The Changing Presentation of the American Indian

Auteur

W. Richard West, Jr. , is the founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian. Other contributors include Richard Hill, Sr., Michael M. Ames, Janice Clements, Evan M. Maurer, James D. Nason, David W. Penney, and Jocelyn Wedll.

Texte du rabat

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. How have museums' representations of Indians influenced society's understanding of them? How are Indians presented in exhibitions and programs today? What new directions will museums take in the 21st century? This book is the result of a symposium organized by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). It 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 the Native perspective in their displays. Even more dramatic is the increasing number of Indian-run museums, such as the Mille Lacs Indian Museum in Minnesota and the Museum at Warm Springs in Oregon. These essays explore the relationships being forged between museums and Native communities to create new techniques for presenting Native American culture. This publication will stimulate the discussions and analyses that can lead to new partnerships and collaborations.

Résumé
Examines the ways in which Indians and their cultures have been represented by museums and presents new directions.

Contenu

Introduction | A New Idea of Ourselves: The Changing Presentation of the American Indian / W. Richard West, Jr.

1. Presenting the American Indian: From Europe to America / Evan M. Maurer

2. "Our" Indians: The Unidimensional Indian in the Disembodied Local Past / James D. Nason

3. The Poetics of Museum Representations: Tropes of Recent American Indian Art Exhibitions / David W. Penney

4. The Integration of Traditional Indian Beliefs into the Museum at Warm Springs / Janice Clements

5. Are Changing Representations of First Peoples in Canadian Museums and Galleries Challenging the Curatorial Prerogative? / Michael M. Ames

6. Learn About Our Past to Understand Our Future: The Story of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe / Joycelyn Wedll

Appendices

Contributors

Index