Museum Ethnographers Group

The Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG) is a United Kingdom-based collective for those working with and researching ethnographic collections in museums. It is registered as a charity in England and Wales (no. 1023150) and is recognised in the UK museum sector as a subject specialist network. It is often known to its members by its acronym MEG. Its most obvious functions are the annual conference it organises and the journal it publishes.

History

MEG was founded in 1975 at a meeting in Liverpool on Communicating Anthropology โ€” the role of museums, when its first Chair was Peter Gathercole.[1][2]

MEG conference

MEG holds an annual conference, normally hosted by a UK museum. MEG's 2018 conference at the Pitt Rivers Museum concerned the legacy of colonialism in British museums.[3]

Journal of Museum Ethnography

The MEG newsletter for many years functioned as a kind of journal, containing scholarly articles despite its photocopied pages. In 1989, MEG began to publish the Journal of Museum Ethnography (JME), and has done so every year since. In 2010, MEG reached an agreement with JSTOR to digitise all past issues of JME, as well as the early newsletters.

Issues and themes
VolumeYearTheme
11989A Question of Image
21990The Walrus Said
31991African Anthropology in Scotland
41992Baskets of the World
51993What is Ethnography?
61994Museum Ethnography and Communities
71995Tourism, Anthropology and Museums & New Developments in Scotland
81996Picturing Paradise
91997MEG 21st Birthday: Past and future in museum ethnography
101998Inter-Active: World Cultures and Museum Education
111999'Arts Premiers'? Ethnography and Art in the late 20th Century
122000Glimpses of Africa โ€“ Museums, scholarship and popular culture
132001Developing Dialogues: Museums and their Communities
142002Transformations
152003Power and Collecting
162004Developing Audiences โ€“ Developing Collections
172005Pacific Ethnography, Politics and Museums
182006Looking Backward, Looking Forward
192007Feeling the Vibes: Dealing with Intangible Heritage
202008Objects of Trade
212009Encounters with Polynesia: Exhibiting the Past in the Present
222010Museum Ethnography at Home

References

  1. Museum Ethnographers Newsletter No. 1 (19 July 1976)
  2. Interview of Peter Gathercole by Alan Macfarlane and Ami Henare. Filmed by Alan Macfarlane at King's College, 8 May 2003.
  3. Shariatmadari, David (23 April 2019). "'They're not property': the people who want their ancestors back from British museums". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
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