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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology

Overview

The Summer Institute in Museum Anthropology (SIMA) at the Smithsonian seeks to promote broader and more effective use of museum collections – artifacts, audio recordings, art works, still and moving images - in anthropological research by providing graduate students with an immersive, four-week training program and research experience at the Smithsonian Institution. In addition, fellowships are awarded to teaching faculty who are interested in learning how to incorporate museum collections into their teaching.

The program is offered by the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, with major funding from the Cultural Anthropology Program and the Documenting Endangered Language Program of the National Science Foundation.

 

Working intensively each summer with 12-14 students, the institute:

  • introduces students to the scope of museum collections and their potential as data
  • provides training in appropriate methods to collect and analyze museum data
  • makes participants aware of a range of theoretical issues relating to collections
  • positions students to apply their knowledge within their own research and at their home university
  • advances pedagogical training and methods that helps reposition museum collections as critical data for anthropology

 

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SIMA students and faculty examining molas, colorful shirt panels from Kuna people in Panama

Curriculum

Topics of both seminars and hands-on workshops include the critical analysis of documentation, the development of observational skills, the definition of appropriate data sets, ecological understandings of materials, the potential of Ancient DNA research, conservation analysis, reconstruction of the "social life" of objects and the critical analysis of still and moving images.

Unique Smithsonian resources such as the annual Folklife Festival, the National Anthropological Archives, the Human Studies Film Archives, rotating exhibits, and other museum collections complement lessons in which students explore the integration of museum-based data with other types of information, such as fieldwork and the critical analysis of the documentary record.

Student projects

As part of the application process, students propose individual research projects that they will work on during their time in the program. Applicants are encouraged to contact the program to help develop their project proposal. During SIMA, students continually rework their project proposals as they collect information, become familiar with the nature of museum data, and refine their research questions. 

Students may develop projects on any topic for which there are relevant artifacts in the Smithsonian collections. The primary resource is the ethnology artifact collection in the Department of Anthropology and the still and moving image collections in the National Anthropological Archives and the Human Studies Film Archives.

The program culminates in a symposium at which students present preliminary research findings and a refined project proposal suitable for implementation upon return to their home universities.

 

 

Application information

SIMA 2024 Dates: June 24-July 19, 2024

Application Deadline: March 1, 2024

Applicants must submit a short statement of interest and an initial proposal for an individual research project. A letter of commitment is required from a faculty member who will supervise further development and implementation of the project in the year after the student's participation in SIMA. Students will be notified of acceptance 4 weeks after the application deadline.

Full application instructions

Information / FAQs for Prospective Students

Costs and Commitments

The program covers students’ room, board, and tuition. Housing is provided and a small stipend will be provided for food and other local expenses. Participants are individually responsible for the cost of travel to and from Washington, DC. This is an intensive residential program and the participants are expected to devote full time to the training. Preparatory readings are assigned to ensure that students arrive with comparable background knowledge.

Faculty Fellowship

The Faculty Fellowship is an opportunity for established teaching faculty to develop courses on collections-based research methods.We accept 2-3 faculty each year who are positioned to offer courses on museum research methods, and who would like to use SIMA as an opportunity to observe, learn, and share lesson planning.

Faculty

SIMA Students and Faculty

Instruction is enriched by lectures and collection workshops led by scholars from throughout the Smithsonian as well as by visiting speakers. Faculty at students' home institutions are important partners who will guide SIMA participants in the implementation of what they have learned during the Institute. Such faculty need not have experience in museum-based research, but they must be committed to helping students continue the project they will have begun during SIMA and turn their research prospectus into a publishable paper.

Joshua A. Bell, SIMA Director

Torben Rick, Curator of North American Archaeology, NMNH

Logan Kistler, Curator of Archaeobotany and Archaeogenomics, NMNH

  • Candace S. Greene, NMNH and founding director of SIMA
  • Joe D. Horse Capture, Autry Museum of the American West
  • Rosemary Joyce, University of California Berkeley

Jason Baird Jackson, Indiana University

Christian Feest, University of Vienna

Aaron Glass, Bard Graduate Center

Chris Gosden, University of Oxford

Steven Hooper, University of East Anglia

Ira Jacknis, Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Michael Jordan, Texas Tech University

Jennifer Kramer, University of British Columbia

Cara Krmpotich, University of Toronto

Howard Morphy, Australian National University

Marit Munson, Trent University

Fred Myers, New York University

David Odo, Harvard Art Museums

Nancy Parezo, University of Arizona

Ruth Phillips, Carleton University

Robert Welsch, Franklin Pierce University

Alison Brown, University of Aberdeen

Candace Greene, NMNH, SIMA Director Emeritus

Maia Nuku, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Alison K. Brown, Anthropology, School of Social Science, University of Aberdeen

Amalia Córdova, Curator of Digital & Emerging Media, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution

Candace Greene, Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; and Director Emeritus, SIMA

Kate Hennessy, Associate Professor, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University

Gwyneira Isaac, Curator of North American Ethnology, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Logan Jonas Kistler, Curator Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Cynthia Chavez Lamar, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution

Mary S. Linn, Curator of Cultural and Linguistic Revitalization, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution

Ann McMullen , Curator and Head of Collections Research and Documentation, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution

David R. Odo, Director of Student Programs and Research Curator of University Collections Initiatives, Division of Academic and Public Programs, Harvard Art Museums

Torben C. Rick, Curator and Research Scientist, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Jennifer A. Shannon, Assistant Professor and Curator of Cultural Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado and Museum of Natural History

Adrian Van Allen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Département de la recherche et de l'enseignement, Musée du quai Branly, Paris

SIMA Poster and Logo

 

 

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers BCS-1127060, BCS-0852511, BCS-1424029, BCS-1824641 and BCS-2317314.