Museum Blog

Articles for author Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh: 15

Migration Nation

Posted 11/14/2012 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments

Mauritius is a country of migrants. When colonists first landed on the island they found only wild plants and animals. Every person came from somewhere else, either by choice or by force. One remarkable story of migration here begins in 1834, when 30 men and 6 women from Calcutta arrived in…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- Mauritius
Cultural Antipodes

Posted 09/05/2012 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments

What is life like on the other side of the world? This is the question that led me from Colorado to a tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean. The country of Mauritius is nearly Denver's antipode, where you would end up if you dug a hole in Coors Field all the way to the other side of the E…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- Mauritius
New Work by James Luna @ DMNS

Posted 08/01/2012 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments

What will James Luna do at our Museum? Before we get to that question, let us begin with some background. James Luna is a critically acclaimed installation, performance, and video artist whose work has appeared in the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), the Whitney Museum and The Ne…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- James Luna
- Native American
What is a Pow Wow

Posted 04/27/2012 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments
You have likely heard the term "pow wow" -- but, what is a real pow wow? Join me as I tour the Annual Denver March Pow Wow, and speak with participants about the song, dance, food, and cultures of this unique gathering and celebration. Special thanks to Grace B. Gillette and Denver March Po…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- Native American
El Dia de los Muertos

Posted 10/27/2011 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments
With life, inevitably arrives death, the great immovable mountain of the human landscape. Yet despite death's common claim, societies have developed their own particular ways of grieving, remembering, and healing. Each year, at November's beginning, we may share in one of the most dynamic c…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- Aztec
National Eagle Repository

Posted 09/27/2011 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments
Of all the animals that Native American cultures have used through the millennia, the eagle has played an especially important role. Bald and golden eagles are used for headdresses, ceremonial attire, staff, ritual whistles, and many other sacred items. Eagles are among the principal animal to…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- Native American
- Eagle
Cultural Sharing

Posted 08/24/2011 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments
Every year since 2008, the Denver Museum has hosted Native community members through its Visiting Indigenous Fellowship Program, generously funded by the Dodge Family Fund and the Calvin A. and Virginia J. Powers Family Fund. This year we were honored to host Dallin Maybee and Adrian John, who…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- culture
Culture Behind the Dog

Posted 07/14/2011 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments
People and the dog show. Culture Lab explores the human-dog relationship through a visit to the Rocky Mountain Cluster Dog Show of the Colorado Kennel Club.
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Categories:
- Anthropology
Tags:
- Culture Lab
- dogs
The Purpose of Return

Posted 06/28/2011 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments
Just over a year ago, the US Department of the Interior implemented a new rule to guide the return of Native American human remains from museums that could not be culturally affiliated with a modern day tribe. This new regulation, a part of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriatio…
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Categories:
- Anthropology
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Why Are Humans So Different

Posted 04/15/2011 by Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh | Comments
Diversity is a fundamental question for anthropology--that goes to the heart of our common past and also our common future. In this way, anthropology has much to contribute to natural history museums, which study and celebrate the concept of diversity. How Can We Explain Human Diversity? …
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