Registration Opens for New Anthropology & Games Summer Program for Middle Schoolers

I am always super excited to launch a new program at the Museum but this one has been in discussion for a long time and I am thrilled about the direction it has taken. The new Anthropology: Boards, Cards and Dice program, which just happens to have the lovely acronym ABCD, will be a two-day summer camp for middle school youth to work with one of the Museum’s curators who just happens to study games from an anthropological perspective. Fun! Below are the promotional details. Please help spread the word. Note: There is a fee for those who can pay but its free for everyone else.

While video and computer games are barely a half-century old, physical games with boards, cards and dice go back not hundreds, but thousands of years. Played everywhere humans can be found, they have facilitated human interaction across and within cultures. The study of games can teach us about human behavior, history and migration while, at the same time, illustrating the practice of Anthropological research.

In this new Museum program, Anthropology: Boards, Cards, and Dice (ABCD), you will observe and play games from around the world while developing observational and analytical skills from Anthropology. ABCD is being developed and co-taught by Alex de Voogt, an AMNH researcher and assistant curator of African Ethnology with a research expertise in the dispersal of board games. The program will delve into de Voogt’s personal collection of games from around the world, game play videos from his research, games in the Museum’s cultural halls, and more.

By the end of this two day mini-camp, you will be able to understand the relationship between games, cultural contact and practices as well as the methods used within Anthropology. Get ready for a whole new way of looking at boards, cards and dice!

Note: This program is for middle school students.

Apply here for this 2 day workshop!

2 session program – July 1st and 2nd

Time: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Cost: $220 for 2 day-long sessions ($200 for members). FULL fee waivers available (based on need.) Space is limited to 12, full application must be completed. Need-based scholarships are available upon request through the registration process.