Museum of Anthropology
Museum Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00am – 4:30pm

EXHIBIT: Días de los Muertos (Days of the Dead)

Sept. 11 – Dec. 14

MOA’s annual exhibit features a traditional Mexican ofrenda: a home altar with sugar skulls, colorful tissue paper cutouts, food and beverage offerings, marigolds, and photos of deceased relatives to honor the dead.  A children’s ofrenda and photographs illustrating different aspects of the celebration are also on display.  This exhibit features text in English and Spanish.  Admission is free.

EXHIBIT: Weaving along the Silk Road: Amazing Asian Saddle Rugs
Opening September 25 (ongoing)

This new long-term exhibit examines the creation, function, and cultural importance of saddle rugs across Central Asia.  It features colorfully woven horse covers and saddle covers, as well as elaborately decorated saddles from an area spanning the ancient Silk Road from China to Constantinople (Istanbul).  Admission is free.

Along the Silk Road Family Day
Saturday, October 13
1-4 pm

This exciting event for all ages will feature crafts and hands-on activities from the cultures along the ancient Silk Road from China to Turkey.  Join us for an afternoon of educational fun exploring Central Asia.  Admission is free.

LECTURE: Shared Cultural Heritage. The Case of Moctezuma’s Headdress
7 pm Tuesday, October 16

Dr. Christian Feest, Associate Professor at the University of Vienna, Austria and former director of Vienna’s Museum of Ethnology will discuss the artifact known as Moctezuma’s Headdress, the only surviving feather headdress from pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.  Feest will focus on the present debates about cultural property, heritage, and restitution which surround the headdress after it was rediscovered in Vienna in the late nineteenth century.  Admission is free.

FILM PREMIERE: Immersed in India
7 pm Tuesday, October 30

MOA will present the world premiere of this documentary produced by Kimberly Dryden, a 2013 MFA candidate with the Documentary Film Program at Wake Forest University.  Immersed in India is a short documentary film that will explore the personal journeys of students traveling to India as part of a Wake Forest study abroad trip this summer. Through the lens of each student’s experience, the audience will come face-to-face with the challenges posed by the ashram teaching method of complete cultural immersion and travel with them as they learn about India and its people.  Admission is free.

FILM: Quest for the Blue Mountain
7 pm Monday, November 12

Dr. Whitney Azoy, a distinguished scholar of the culture and politics of Afghanistan, will screen and discuss this short 1989 National Geographic Explorer documentary.  Dr. Azoy plays the role of guide/central character/narrator in the film, which depicts a trip on foot with an anti-Soviet Afghan Resistance caravan from northwest Pakistan into northeast Afghanistan in search of the world’s oldest and best mine of lapis lazuli.  The film will be shown in 111 Carswell.  Admission is free.
This event is sponsored by the Museum of Anthropology, Global Affairs Funds for International Scholars, Documentary Film Program, Department of Politics and International Affairs, Humanities Institute, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

LECTURE: An Anthropological Understanding of Afghanistan
7 pm Tuesday, November 13

Dr. Whitney Azoy, a distinguished scholar of the culture and politics of Afghanistan, will present an illustrated lecture discussing the history, culture, and religion of the country.  Dr. Azoy currently tours the US and Europe to give similar presentations to US and NATO military personnel preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.  Admission is free.
This event is sponsored by the Museum of Anthropology, Global Affairs Funds for International Scholars, Documentary Film Program, Department of Politics and International Affairs, Humanities Institute, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.