American Museums and Indigenous Repatriation Efforts: A Digital Zine

American Museums and Indigenous Repatriation Efforts: A Digital Zine

Critical Librarianship for Information Professionals

Alexa Silverman

Dr. Marcia Rapchak

Land Acknowledgement

This image comes from Native Land, a Canadian non-profit dedicated to internationally mapping which Indigenous tribes belong to which lands. Their site, also available as an app, is a great resource for Indigenous learning.

“Native Land Digital strives to create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations, through educational resources such as our map and Territory Acknowledgement Guide. We strive to go beyond old ways of talking about Indigenous people and to develop a platform where Indigenous communities can represent themselves and their histories on their own terms” (Native Land).

Above, the US, mapped by Native Land. As you can see, there is a diverse abundance of Indigenous tribes.

When compared to a map of both the federal and state recognized Reservations, however, there is a clear bottleneck effect. Why does this matter?

Tribal Critical Race Theory

Coined by Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, TCRT is an extension of Critical Race Theory that prioritizes the Indigenous experience. It investigates the unique emotional, mental, physical, and multigenerational impacts Indigenous people experience in our racist, colonized society.

Bryan writes, “While CRT argues that racism is endemic in society, TribalCrit emphasizes that colonization is endemic in society while also acknowledging the role played by racism. Much of what TribalCrit offers as an analytical lens is a new and more culturally nuanced way of examining the lives and experiences of tribal peoples since contact with Europeans over 500 years ago” (Brayboy 2005).

A key example of how Indigenous racism has long been intertwined in society is exhibited in (history) museums, the focus of this zine. Colonialism, theft, erasure, misrepresentation, and desecration are the tenets of a majority of cultural exhibits in well-renowned - and well funded - museums across the world (Belarde-Lewis and Kostelecky 2021).

Not only is this museum culture of colonial commodification abjectly racist, it also contributes to one of many misconceptions about Indigenous cultures: that Indigenous people and culture are a relic of the past and unconnected to the contemporary world (citation from reading).

This is INCORRECT.

Indigenous culture is very much alive and present across the globe. Hundreds of thousands of tribes have always been here and will continue to do so.

Kiersten Thorpe writes that in order to uplift Indigenous communities, we must “Resource decolonization and indigenization and recognize that this work cannot be done on goodwill, it will require a radical reallocation of people’s labour as well as time and resources to support its development” (Thorpe 2019).

Which brings me to...

Repatriation,

Definedas“theactorprocessofrestoringor returningsomeoneorsomethingtothecountryof origin,allegiance,orcitizenship,”(Merriam-Webster)

Is a tangible way to (begin) decolonizing cultural heritage institutions.

The United States government passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990.

This act “governs the return of Native American remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony to lineal descendants, culturally-affiliated Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations” (US Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs). Further, “Through the provisions of NAGPRA, the federal government acts to treat the remains of Native ancestors and their belongings with dignity, and to return them to their communities with respect for their customs, religion, and traditions.”

In December 2023, the Biden Administration updated the legislature, pushing this issue to the forefront of LAM culture in 2024. Very slowly, changes are happening. Here are 3 American museums complying with this legislation and restricting exhibits until they have the full informed consent of that tribe.

The American Museum of Natural History

New York, NY

In January 2024, the AMNH announced it would close its Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains Halls. The website wrote that the Eastern Woodlands Hall “displayed artifacts that may be objects of cultural significance, and the Museum does not have consent to display them” (AMNH 2024) and that “the Museum embraces these new regulations and remains committed to working with Native communities on new ways to represent Indigenous cultures in our halls” (AMNH).

In a poignant op-ed responding to the backlash AMNH received over concerns about preventing learning, Kathleen Duval writes: “Yet this focus misses the fact that there has never been an easier time to learn about Native American histories and cultures and to see Native American art and artifacts. A field trip that may be diminished by the closures at the American Museum of Natural History can simply head to lower Manhattan to visit the NYC branch of the National Museum of the American Indian. It’s time to stop expecting Native history at museums of ‘natural history’ and start learning it from museums and cultural centers that are run by any of the hundreds of Native nations in the United States or with their collaboration” (Duval 2024).

The Field Museum

Chicago, IL

This museum was actually the first to comply with NAGPRA’s updates, covering several displays in the Halls of the Ancient Americas and the Alsdorf Hall of Northwest Coast and Arctic Peoples on January 12, 2024. According to a press release, “pending consultation with the represented communities, we have covered all cases that we believe contain cultural items that could be subject to these regulations” (Field Museum).

“[Chicago] is the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabe, or the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations” (Office of the City Clerk).

Their website also offers educational resources about repatriation and the updated act.

“The Field Museum is committed not only to compliance with NAGPRA but to consultation and collaboration with affiliated communities whose heritage is represented in our galleries.”

Harvard Peabody Museum

Cambridge, MA

“Harvard University is located on the traditional and ancestral land of the Massachusett, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. We pay respect to the people of the Massachusett Tribe, past and present, and honor the land itself which remains sacred to the Massachusett People” (Harvard University Native American Program).

The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology removed almost 40 objects in February, reports the Harvard Crimson.

“Gone, a member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre tribal nation of Montana, said that the objects’ exhibition in the Peabody was a ‘testament to a very harrowing time in history’ for Native American tribes. ‘Others took advantage of that moment, and extracted all of those materials from us,’ Gone said. ‘This final rule represents some changes that are going to really make it possible to complete this important set of works that will help to remedy this long tawdry history in ways that will benefit the tribal communities,’ he added” (Kumar and Yu, 2024).

It is also important to recognize the institutions where Indigenous people are crafting the narrative!

These museums and others not mentioned are taking valuable steps toward decolonization. We will see how many institutions follow suit.

However, incrementalism is a privilege not everyone can afford.

Thank you

for

reading!

Works Cited

Disclaimer: I, as a white woman, will never understand the experiences of Indigenous people. My intent for this project was to share sources of Indigenous authority regarding what I consider to be an ongoing effort to decolonize museums, representing a small step toward hopefully restorative justice.

Thank you Dr. Rapchak for the opportunity to do a creative final assignment, and thank you so much for a wonderful class!