Date:
Location:
Virtual Member Event
Advance registration required. Not a member? Join today! See Harvard Museums of Science & Culture member benefits
Sarah Anita Clunis, Director of Academic Partnerships and Curator of African Collections, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University
Located in the Kasaï Oriental Province along the Sankuru River in the central part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Kuba identify themselves as the children of Woot and the tale of their origins is often reenacted in masquerades for the royal Kuba court. The focus of this Black History Month Behind-the-Screens is a conversation with Peabody Curator of African Collections, Sarah Clunis, about three royal Kuba masks—housed at Harvard’s Peabody Museum—that as a triad re-enact the founding of the Kuba kingdom and highlight the significance of gender and status in Kuba political systems and Kuba life.
Presented by Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
To join the program, you will need to download the free Zoom app in advance. If you already have Zoom, you do not need to download it again. For details on how to improve your Zoom experience, visit the How to Attend an HMSC Program webpage.
About the Speaker
Sarah Clunis is originally from Kingston, Jamaica and received her PhD in art history in 2006 from the University of Iowa. She is director of academic partnerships and curator of African Collections at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology. Prior to this role, she was director of the Xavier University Art Gallery, where she supervised the Art Collection team, and was also assistant professor of art history. Dr. Clunis has taught art history for over twenty years at public universities and historically Black colleges and universities. Her research and classes have focused on the history of African art and the display of African objects in Western museum settings. She also studies the influence of African aesthetics and philosophy on the arts and religious rituals and cultural identities of the African diaspora. Her work examines gender, race, and migration in multiple contexts. She has published in both national and international magazines and journals.