“Museum exhibitions and publications are not objective. Every exhibition and every publication has a viewpoint. Historically, most museums with Native American collections have been interpreted by non-Indians from a non-Indian perspective. This course examines voice, or perspective in museum exhibitions and the implications of different perspectives for learning. The role of the library in the museum world is also examined” 3 credit hours
This course will begin with an introduction to the history of ethnographic museums, which began as curio cabinets of the wealthy and today are often affiliated with universities and state historical societies. The class will examine historic labels and publications in several museums with American Indian collections including the Kansas Historical Society Museum, the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation and its successor, the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. Museum exhibitions that ignore the perspective of the people who created the objects on display risk alienating the very people whose lifeways they are trying to interpret. Ignoring Native American perspectives perpetuates stereotypes and provides little learning. Label copy and museum publications will be shared with students and examined for subtle and not so subtle bias built into different perspectives. We will visit local museums as a class and examine their interpretive perspectives. There will be a class project to develop an interpretive approach that is educational and culturally responsive. Results of the class project will be presented on a web site or a CD built by the class as a collective project. Course materials will include the text of labels and museum publications, articles on museum interpretation, images of exhibitions, on-line resources, and reflect on local museums. There will also be materials on libraries in museums with an emphasis on collection development and library expenditures.
The course will begin with an overview of the history of ethnographic museums and an examination of labels and museum publications from several museums. The instructor will share over 25 years of personal experience working in museums with American Indian collections. Especially pertinent to this course is the radical revamping of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation as it was re-invented as the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. The class will visit local museums to uncover interpretive philosophies and discover the perspective used in these museums. In the December class there will be a guest lecturer, the librarian at National Museum of the American Indian, Lynne Altstatt. Lynne will discuss the role of the library in the museum world and the history of the libraries at the National Museum of the American Indian and the old Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. There will be class exercises concerning collection development and budgeting for museum libraries.
As a result of taking this course students will understand that museum exhibitions of American Indian material culture affect people’s perceptions of American Indians and that all exhibitions have a perspective. Students should be able to identify perspective in museum exhibitions. Students will learn to evaluate words used to describe events, people, and artifacts to uncover the voice behind the label. Students will also gain an understanding of the importance of the museum library.
1. Callander, Lee A. “I need no blanket: hide robes from the Great Plains” Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Newsletter Vol. X #3, October, 1985.
2. Cobb, Amanda. “The National Museum of the American Indian as Cultural Sovereignty.” American Quarterly, June, 2005, Vol 57, #2 pp 485 – 506
3. Estoque, Justin. “The Native voice as it speaks through the architectural design of the National Museum of the American Indian.” June 26, 2005
4. Fisher, Mark “Indian museum’s appeal, sadly only skin-deep” Washington Post September 21, 2004 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36831-2004Sep20.html
5. Force, Roland W. 1999 The Heye and the Mighty: Politics and the Museum of the American Indian. Honolulu: Mechas Press pp 3- 18
6. Fuller, Nancy J. “The museum as a vehicle for community empowerment: the Ak-Chin Indian community ecomuseum project.” Pp. 327 – 365 IN Karp, Ivan, Christine Mullen Kreamer and Stephen D. Lavine, eds. Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1992
7. Introduction “Museums and multiculturalism” IN Lavine, Steven D. and Ivan Karp, Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. pp. 1 – 9 Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution. 1991
8. Wedll, Joycelyn, “Learn about our past to understand our future: the story of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe pp 89 – 98 IN National Museum of the American Indian The Changing Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures Washington, DC & New York, NMAI & U of Washington Press 2000
9. Rothstein, Edward “Museum Review: Museum with an American Indian voice” The New York Times. September 21, 2004
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E4D71539F932A1575AC0A9629C8B63
10. Wallace, Kevin. “A Reporter At Large: Slim-Shin’s Monument” The New Yorker November 19, 1960
11. West, W. Richard, Jr. “The National Museum of the American Indian: Steward of the sacred” pp 7 – 17 IN Sullivan, Lawrence E. and Alison Edwards, eds. Stewards of the Sacred Washington, DC: American Association of Museums in cooperation with the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University 2004
During the first class students will form teams and choose from the following to report to the class as a team.
a.) Hendry, Joy “Introduction” IN Reclaiming Culture: Indigenous People and self-Representation New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2005 pp1-27.
b.) -------“Museums are transformed”pp28—55
c.) ------- “Indigenous or alter-Native forms of cultural display” pp 81—104
d.)------ “Conclusions: what we can learn” pp 200—220
e.) Camerena, Cuauhtemoc and Teresa Morales “The power of self-interpretation: ideas on starting a community museum” pp 77-- 85 IN Cooper, Karen Coody and Nicolasa I. Sandoval, eds. Living Homes For Cultural Expression: North American Native Perspectives on Creating Community Museums. Washington, D. C. & New York: National Museum of the American Indian. 2006
f.) Clavir, Miriam. Preserving What Is Valued: Museums, Conservation, and First Nations. Vancouver & Toronto: UBC Press. pp 69—97. 2002 g.) Edwards, Alison & Lawrence E. Sullivan, “Stewards of the sacred” pp ix – xxi IN Sullivan, Lawrence E. and Alison Edwards, eds. Stewards of the Sacred Washington, DC: American Association of Museums in cooperation with the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University 2004
Students are required to read the assignments, contribute to class discussions, visit two local museums as a class, give reports as part of a team, contribute to two class projects—1. A Web site or CD (either by contributing content, or by using technical skills), and 2. Contribute to the creation of an evaluation tool for Native American museum exhibitions, and write one paper.
In this class, collaboration is valued over competition. Students are encouraged to read and discuss the papers together. Reports will be given by small teams. Students with HTML and other Web skills are encouraged to share what they know with others. Some of the work on the Web site or CD, and the evaluation tool will be done in class, but more will be done outside of class. The Web site/CD will pull the material presented in the class together. Real examples of past and present museum exhibitions will be used to demonstrate themes and ideas presented in the course.
This course will consist of three weekends of face-to-face classes over the fall semester.
Students should start reading for this class on August 20, 2007 and all work should be finished by December 5, 2007.
Class One September 15 & 16
For Class One, read # 1, # 5, # 10
Class Two October 20 & 21
For Class Two, read # 2, # 3, # 4, # 6, # 7, #9
Class Three December 1 & 2
For Class Three, read # 8, # 11
Academic Code of Integrity
Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.
Accommodating Disabilities
The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.
Assignment Policies
The final paper should be submitted by email to: mkd@email.arizona.edu- Incompletes
The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads
The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester ...
If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.
Reading assignments & contributing to class discussions =30%
Visit to two local museums=10%
Team report=10%
Contribution to Web site/CD=10%
Contribution to evaluation tool=10%
Individual paper= 30%
Students can reach me via email mkd@email.arizona.edu by (cell) phone (301) 266-1592.
