Museum Ethnography Essay

Fieldwork assignment #2: Museum Ethnography

I have always been interested in Japanese culture and traditions, so for my museum ethnography assignment I visited the American Museum of Natural History, where I chose the Stout Hall of Asian Peoples for further analyzing. Japanese culture is a very unique one, which differs from others; anthropologists refer to it as “a style”.
There are a lot of interesting exhibits in the wing I chose; they all have different stories to tell. It was impossible to chose only one, so I picked a few that caught my attention. The first exhibit on my list is in the center of the room. It is located rather in historical than in geographical contest. The museum is focusing here on a few aspects of culture: customs and traditions, arts and recreation, religion and clothes. The exhibits of Japanese culture fit within the Stout Hall of Asian Peoples wing because of the Japan’s geographical location and aspects such as customs and traditions, religion and clothes. However, I would say, that this particular part of the wing (Japan) is more concentrated on the religion and arts than other parts of the wing. The
The only idea of Shinto is very unique, which caught my interest. In every exhibit and in every object I could see the connection to Shintoism: everything has a spiritual value and its own meaning. The story I learnt from Netsuke and Okimono was clear, every object was accompanied by text explaining the meaning and history. However, I would like to know more about the tea ceremony. I think the museum did not pay enough of attention to this object. In my opinion, this is one of the most important pieces in Japanese culture and tradition. Overall, I like how the museum revealed important aspects of unique Japanese