Cain, who graduated from the College of Liberal Arts in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, will offer a workshop from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. March 29 in Room B14 in the basement of Old Main, where the university keeps its Archaeological and Ethnological Laboratory. Titled “Engaging with Collections: An Introduction to Research Methodology,” the workshop will provide a general introduction to engaging with ethnological collections as primary resources in anthropological research. Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares the characteristics of different peoples and analyzes their relationships.
From 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Room 402 of Drinko Library, Cain will give a lecture titled “Collections and Communities: Facilitating Connections through Material Culture,” on the important role of material culture collections, such those as found in museums, in facilitating diverse and productive connections among communities.
Cain works in the Department of Anthropology in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington. After graduating from Marshall, she earned a master’s degree in museum sStudies from George Washington University in 2015. She has worked with museums of a wide range of sizes and missions, and she now manages cultural projects, engages with anthropological collections and promotes public access to objects and information for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
She will speak on how museum professionals and researchers can think creatively about access and knowledge-making to allow collections and objects to reveal themselves as dynamic, living pieces of their cultural environments. Her discussion will center on the potential of collections to foster dialogue and lasting relationships between museums and their communities, both local and global.
This public discussion is free and open to the public, sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Department in the College of Liberal Arts as part of its longstanding Speaker Series.
For the workshop, pre-registration is requested by Monday, March 26, by contacting Dr. Nicholas Freidin at freidin@marshall.edu.