Laurel Kendall Pens Book on South Korean Shamans

Wednesday, February 24 11:07 am

“A South Korean shaman manifests a greedy god” Laurel Kendall

After more than thirty years of fieldwork in South Korea, Laurel Kendall describes in a new book how shamans — religious practitioners who engage the spirits on behalf of the community — have adapted to the new hyper-modern landscape that has transformed their country.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, the Republic of Korea had the world’s fastest-growing economy. During this time, the South Korean countryside has almost completely disappeared, old shrines have been crowded out by urban development, clients turn to cell phones to connect to shamans, and most shamans now chant, sing, and mime their rituals in anonymous rented commercial space. Once old village women judged the competence of aspiring shamans; today clients often do not know what to expect from a shamanic ritual. And while rituals redressed domestic conflicts or illnesses decades ago, today’s shamans are often hired to relieve business-related anxiety.

“The shamans manifest gods whose anger wreaks havoc but whose benevolence brings boundless fortune, an idea of volatile divine intervention that is suitable for both the 21st century’s global economy and the business problems experienced by small entrepreneurs,” says Kendall. “Skillful shamans deal with people’s needs, fear, and anxiety about doing business in a risky environment.”

Podcast: Wines with Ancient Lineages

Tuesday, February 23 2:18 pm

Discover if there is a modern wine that can trace its lineage back to ancient Turfan, a desert oasis along the Silk Road.

Join Mollie Battenhouse, sommelier and wine director of Maslow Six, and grape geneticist Peter Cousins, of Cornell University, as they discuss wines with ancient lineages and the early history of viticulture.  Wines with Ancient Lineages was recorded on February 14, 2010 at the American Museum of Natural History.

Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 38 mins, 90 MB)

Tattersall Leads Trip to Prehistoric Spanish Caves

Tuesday, February 16 3:13 pm

Museum Curator Ian Tattersall, of the Division of Anthropology, will lead an AMNH Expedition to Spain from June 2 through June 13. Below, he explains the unique itinerary.

Almost everyone has heard about the Ice Age cave art of southern and southwestern France that provides the spectacular evidence for early human creativity. Fewer people know that the artistic tradition of ancient European hunters also flourished in northern Spain.

Altamira is the best known of the decorated Spanish Stone Age sites. © Mattias Kabel

The extraordinary cave of Altamira, which introduced Ice Age art to the world in 1879, is the best known of the decorated Spanish Stone Age sites. But my personal favorite is Covalanas, a small cave in the Cantabria region that is perched high on the side of a deep valley in the foothills of the picture-perfect Picos d’Europa mountains. Twenty thousand years ago, as the last Ice Age neared its coldest point, the valley it overlooks enjoyed an ideal microclimate for Paleolithic hunters. The ancient people who decorated Covalanas could watch from their living quarters in the entrance of the large cave of El Miron to spot reindeer in the valley. And they made animal images in red ochre on the walls of Covalanas that are among the most graceful made not only in the Ice Age, but ever.

I’ve worked together with AMNH Expeditions to design a unique itinerary to visit this “other Spain,” focused around Covalanas and other decorated Stone Age sites. We will travel from the far west of Asturias to the Basque country, admiring the landscapes and sampling superb local foods, as well as visiting Ice age sites that rank high among the world’s most wonderful hidden treasures. We will also see the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the new Altamira Museum with its re-creation of the legendary Ice Age Cave. We will finish with a guided visit to the incredible sites of the Atapuerca Hills, which have yielded the earliest fossil evidence of human relatives on the European peninsula. Join us!

Visit amnhexpeditions.org or call 800-462-8687 for more details.

Podcast: International Year of Biodiversity at AMNH

Thursday, February 11 4:23 pm

More than 400 people traipsed through a blizzard to the American Museum of Natural History on February 10 for the North American launch of the International Year of Biodiversity. Ambassadors, Museum Trustees, and other invited guests gathered under the Museum’s famous blue whale which hangs in the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life. According to Olav Kjørven, assistant secretary-general and director of the Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP, the whale is a spectacular monument to Earth’s life and animals endangered by human activities.

The U.N. designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity to raise global awareness of the immense variety of life on Earth and to invite action to safeguard the essential networks on which all life, including humans, depends.

Celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity—and photographed in front of the Spectrum of Life at the American Museum of Natural History—are from left to right Paolo Galizzi (Fordham University School of Law), Marjorie Kaplan (Animal Planet Media at Discovery Communications Inc.), Veerle Vandeweerd (UNDP Environment and Energy Group), Ahmed Djoghlaf (Convention on Biological Diversity), Olav Kjørven (UNDP Director of the Bureau for Development Policy), Tran Triet (Phu My Lepironia Wetland Conservation Project), Eleanor Sterling (AMNH’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation), Theodore Roosevelt IV (AMNH Board of Trustees), and Carter Ingram (Wildlife Conservation Society). Photo Credit: AMNH/R. Mickens

“We need to refocus the world on biodiversity—the complex tapestry of interconnections at every level that supports life on Earth,” said Eleanor Sterling, director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the Museum. “We’ve lost sight of the biodiversity crisis because of other global challenges like climate change. But now we need to step back, understand the causes and consequences of our continued impact on life on the planet, and develop realistic and comprehensive strategies that allow dynamic human communities, economies, and life to thrive.”

The partners for this event, which include Conservation International, Fordham University, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Foundation, and Wildlife Conservation Society, agree that stronger commitments need to be secured for biodiversity and the vital ecosystems that sustain life.

The evening opened with comments by Michael Novacek, provost of Science at the Museum, who introduced Mr. Kjørven and Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. A special preview of the premier world television event LIFE, a co-production of BBC and Discovery Channel, was introduced by Marjorie Kaplan, the president and general manager of Animal Planet Media at Discovery Communications Inc. A panel discussion including Charles McNeill, UNDP senior policy advisor, Veerle Vandeweerd, UNDP director of the Environment and Energy Group, Tran Triet, representative of the Phu My Lepironia Wetland Conservation Project, Paolo Galizzi, Fordham University School of Law, Morten Wetland, Norway’s Permanent Representative to the U.N., and Dr. Sterling followed.

This podcast is the North American launch of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, a designated by the United Nations.  The program, Biodiversity is Life, Biodiversity is Our Life, took place at the Museum on February 10, 2010.

Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hour 3 mins, 58 MB)

Happy Birthday, Rose Center for Earth and Space

Wednesday, February 10 2:27 pm

On February 19, 2000, the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space, the most ambitious project in the history of the Museum and a major milestone in the advancement of science education, first opened its doors to the public. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Museum is announcing a spectacular year of commemorative events. Visitors can look forward to a star-themed sleepover, screenings of all four Space Shows (Passport to the Universe, The Search for Life: Are We Alone?, Cosmic Collisions, and Journey to the Stars), and special space-related lectures, culminating in a “Rose Around the Clock” birthday bash on 10/10/10. For information on upcoming events, check back on amnh.org throughout the year.

This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of the original Hayden Planetarium, and a special Hayden celebration is scheduled for September. To download the full text of the press release, click here.