Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:37:17 -0800

February 23, 2006

Below please find the obituary for Dr. Michael Ames, former Director of the UBC Museum of Anthropology, which will appear in local and national newspapers this weekend. Following the obituary is a brief statement by the Museum's current Director, Dr. Anthony Shelton, expressing the deep sadness we all feel upon Michael's passing.

As mentioned below, a memorial service will be held at the Museum of Anthropology at 5:30 pm, Monday, March 20, 2006. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Sincerely,

The Director and Staff of the UBC Museum of Anthropology

Ames - Michael McClean, Ph.D., CM, FRSC.  Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia.

 
After a courageous battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Michael passed away peacefully at the age of 72 on February 20, 2006 with his family at his side.  He is deeply missed by his children Dan Ames (Beth McTaggart) and Kristin Ames, their mother Elinor Ames, sister Geraldine Young, sister-in-law Gillian Ames, dear friend David Jensen, nephews and nieces, cousins, and many close friends and colleagues.  Predeceased by brother John.

Michael received his B.A. (Hons) in anthropology from UBC, Ph.D. from Harvard, and did field work in Sri Lanka and post-doctoral work in South Asian Studies at the University of Chicago before returning to Canada to teach at McMaster University from 1962 and at UBC from 1964 onwards.  He served as Director of the UBC Museum of Anthropology from 1974 to 1997 and after retirement as Acting Director from 2002 to 2004.  In that time, Michael was many things to many people:  inspired teacher, beloved mentor, renowned scholar, demanding administrator, relentless innovator, and constant seeker of knowledge.  His influence is felt worldwide through his books, articles, service to communities both academic and cultural, and most of all, through his students, many of whom chose careers as anthropologists and museum professionals because of him.

Under his leadership the UBC Museum of Anthropology became Canada's largest teaching museum, internationally recognized for its experimental approaches to educating people about the diversity of cultures.  One of Michael's major research interests was museology.  He published widely on the democratization of museums and their role in promoting collaboration with and cultural empowerment of indigenous peoples.  He  Initiated one of the first consultations with the Aboriginal community regarding the appropriate handling of First Nations artifacts, their representation and access.  The idea of "access" was instrumental in his participation shaping programs such as Humanities 101 and Musqueam 101, developed for residents of the Downtown Eastside and the Musqueam First Nation.  His book "Cannibal Tours and Glass Boxes:  The Anthropology of Museums" influenced beliefs about the modern role of museums, and he was widely sought as a consultant to museums in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia.  His work in applied anthropology included being a founding member of UBC's Department of Anthropology and Sociology's Urban Field School, and co-instructor of a course on the anthropology of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.  He conducted research on South Asia over many years, including studies of village Buddhism in Sri Lanka, industrial and community development in India, the South Asian diaspora, and Sikhs in B.C.  He served as President of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, and gave extensive professional service to many academic organizations.

Michael received many academic and service honours, holding a Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, being an elected Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Museums Association, receiving the Werner-Tremblay Award for exceptional contributions to Canadian applied anthropology, and the 2005 UBC Alumni Award of Distinction.  In 1998 he was appointed Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his reputation as an internationally known scholar, researcher, and author in anthropology and museology.

Michael's interests included running, photography, symphony, opera, and watching sports, especially his children's soccer games.  He was an animal lover, a true gentleman, and a patient and caring father to his children, who were always his first priority.

The family wishes to thank Dr. Paul Galbraith and Holly Truchan, as well as the Medical Short Stay and Palliative Care teams at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, for their excellent care of Michael.  In lieu of flowers, donations to the Michael Ames Scholarship in Museum Studies, c/o UBC Museum of Anthropology, 6393 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, or to a charity of your choice, would be greatly appreciated.  A memorial service will be held at the Museum of Anthropology at 5:30 pm, Monday, March 20, 2006. 

Michael Ames

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Dr. Michael Ames, the former director of this Museum and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UBC passed away at 10:38 on Monday 20th February. This is a bleak day for all the Museum staff, the students he took such delight in nurturing, and all the innumerable people world-wide that his life and work touched. Michael was a director's director who was the architect of what the Museum of Anthropology has become and what it symbolizes to the world. At a time when most anthropological museums had lost their direction and social relevance, Michael charted a new path based on collaborative research and experimental museology. Through his leadership, museums around the world learned an alternative model for ethnographic museums and through his teaching and writing he led a movement towards a decolonization and democratization of museum practices. He always knew that a museum's staff were just as important as its collections, and, well before the current interest around the museums responsibility towards intangible cultural heritage, he lauded the importance of the museum as a performance space and a place of dialogue. Michael was an extraordinary person and we all count ourselves to have been singularly blessed by having known and worked with him and experienced his guiding humanism, his strong sense of social justice, his committed scholarship and his visions that he hammered into reality. On his retirement he once advised staff: "Be bold, be radical, use your imagination, forget about stuffy museum practice and have fun". His credo breathed life into museum. His will be an enduring legacy.

Anthony Shelton

Director, UBC Museum of Anthropology

Jennifer Webb

Communications Manager
Museum of Anthropology
6393 N.W. Marine Drive
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2
(t) 604.822.5950
(f) 604.822.2974

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