RAI RESEARCH WEBINAR AND BOOK LAUNCH
A VIRTUAL SEMINAR SERIES AT THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Tuesday 20 April 2021 at 12-13.30pm (BST)
Recording Kastom:
Alfred Haddon’s Journals from his Expeditions to Torres Strait and New Guinea, 1888 and 1898
Dr Anita Herle (University of Cambridge)
Dr Jude Philp (University of Sydney)
chaired by Prof Haidy Geismar (UCL)
This webinar will be held on Zoom, to register go here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItdeqqqTMpH9NDmlq3Yi7P0IibeMsxM5Fy
Recording Kastom brings readers into the heart of colonial Torres Strait and New Guinea with the personal journals of Cambridge zoologist and anthropologist Alfred Haddon. Haddon’s journals highlight his comprehensive vision of anthropology and preoccupation with documentation and reveal the central role played by named Islanders who worked with him to record their kastom. The work of Haddon and the members of the 1898 Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait was hugely influential on the nascent discipline of anthropology and remains of great interest to Islanders and scholars working in the region.
Join the authors and editors for a discussion of the content and process of publishing the Journals, involving collaboration with Islander communities and descendants of the people with whom Haddon worked. The session will also provide an opportunity to reassess the importance of Haddon’s work and consider the far-reaching value of anthropological archives today.
Recording Kastom: Alfred Haddon’s Journals from his Expeditions to Torres Strait and New Guinea, 1888 and 1898 is published by Sydney University Press
https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/products/114526
Image left: Charles Myers recording the sacred Malu songs. Ulai sings into the phonograph while Gasu plays the drum Wasikor. Mer, 29 July 1898. MAA N.23209.ACH2
Image right: Haddon seated on left with (l-r) Pasi, Sydney Ray (the linguist), probably Koriba, Mrs Canoe, unknown youth, and Poi Pasi (squatting) having a picnic on the beach. Dauar, Torres Strait, 14 May. MAA N.23140. ACH2
