments, I understand
that family emergencies can be out of the ordinary. However, if you do ask for
special treatment, it will normally come at some additional cost to you in
terms of expected amounts of work.
In this class you will be representing the Museum Studies Program
to the Eiteljorg Museum staff and other groups. We expect you to follow
standard museum ethical practice and common courtesy. Please be sure to
remember this at all times!