[PDF] Museums Native American Representation And The Public eBook

Author : Nathan Sowry
Publisher :
Page : 398 pages
File Size : 24,10 MB
Release : 2020
Category : Anthropological museums and collections
ISBN :

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Surveying the most influential U.S. museums and World's Fairs at the turn of the twentieth century, this study traces the rise and professionalization of museum anthropology during the period now referred to as the Golden Age of American Anthropology, 1875-1925. Specifically, this work examines the lives and contributions of the leading anthropologists and Native collaborators employed at these museums, and charts how these individuals explained, enriched, and complicated the public's understanding of Native American cultures. Confronting the notion of anthropologists as either "good" or "bad," this study shows that the reality on the ground was much messier and more nuanced. Further, by an in-depth examination of the lives of a host of Native collaborators who chose to work with anthropologists in documenting the tangible and intangible cultural heritage materials of Native American communities, this study complicates the idea that anthropologists were the sole creators of representations of American Indians prevalent in museum exhibitions, lectures, and publications. In this way, this work attempts to return some of the humanity and individuality to many of the forgotten players in American anthropology's early years, while also revealing some of the power dynamics involved. Regardless of their sympathy for the hardships suffered by Native American communities, nearly all of the anthropologists portrayed herein ascribed to the common belief that American Indians were a vanishing people, doomed to assimilate to American society or disappear. At the same time, anthropologists also depicted American Indians as existing in an ethnographic present, frozen in time, and thus beyond the bounds of modern society. This study argues that due in part to such anthropological portrayals in museums and World's Fairs, large numbers of the mainstream public chose to willfully ignore the suffering and marginalization of Native Americans as the federal government corralled them onto reservations, compelled them to attend Indian Boarding Schools, and forced them to abandon their cultures.

Author : Amy Lonetree
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 48,29 MB
Release : 2012
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0807837148

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Museum exhibitions focusing on Native American history have long been curator controlled. However, a shift is occurring, giving Indigenous people a larger role in determining exhibition content. In Decolonizing Museums, Amy Lonetree examines the co

Author : Misty Thorsgard
Publisher :
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 33,39 MB
Release : 2007
Category : Cultural property
ISBN :

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The image of Native Americans in the United States has changed through the passage of time. Part of this change is directly related to the representation of their cultures in a museum setting and the inception of cultural resource laws that govern them. This research looks at four museums, two in the United States and two in the United Kingdom, and compares their representation of Native Americans. Unlike museums in the United States, museums in the United Kingdom do not have to comply with laws that protect source communities. A source community is defined as the original group that an object found in a museum setting originates. Laws like the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) have shaped the relationship between museums and Native Americans in the United States. It has fostered a deeper understanding of Native American worldviews in American museum displays. This research demonstrates how American museums have changed the way they plan for and create displays about Native Americans because of cultural resource laws. This research reveals three movements in the United States that have occurred, due in part to cultural resource laws. First, the dichotomy between museums' relationship to their visitors in comparison to their responsibilities to source communities and how this has shifted; second, funding and the power struggle it has created in museums. Third, the issue of repatriation of objects, both nationally and internationally, due to the variety of opinions that surround this topic; and how this demonstrates a better working relationship with Native Americans in the United States, and is cause for great strife for the United Kingdom and other countries. These three illuminate the uneven relationship between museums and Native Americans and how cultural resource laws in the United States have begun to alter this relationship. NAGPRA has helped to reestablish Native Americans' legal authority over their culture in the United States.

Author : Amy Lonetree
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 518 pages
File Size : 48,14 MB
Release : 2008-11-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0803211112

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The first American national museum designed and run by indigenous peoples, the Smithsonian Institution?s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC opened in 2004. It represents both the United States as a singular nation and the myriad indigenous nations within its borders. Constructed with materials closely connected to Native communities across the continent, the museum contains more than 800,000 objects and three permanent galleries and routinely holds workshops and seminar series. This first comprehensive look at the National Museum of the American Indian encompasses a variety of perspectives, including those of Natives and non-Natives, museum employees, and outside scholars across disciplines such as cultural studies and criticism, art history, history, museum studies, anthropology, ethnic studies, and Native American studies. The contributors engage in critical dialogues about key aspects of the museum?s origin, exhibits, significance, and the relationship between Native Americans and other related museums.

Author : Mary Lawlor
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 30,43 MB
Release : 2006
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0813538653

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Both glamorous and scandalous, the Native American casino and gaming industry has attracted the American public's attention to life on reservations to an unprecedented degree. At the same time, other tribal public venues, such as museums and powwows, have gained in popularity among non-Native audiences and become sites of education and performance. With the visibility, money, and political access gained through these reservation-owned businesses and cultural centers, individual tribes have taken great strides in redefining their public images to off-reservation audiences. In Public Native America, Mary Lawlor explores the process of tribal self-definition. Focusing on architectural and interior designs, as well as performance styles, she reveals how a complex and often surprising cultural dynamic is created when Native Americans create lavish displays for the public's participation and consumption. At first glance, the use of ostentatious and stylized decor, especially in gambling establishments, is puzzling.

Author : W. Richard West
Publisher : University of Washington Press
Page : 119 pages
File Size : 45,67 MB
Release : 2017-05-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0295997478

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Museums--along with books, newspapers, and Wild West shows in the 19th century, movies and television in the 20th--have shaped our perceptions of American Indians. This book brings together six prominent museum professionals--Native and non-Native--to examine the ways in which Indians and their cultures have been represented by museums in North America and to present new directions museums are already taking. Traditional museum exhibitions of Native American art and culture often represented only the past, ignoring the living Native voice. Today, museums have begun to incorporate Native perspectives in their displays. Even more dramatic is the growth in the number of Indian-run museums. These essays explore the relationships being forged between museums and Native communities to create new techniques for presenting Native American culture. This publication will serve to stimulate the discussions and analyses that can lead to new partnerships and collaborations.

Author : Raney Bench
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 149 pages
File Size : 16,43 MB
Release : 2014-10-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 075912339X

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Interpreting Native American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites features ideas and suggested best practices for the staff and board of museums that care for collections of Native material culture, and who work with Native American culture, history, and communities. This resource gives museum and history professionals benchmarks to help shape conversations and policies designed to improve relations with Native communities represented in the museum. The book includes case studies from museums that are purposefully working to incorporate Native people and perspectives into all aspects of their work. The case study authors share experiences, hoping to inspire other museum staff to reach out to tribes to develop or improve their own interpretative processes. Examples from tribal and non-tribal museums, and partnerships between tribes and museums are explored as models for creating deep and long lasting partnerships between museums and the tribal communities they represent. The case studies represent museums of different sizes, different missions, and located in different regions of the country in an effort to address the unique history of each location. By doing so, it inspires action among museums to invite Native people to share in the interpretive process, or to take existing relationships further by sharing authority with museum staff and board.