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Honorary Research Fellow
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r.pontsioen@abdn.ac.uk
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Staff page at the University of Aberdeen
Author page at the Museum Anthropology Review Journal
Staff page at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution)
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After graduating with distinction from the Hons. BA anthropology program at the University of Guelph in 2002, Robert Pontsioen completed an MA in anthropology at the same university in 2004 based on a comparative study of Japanese sumo wrestling and Spanish bullfighting. He is currently an Honorary Research Fellow in the Anthropology Department at the University of Aberdeen, and a researcher in the Asian Cultural History Program at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution).
His research investigates the contemporary significance of traditional craft production in Japan, focusing on the reproduction of craft skills, comparative understandings of making, the status of practitioners, and rationales of artefact collecting and curating.
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Craft and art of Japan, Korea and India; life in artisan communities; apprenticeship and learning; sumo wrestling; anthropology of sport; museum anthropology
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2008-present. Asian Cultural History Program, National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution): Researcher (Washington, DC)
2012-present. Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen: Honorary Research Fellow (Scotland)
2009-2010. Department of Ethnology, Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum: Visiting Researcher (Japan)
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2012-2013. Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Asian Cultural History Program, Smithsonian Institution)
2008-2012. Predoctoral Research Fellowship (Asian Cultural History Program, Smithsonian Institution)
2009-2010. Doctoral Field Research Grant (Sasakawa Foundation of Great Britain)
2007-2012. College of Arts and Social Science Doctoral Research Grant (University of Aberdeen)
2007-2012. Overseas Research Student Award (Scottish Funding Council)
2007-2010. College of Humanities and Social Science Graduate Scholarship (University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Awarded, but unable to accept)
2007-2010. School of Social and Political Studies Graduate School Scholarship (University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Awarded, but unable to accept)
2006. Joanne Duncan-Robinson Research Travel Grant (University of Guelph)
2005. Board of Graduate Studies Grant (University of Guelph)
1999-2002. Dean’s Honours List (University of Guelph)
2000. Dean's Scholarship for Academic Excellence (University of Guelph)
1999. Dean's Scholarship for Academic Excellence (University of Guelph)
1997. St. Jerome’s College Entrance Award (University of Waterloo, Ontario; Awarded, but unable to accept)
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2009-present. Asian Cultural History Program, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC)
2007-2008. University of Aberdeen
2006. Dokkyo University (Saitama, Japan)
2004-2006. University of Guelph
2005. University of Guelph-Humber
2002-2004. Misaki-Machi Board of Education (Chiba Prefecture, Japan)
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2007. Sikh Music in the Punjab and Beyond. Guest Curator of a graphic music display panel for inclusion in the exhibition, Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. [& subsequent California venues including the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in 2011; and the Fresno Art Museum in 2012.]
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In prep. Sikhs: Legacy of the Punjab (With Paul Michael Taylor). Palo Alto, California: Sikh Foundation, in conjunction with the Fresno Art Museum.
2013. “Kumiai: Traditional Craft Guilds and Socio-economic Mobility among Tokyo Artisans". Paper presented at the 23rd Conference of the Japan Anthropology Workshop (March 7-9, 2013, University of Pittsburgh).
2012. Tradition in the Making: The Life and Work of Tokyo Craftsmen. Doctoral Dissertation submitted to the Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen (Scotland).
2009. Review of: Rousmaniere, Nicole (ed) 2007. Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan: Celebrating Fifty Years of the Exhibition of Japanese Art Crafts, Washington: University of Washington Press. Museum Anthropology Review, Vol. 3, No. 2.
2008. The Meaning of Making and Collecting: Traditional Craft Production and Collecting in Contemporary Japan. PhD Dissertation Prospectus presented to the Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen.
2006. Beyond Incommensurability: Sumo and Bullfighting in Comparative Perspective. Master of Arts Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology, University of Guelph (Canada).
2006. "Wrestling with Globalization: Sumo and Japanese Identities". Paper presented at the Global Studies Association's Alternative Globalizations Conference at DePaul University, Chicago, IL.
2005. "Sumo on the Strip: Japan's Ancient Sport Comes to Las Vegas". Published as an invited piece at http://japundit.com.
2005. "Overcoming the Theoretical/Applied Divide in Anthropology". Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Ethnological Society in San Diego, CA, as an invited member of a panel titled Means and Ends, organized and led by Dr. Annelise Riles of Cornell University.
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