I totally nerded out and died at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

“The objects in the museum are arranged by purpose or use, so that you can compare how people in different cultures have made the same kinds of things, or solved similar problems. All the lamps and lighting, for example, are displayed together. The problem of how to make light is universal yet the range of solutions extraordinary.

The objects shown here are from many cultures and look very different, but all mark ‘Rank and Status’. Some of the ornaments indicate occupational status, others reflect life changes such as marriage. There are also items which people wear or carry to show they belong to a group, such as a trade union of secret society.”

This meant that artifacts were organized in a bizarre mishmash in a single glass cabinet as such:

thetravelingpingu with Masks.

Some cultural archives on pain:

1) Pain = Masculinity (Tiv people, Nigeria)

2) Pain = Femininity (Han Chinese, China)

3) Pain = Status (Haida people, North America)

4) Pain = Strength (Guyana)

5) Pain = Class (Igbo people, Nigeria)

Beep here.


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