Browsing by Author "Knoblauch, Ann-Marie"
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- The Easterner at the Drinking Party: The Role of the Other in the Ancient Greek SymposionO'Keefe, Brendan Dever (Virginia Tech, 2023-06-05)Athenian painted pottery from the late Archaic and early Classical period frequently depicts images of the symposion, a popular ancient Greek drinking banquet which played an important role in ancient Athenian society. Some of these depictions include images of Eastern foreigners alongside Athenian symposiasts, identified by clothing associated with ethnic groups from ancient Mesopotamia and regions around the Black Sea. Traditionally, scholars have accepted these images as literal depictions of Eastern foreigners in the symposion or as representations of a symposiarch's authority. However, a closer look at these images and their role in the symposion suggests a different interpretation of the Eastern figures. This thesis analyzes how images were perceived by viewers at the time in the social context of the symposion and how Athenian iconography of Eastern foreigners overlapped to create a generalized "Otherness" in the Athenian imagination. In this context, the common activities and images of the symposion reinforced a shared identity among the participants, using ancient Greek pottery to present the Eastern Other as an example of poor symposion behavior, thus associating Athenian identity with proper symposion behavior.
- Heritage Cities and the Encroaching Seas: The Preservation of Venice with Reference to Rhodes Town, Edinburgh Castle, and Old San JuanCooper, Kelly Lee (Virginia Tech, 2019-09-19)This thesis examines the preservation challenges heritage cities face because of climate change, with Venice as a case study and references to Rhodes Town, Edinburgh Castle, and Old San Juan. Dominant literature and scholarship on Venice compete with one another, restricting opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and dialogue in producing a more efficient preservation approach to the city. Through a study of the brief history of Venice, the materials, and past and present approaches to preservation, this research signifies the need to understand and preserve building materials. Following an analysis of the scholarship on Venice, this paper reveals the role of building materials in discourse on the city, as materials can bridge the gap among competing literature. Therefore, this thesis makes a key contribution to the understanding of urban history and preserving historic cities. In exploring preservation techniques and considering how the discourse can more effectively address the challenges of sea level rise of historic cities, this thesis argues the history of materials is key to a cohesive preservation approach for Venice's built heritage. The building materials are at the center of the preservation issue, and by serving as the core of dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration, a more efficient approach to preserving the city's local and global heritage will occur. This thesis shows historic building materials can become central to Venice's preservation approach with increased vocal concerns about the building materials from restorers/conservators, non-governing residents, art historians, scientists, and global onlookers to Venice's local government, the Italian government, and international preservation bodies. In exploring preservation techniques and considering how the discourse can develop to address the challenges of sea level rise more effectively on historic cities, this thesis argues the history of materials is key to a cohesive preservation approach for Venice's built heritage. The building materials are at the center of the preservation issue, and by serving as the core of dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration, a more efficient approach to preserving the city's local and global heritage will occur. This thesis shows historic building materials can become central to Venice's preservation approach with increased vocal concerns about the building materials from restorers/conservators, non-governing residents, art historians, scientists, and global on-lookers to Venice's local government, the Italian government, and international preservation bodies.
- The Mainstream Media and the “Shocking Bad Art” from Cyprus: 1870s New York Reacts to the Cesnola CollectionsKnoblauch, Ann-Marie (2019)When the Metropolitan Museum of Art first opened the doors of its Fifth Avenue building on March 30, 1880, the majority of the exhibition space was occupied by Cypriot art purchased by the Met’s trustees from Luigi Palma di Cesnola in two lots, one in 1872 and another in 1876. The two collections amounted to around twenty thousand objects, all finds Cesnola had acquired while serving as US Consul on the island from 1865–1876. After the acquisition of the second collection, Cesnola left Cyprus to become the first director of the Metropolitan Museum, a position he held until his death in 1904. New Yorkers in the 1870s were most intrigued by the works of limestone sculptures from the sanctuary at Golgoi. In the 1880s these objects would become embroiled in a scandal because of the claim that Cesnola had performed intentionally misleading restorations, but before that disgrace and through much of the 1870s, New Yorkers were processing the arrival of an enormous volume of ancient Cypriot objects in a relatively short amount of time.
- Museums That "Matter": An Analysis of Four History MuseumsSettle, Lora Elizabeth (Virginia Tech, 2010-05-04)Museums have, in recent years, experienced an increasing amount of pressure to fulfill their role as public institutions for both education and entertainment. For museums to ensure their success in this role, they must constantly investigate their operations in order to maximize their effectiveness. Common museological theories and literature are shared by museum professionals across the globe, roughly forming an ideal standard for museums. This study argues, however, against an ideal standard in favor of museums being evaluated in their own right. Elements of Stephen E. Weil's system of evaluation described in Making Museums Matter (2002) — and specifically his four evaluative criteria of purposiveness, capability, effectiveness, and efficiency — are employed in this study in order to evaluate four history museums — the building for the protection of the royal tombs of Vergina, Greece, the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, Greece, the Archaearium at Historic Jamestown, Virginia, and the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. The use of these four criteria allows for a basic understanding of the ways in which the museums in this study have become successful despite their variance from an ideal standard.
- Politics of Repatriation: Formalizing Indigenous Cultural Property RightsBreske, Ashleigh M. L. (Virginia Tech, 2018-08-16)This project will be an empirical study into repatriation as a political practice. This theoretically-oriented project investigates how institutions and cultural values mediate changes in the governance of repatriation policy, specifically its formalization and rescaling in the United States. I propose a critical approach to understanding repatriation; specifically, I will draw together issues surrounding museums, repatriation claims, and indigenous communities throughout the development of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990 and current repatriation policy. The interdisciplinary academic narrative I build will explore practices of repatriation and how it relates to the subject of indigenous cultural rights. Using the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, PA and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, IL as models for the repatriation process, I will show the historic political tensions and later attempts to repatriate culturally significant objects and human remains in the United States. By examining entrenched discourses prior to NAGPRA and what changed to allow a new dominant discourse in the debates over repatriation claims, I will show that culturally-structured views on repatriation and narratives surrounding indigenous cultural property were transformed. By examining ownership paradigms and analyzing discourses and institutional power structures, it is possible to understand the ramifications of formalizing repatriation. The current binary of cultural property nationalism/cultural property internationalism in relation to cultural property ownership claims does not represent the full scope of the conflict for indigenous people. Inclusion of a cultural property indigenism component into the established ownership paradigm will more fully represent indigenous concerns for cultural property. Looking at the rules, norms and strategies of national and international laws and museum institutions, I will also argue that there are consequences to repatriation claims that go beyond possession of property and a formalized process (or a semi- formalized international approach) can aid in addressing indigenous rights. I will also ask the question, does this change in discourse develop in other countries with similar settler colonial pasts and indigenous communities, i.e. in Canada, New Zealand, Australia? My work will demonstrate that it does. Essentially, the repatriation conversation does not immediately change in one country and then domino to others. Instead, it is a change that is happening concurrently, comparative to other civil rights movements and national dialogues. The cultural and institutional shifts demanding change appear to have some universal momentum. The literatures to which this research will contribute include: museum studies, institutional practices, material cultural and public humanities, and indigenous right.
- Protecting Underwater Cultural Heritage in International WatersBovee, Jordan Daniel (Virginia Tech, 2022-07-01)Underwater cultural heritage (UCH) sites are unique in how their artifacts and archaeological contexts differ from terrestrial heritage sites, but UNESCO notes that UCH sites in less-actively regulated areas, like international waters, are at a high risk of having their material culture remains destroyed, pillaged, or commercially exploited, especially as technological innovations continue to increase access to the deep sea and its resources. International treaties like UNESCO's 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage demonstrate efforts by the international community to protect UCH, however many maritime states including the U.S. have not signed it out of a concern that the treaty oversteps the international legal framework established by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In order to better understand how UCH is (or is not) protected in international waters around the world, this thesis examines the threats facing UCH in international waters as well as the contemporary legal frameworks designed to protect this cultural heritage. Several solutions aimed at addressing key threats facing UCH in international waters caused by these legal and regulatory systems and which can be taken by the U.S. and international community at large are also proposed.
- Protection Epitaphs: Material Connection Between Death and Magic in Ancient RomeHunkele, Gabrielle Frances (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-24)Death culture is a fundamental aspect of human existence, with the primary purpose of commemorating and preserving the identity of the deceased. Epitaphs, a physical object created to mark the tomb, are seen in antiquity and modern cultures. Protection epitaphs, a subset of these epitaphs, are a subculture within ancient Rome that incorporate a request for protection. These epitaphs share a common thread of death culture: care and respect for the dead. Rituals are cultural practices that follow a set protocol, with roles assigned to the practitioner and target, as well as an observer. In this study of protective death epitaphs, the family (typical practitioner) of the protective epitaph commemorates the deceased or potential target of malicious intent. The ritual is the protocol of placing a statement on a tombstone that asks not to defile the tomb. The two main types of protection seen in protective death epitaphs are passive and aggressive. Passive protection gives a broad statement in both the request and the potential consequence, while aggressive protection typically gives a broad statement in the request and a more specific consequence. In conclusion, protection epitaphs are a subset of Roman death culture that emphasizes the importance of care and respect for the dead. This research highlights the underrepresented and marginalized group of people commemorated in these epitaphs and the importance of studying and giving light to their practices and intentions.
- Survey of the History of ArtKnoblauch, Ann-Marie; Givens, Elisabeth; Bassler, Kim; Craig, Brian; McVoy, Liz; Bradley, Jonathan; Fralin, Scott (Virginia Tech, 2015-12-01)ART 2385,Survey of the History of Art I (Paleolithic to Medieval), encourages students to connect art, architecture, and material culture from early cultures and civilizations as well as with the modern world. Working in groups, students created virtual thematic art exhibits to be featured in this exhibition. Students identified and researched a theme, and then discovered and chose diverse historical works of art and architecture related to that theme. These curated digital exhibitions showcase the varied and unexpected ways that cultures—through their visual culture— can connect across time and space. View the presentations online at exhibits.lib.vt.edu/ART2385/ 2015/12/01 - 2016/02/26