Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 5h

Warp and weft Wednesday! The Clothworkers’ Team have their microscopes at the ready as they zoom in to investigate the construction techniques and materials used to make some of the Kuki shawls held in the collection.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 1d

"As Shuar, we don't have anything against the world knowing our world and for museums to have our souvenirs... What we ask is that museums involve us Shuar, so that it can be us who tell the stories."

The Future of the Shrunken Heads, Saturday 11 October, 2-4pm. Free, all welcome.

bit.ly/4gU52dz

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 2d

This beautiful Hawaiian quilt depicts traditional crescent fans called pe'ahi, made of intricately woven coconut fibre, human hair & plaited pandanus leaf, intermingled with pandanus fronds. The Museum has 3 pe'ahi in the collections but elsewhere very few have survived intact.

bit.ly/46UZ738

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 3d

Join us for this special event 'The Future of the Shrunken Heads', in which Shuar delegates from Ecuador and UK museum teams meet to talk about the future care and understanding of Shuar collections in UK museums. Saturday 11 October, 2-4pm. All welcome.

bit.ly/4gU52dz

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 5d

Free tickets now available for our November Late Night 'With These Hands: Crafting a Shared Humanity' on Friday 7 November, 7-10pm. Marking the opening of a new MultakaOxford display, the evening will include craft activities, workshops, a bar & much more!

bit.ly/46fZNBd

The museum lit up at night with green lights lighting up the ceiling and the distant totem pole lit up with blue lights.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 6d

It has been a colourful treat for the Clothworkers’ Textile Project Team to work with the Gigi Croker collection. Gigi’s photographs bring the collection to life by documenting the skilled crafts people who make the beautiful textiles. Here we see cloth made by Omani weaver Sa'eed Nasser Habeeb.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 6d

Join us for the launch of Mara Gold's debut book 'Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men' and discover the women and gender non-conforming characters who shaped and subverted womanhood from the very beginning and whose stories still resonate today! Thurs 23 Oct, 17.30-19.30. £5.

bit.ly/3KtDJdU

Image of a book with a purple and orange cover under the heading Meet the shapers and subverters of womanhood.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 8d

"Our family have been quietly and patiently telling her story over many decades..knowing how important and faithful the stories from her grandparents were to the future generations. We never imagined that her work would be lauded and acknowledged." June Northcroft Grant
www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-09...

Posthumous degree awarded to pioneering Māori scholar almost 100

On Saturday 27 September 2025, the descendants of Mākereti Papakura, the pioneering Māori scholar believed to be the first indigenous woman to study at Oxford, were presented with her degree

www.ox.ac.uk

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 9d

"Mākereti was a trailblazer... Her legacy as an inspiration to many people in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Māori community worldwide, and scholars and students internationally, continues to this day."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Posthumous Oxford degree awarded to Māori woman

Mākereti Papakura died suddenly just weeks before she was due to hand in her thesis in 1930.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 9d

A plaster cast of the 'Venus of Dolní Věstonice', a Palaeolithic female figure made from a mix of charred powdered bone and clay. The original is c.30,000 years old, making it one of the earliest known manmade ceramic objects & was discovered in a mammoth hunter’s dwelling in Czech Republic in 1925.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 12d

Maori scholar, Makereti Papakura writing at her desk c.1910. The room is decorated with a mix of Maori & European mementoes whilst the rafters are painted with traditional kowhaiwhai patterns. Makereti will be awarded a posthumous degree in Oxford tomorrow, almost a century after she died in 1930.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 12d

Happy 50th anniversary to DATS - Dress and Textile Specialists! The Clothworkers’ Textile Team are delighted to have our poster on collaborative and community led research into Nigerian adire textiles included in the 50th Anniversary Conference ‘Shaping Culture through Dress and Textiles’.

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Reposted by Pitt Rivers Museum

Dr Will Leo Hawkes @willleohawkes.bsky.social · 14d

Tune in to my radio show at 5pm BST today to hear the fascinating Rosa Dyer from @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social telling us all about her research into the usage of bird feathers by indigenous people of South America!
I'm so excited!
Listen live or catch up here: www.thesourcefm.co.uk/listen-again

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 14d

Our next Autism-Friendly opening will take place from 9-10am on Saturday 18 October, offering the opportunity for families with members on the Autism spectrum to explore Pitt Rivers & @morethanadodo.bsky.social in a quiet environment. Booking is essential. More info at bit.ly/4pJlscQ.

View into a large high-ceilinged gallery space with densely packed glass display cases in rows and spotlights shining down from the ceiling.

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Reposted by Pitt Rivers Museum

Cities and Memory @citiesandmemory.bsky.social · 17d

Amazing to meet so many diverse and brilliant artists in person as we kicked off the Century of Sounds project with @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social with an artist meetup. Can't wait to hear the creative results in a few months!

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 16d

An Ethiopian priest's crown made from plates of incised tin riveted together & hung with silver ornaments. These rattle and chime as the priest moves, announcing his arrival during solemn processions on feast days such as Timkat (Epiphany), Easter & Christmas. Donated by Wilfred Thesiger in 1995.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 17d

Book now for our Plastic Smithing Workshop held behind the scenes in our Conservation Lab & learn a range of cold-working & hot-working techniques for creating jewellery and other small objects from the plentiful waste plastic around us. Fri 14 or Sat 15 November. £90, incl.lunch.

bit.ly/4lpj33m

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 19d

Born in 1873 Maori scholar Mākereti Papakura is believed to be the first indigenous woman to matriculate at University of Oxford. She enrolled in 1922 to read Anthropology at Pitt Rivers Museum but tragically died just before graduating. She will be awarded a posthumous degree in Oxford next week.

Black and white photo of woman with long wavy dark hair adorned with a white-tipped feather and wearing a ceremonial feather cape and large carved pendant.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 20d

The Clothworkers Textile Project have been looking at two 'Pua Kumbu' textiles from Sarawak. Collected a century apart in 1908 & 2019, they were made using a combination of ikat dyeing and backstrap loom weaving, a technique unique in its use of fibres and dyes endemic to the jungles of Borneo.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 22d

TODAY/TOMORROW Join us for a series of conversations between makers, academics & curators, exploring what we can learn about historic objects from contemporary makers. Free, no booking. 13.30-17.30. All talks in the Lecture Theatre in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

bit.ly/4g83CvD

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 24d

What can placing museum objects in dialogue with contemporary practitioners & researchers reveal about their original makers? Join us for a free public workshop exploring the art, craft, psychology & politics of making things. Tues 16 & Wed 17 Sept, 13.30-17.30. All welcome.

bit.ly/4g83CvD

Close up of someone wearing a blue and white striped T-shirt and a yellow suede work apron incising a design into a small wax object using a pale cream stylus.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 26d

These woman’s shoes, bought in 1898, are made of soft leather stencil-dyed to look like printed silk. The label is a London firm: 'BRUCKNER – shoe-maker To Her Royal Highness the Princess Amelia'. Bruckner was bankrupt by 1809 & the princess died in 1810, suggesting they date to the turn of C19th.

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 27d

The Clothworkers’ Team had a wonderful summer collaborating with photography interns Christina & Mirella. We bring Gigi Croker’s collection to life through her journals, photos & textiles. Here we see a camel saddle bag being woven by a local expert & Gigi helping to stretch warp threads in Oman.

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Reposted by Pitt Rivers Museum

Oxford School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography @oxford-anthro.bsky.social · 29d

Learn about the politics and processes of making objects displayed @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social in 'FORM', a 2-day workshop 16-17 Sept.
Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear from academics, craftspeople and researchers exploring how
museum objects were formed.
www.prm.ox.ac.uk/event/form-p...

FORM: Public Workshop

Join academics and practitioners in two afternoons of talks and discussion about the politics and processes of making

www.prm.ox.ac.uk

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Pitt Rivers Museum @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social · 29d

"My jewellery is fuelled by a delight in the natural world and a desire to protect it.” - Bronwen Gwillim.
Book now for a one-day Plastic Smithing Workshop with award-winning artist Bronwen. Fri 14 or Sat 15 November. 10.00-16.30. Cost: £90 (Members £72), incl. lunch & refreshments.

bit.ly/4lpj33m

Necklace of different sized roughly shaped plastic discs with different coloured centres laid across a brown plastic grid.

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