NATIONAL MUSEUMS: NEGOTIATING HISTORIES

A three day conference at

The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

July 12-14, 1999

NATIONAL MUSEUMS: NEGOTIATING HISTORIES is a conference exploring the
negotiation of diverse histories in contemporary national museums,
particularly those in settler societies such as Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, the United States and South Africa.  These institutions have been
working through complex and often controversial questions of how to
interpret and communicate varied understandings and perspectives of
histories and nations.  The conference will address dimensions of this
process such as the presentation of indigenous histories and cultures,
settler and migrant histories and cultures, and environmental histories and
human-environment interactions.  It will address not only issues of display
and exhibition, but also how histories are negotiated in the contexts of
acquisition, custodianship, and repatriation issues, and the production of
public programs and educational materials.

Invited speakers include
Dr George Macdonald       Director, Museum Victoria
Dr Gaye Sculthorpe        Program Director, Museum Victoria
Dr Udo Kussel             Director, National Cultural History Museum, South Africa
Dr Hans-Martin Hinz       Stabstelle, Deutsches Historisches Museum
Dr Jock Phillips          General Manager, New Zealand Dept. of Heritage
Dr Ruth Phillips          Director, Museum of Anthropology, Uni. of British Columbia
Dr Annie Coombes          Senior Lecturer, Birkbeck College, University of London
Dr John MacKenzie         Professor, Dept. of History, Lancaster University
Dr Tom Griffiths          Fellow, Dept. of History, RSSS, Australian National Uni.
Dr Mike Smith             Senior Curator, National Museum of Australia
Mr Ian McShane    Senior Curator, National Museum of Australia

Professor David Lowenthal, author of The Past is a Foreign Country, will
present a public lecture on the evening of Tuesday, 13th July.

Presented by
        The National Museum of Australia
        The Centre for Cross-Cultural Research,  Australian National University
        The Australian Key Centre for Media and Cultural Policy, Griffith University

Registration information is available from:
Ms Arwen Blackwood Ximenes
Centre for Cross-Cultural Research
Australian National University
Canberra, ACT, 0200
Australia
Ph (61 2) 6249 2434
Fax  (61 2) 6249 2438
Email: [log in to unmask]

Kirsten Wehner
The Centre for Cross-Cultural Research
The Australian National University
Telephone:  +61 2 6249 4929
Facsimile:  +61 2 6249 2438
Email:  [log in to unmask]

The Centre for Cross-Cultural Research
Web site:  www.anu.edu.au/culture