Carving the story: Recovering histories of Sepik art in the Jolika Collection

The Jolika collection at the de Young museum in San Francisco, the largest display of New Guinea art in a United States art museum, is distinguished by an important group of historic works from the Sepik River region. Case studies of selected pieces highlight key curatorial issues and opportunities including cultural patrimony claims and the benefits of scientific testing. Ongoing engagement and collaboration with contemporary artists from Papua New Guinea and scholars and scientists in the field enables the museum to gather interpretative data, field documentation and object stories. As a result, names and histories are reconnected to figures and Sepik perspectives about authenticity and artistry are added to the public’s understanding of the works.La collection Jolika du musée de Young de San Francisco – qui est la plus grande collection d’objets d’art de Nouvelle-Guinée présentée par un musée américain –, se distingue par le nombre d’objets anciens de la vallée du Sepik qu’elle conserve. L’étude de certaines de ces pièces met en lumière les points clés du travail des conservateurs dont ceux portant sur la revendication de biens culturels patrimoniaux ou la savoir acquis grâce à des tests scientifiques. Des rencontres continues, que se soit par la collaboration avec des artistes contemporains de Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée, des universitaires et des chercheurs spécialisés, permettent au musée de réunir interprétations, documentation de terrain et histoires d’objet. Ainsi les figures peuvent être reliées à des noms et à des histoires et les questions touchant à l’authenticité et aux talents artistiques peuvent aider à la compréhension des œuvres par le public

The heart pumps. Or does it? The politics of biomedicine, the objectivity of science and the way we know the world

This paper evaluates the present understanding of the heart-pump model as a fact of life and the mechanisms that sustain it to examine parallels to and implications for the study of politics and international relations. It argues that the heart-pump model is a unique metaphor and model for the development of important concepts of political order and the study of war and peace. Yet the evidence at the core of the heart-pump model shows it to be outdated, sustained by political and economic incentives and the nature of scientific research practices, reinforcing existing power structures. The same observations hold for key concepts and assumptions in politics and IR. Jointly, they demonstrate parallels in thinking that raise concerns over the present emphasis of making the social sciences more ‘scientific’. There is a need for politics and IR to examine political forces that shape the production of knowledge and to critically evaluate rather than merely adopt allegedly objective scientific methods

Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands

THROUGH JANUARY 15, 2006, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is featuring a special exhibition of Marquesan art, Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands, which is drawn from the Met's collection and fifteen lenders. In his "Statement from the Marquesan People," in the catalog accompanying the exhibition, Toti Te'ikiehu 'upoko celebrates the fact that a larger public will be introduced to the artistic achievements of generations of Marquesan cultural masters.</p

From Construction to Ritual Function: An Exploration of New Guinea Fiber Masterworks

Non-loom techniques used by generations of women in New Guinea to create everyday necessities, and by men to fabricate sacred ritual objects reveal a mastery of the fantastic and ephemeral materials found in their island surrounds. Collectors Marcia and John Friede have amassed a collection of over 3000 works that comprise the Jolika collection of New Guinea Art at San Francisco’s de Young Museum including many historic tours de force made exclusively of plant fibers and materials. These works celebrate the rich and diverse local and regional artistic traditions based on core fabrication techniques of tapa making, plaiting, coiling, twining and looping. This cross-departmental research collaboration between the curator of textiles and the curator of Oceanic art expands our understanding of these multi-dimensional Oceanic textile masterpieces. In our jointly presented paper, we will discuss both the means of construction and the religious/cultural significance of a selection of works from the Jolika Collection of New Guinea art

Here come the Salafis: the framing of Al-Qaeda's ideology within terrorism research

The purpose of the paper is to analyse different narratives about al Qaeda (AQ) in Terrorism Studies, and to demonstrate the methodological and empirical problems associated with them. It demonstrates that AQ as it emerges within Terrorism Studies is more of an artefact of preconceived notions about fundamentalist ideology than the result of rigid empirical research

Al-Qaeda - terrorists, hypocrites, fundamentalists? The view from within

This article investigates the ideology of Al-Qaeda as perceived from within the network. Particular attention is paid to the ideological background of Al-Qaeda's intellectual leadership, its sociopolitical context and the nature of its recruits. The inner logic of the Al-Qaeda organisation advances an intellectual concept that is not based on the main schools of Islamic theology, but on a new ideological starting point that results from the application of Islamic principles to sociopolitical change. With its political goals reinforced by the teachings of the Quran, exemplified by the content and rhetoric of a recently discovered training manual, the organisation creates powerful imagery embedded in the collective consciousness of the Muslim community. Thus, the message provided by Al-Qaeda inspires its followers to commit violent acts of destruction while being fully convinced that they are fulfilling the ordained will of Allah