Magic, Modernity and Museums

Chris Gosden, Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford; Cecil H. and Ida Green Visiting Professor, Green College, UBC

Green College Special Lecture
THE INDIGENOUS ENGLISH: MODERNITY, ANCESTRY AND MUSEUMS
The Great Hall, Museum of Anthropology, UBC
Thursday, November 16, 5:00 pm, with reception to follow at Green College

This talk is part of the Green College Series, “Living with the Dead,” co-sponsored by the UBC Museum of Anthropology (MOA)

It is said that anthropology has focused on, and helped define, the Other. Who or what is Other depends also on our notion of Self. It would often be thought that the English helped embody a Self, central to anthropology, who then defined the Other. A recent project has explored the English collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (there are more objects from England than any other country in the world in the Pitt Rivers). In this lecture, Chris Gosden will discuss issues of indigeneity, ancestry and Englishness through various elements of the Pitt Rivers’ collections, including magic objects, craft and agricultural items and archaeological material. He will explore issues of self-identification and collection and end with a reflection on the self and otherness in the contemporary world.

Vancouver Institute Lecture
30,000 YEARS OF MAGIC: WHY MAGIC IS STILL RELEVANT TODAY

Lecture Hall No. 2, Woodward Instructional Resources Centre, UBC
Saturday, November 18, 8:15 pm

The Green Visiting Professors program was founded by UBC Honorary Alumnus Dr. Cecil Green and his wife Ida in 1972, to provide opportunities for UBC students and faculty and members of the wider local public to interact with outstanding scholars, scientists, artists, performers and intellectuals from around the world. Visiting Professors are now appointed by Green College.


Chris Gosden has interests in the history of landscape and material culture in Britain, southeast Asia, the Pacific and Siberia. He has carried out archaeological fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Turkmenistan, Borneo and Britain. He has just completed a European Research Council-funded project “English Landscapes and Identities” and is currently engaged in a Leverhulme Trust-funded project on Celtic Art and its eastern connections. In 2018 Viking will publish his first trade book, on the history of magic and science, showing the divergence of scientifically based societies arising in cities over the last 5000 years and the magic-oriented peoples of the steppe and forest, and how modern physics may be converging with a magical view of our relationship with the universe. Dr. Gosden is a fellow of the British Academy, a trustee of the Art Fund and a corresponding fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities.


The Green Visiting Professors program was founded by UBC Honorary Alumnus Dr. Cecil Green and his wife Ida in 1972, to provide opportunities for UBC students and faculty and members of the wider local public to interact with outstanding scholars, scientists, artists, performers and intellectuals from around the world. Visiting Professors are now appointed by Green College. UBC faculty members wishing to nominate visitors under the program are invited to contact the Principal of the College, Dr. Mark Vessey: gc.principal@ubc.ca.

If you wish to stay for dinner at Green College, please make a reservation by noon on the previous day at 604-822-0912 or kitchen@gcdining.ca $16 students $20 others.