Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Museums, Libraries, and Archives: A Survey of Collections Management Practices in New York Area Cultural Institutions
Sandrine Guérin
2019

Abstract

Indigenous communities in settler states have endured centuries of colonial violence, cultural oppression, and dispossession. By the late nineteenth century, genocide, diseases, and forced assimilation, had reduced Native American population drastically. Around that time, the process of collecting and recording of Indigenous material culture accelerated, pushed by the professionalization of anthropology and a dominant discourse that described Native Americans as a “vanishing” race. Colonialism shaped the collecting, interpretation, and access of Indigenous cultural heritage, and a dominant Western thought has invalidated Indigenous knowledge systems and worldviews. Today museums, archives, and libraries are tasked to address the marginalization of Indigenous voices by transforming their approaches, practices, and structures.

This research evaluates the stewardship of Indigenous collections and the centering of Indigenous perspectives in cultural institutions in the New York area. The study combined a survey method and content analysis. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to cultural heritage professionals working with Indigenous collections to assess practices, and the content of websites and other institutional spaces was analyzed to evaluate institutional messaging. Findings showed efforts by museums, archives, and libraries to improve the interpretation of Indigenous collections and forge relationships with source communities. Results also show that initiatives are selective and fail to meaningfully decolonize collections management practices and to thoroughly address the marginalization of Native communities. Cultural institutions must build new systems that affirm Indigenous histories, cultures, and worldviews and that allow Native professionals in leadership roles.

Keywords: Culturally responsive, Cultural heritage, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous worldview, Indigenous rights, Native American, Decolonization, Settler colonialism, Eurocentrism

Conclusion

The study helped see the power dynamics embedded in the concepts and practices of museums, archives, and libraries. Collecting, describing, cataloging, displaying, interpreting, and sharing are among the many processes within cultural institutions that continue to marginalize Indigenous voices. Defending “traditional” professional standards or claiming that tight budgets limit the scope of action, are often cited by institutions to resist changing their ways. Many layers of dispossession are contained and sustained in non-Native cultural institutions, some more visible than others, and all harmful to communities. Knowledge production from a Eurocentric perspective perpetuates a stifling of Indigenous perspectives. Inaccurate interpretation and description contribute to shape public perceptions of Indigenous cultures and peoples—the public is learning about native peoples from a Western perspective that is inherently biased and invalidates Indigenous experience.

Many cultural institutions are built on stolen land and the institutions rarely or selectively acknowledge this history. Systems of oppression that continue the process of exploiting Indigenous peoples, their land and cultures are pernicious and in today’s world, they are becoming increasingly visible. The tear gas canisters lobbed at Sioux protesters fighting for their water rights at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 2016 (#NODAPL) were manufactured by Safariland, a company whose owner, Warren Kanders, sits on the board of directors of the Whitney Museum. Land dispossession policies and laws never stopped being sponsored by the United States government. In January 2017 a presidential memorandum was signed by President Trump to advance the construction of the DAPL pipeline at Standing Rock. In March 2017, Trump signed an executive order that rolled back federal environmental protections and stripped Indigenous peoples of their sacred land—including Bear’s Ears in Utah and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico—for the benefit of fossil fuel companies.

The United States government and mainstream institutions remain colonizing powers, that suppress the cultural, political, and economic agency of Native peoples. The root cause of inertia in cultural institutions are structures and minds that prioritize a Eurocentric thought that continues to marginalize Indigenous perspectives and communities. The injustices these structures and ideology create are deeply felt by those affected while those in places of privilege, barely register their effect. Restructuring of power relations requires leadership and cultural heritage professionals to acknowledge oppressive practices, to recognize their role in perpetuating the status quo, and to commit to change.

How do museums, archives, and libraries become sites of social change? How do we achieve equity and inclusion in collections and institutions? To restore justice, the structures of cultural institutions must be transformed. Professional organizations, cultural institutions, academic programs must commit to developing new frameworks that advance an Indigenous paradigm, involve source communities as equal stakeholders, allow Native professionals in leadership roles, and place Western thought relatively to other worldviews.

To contribute to a change in the field, non-Native professionals must step back from normative thinking and a place of authority to imagine systems and practices that reflect Indigenous perspectives and serve Indigenous community needs; systems that will support Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty, and ensure cultural continuance and spiritual, physical, and emotional health of communities. Systems in which Native peoples speak for themselves, tell their own truth, and make decisions about their cultural heritage—systems in which Native cultures live liberated.

Systemic change is needed. Lonetree (2012) suggests that such profound transformation will depend on “our readiness to extend our understanding of [museums] to embrace their potential to become “sites of conscience” and decolonization.” Museum and information professionals must think critically of the role and place of cultural institutions in our society today. It is both our civic and professional responsibility to create forums and structures that center equity, empathy, and imagination and will advance social justice in our institutions and society.