Cynthia Gresser, The Smoki Museum of American Indian Art and Culture
Proposal Type
Pecha Kucha
Seeking
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Advocacy
- Archives
- Public Engagement
- Social Justice
Abstract
A fast paced presentation outlining one museum’s challenges and successes in stripping its ingrained institutional colonialism. From the inclusion of Native voices to the assessment of its collections, this Pecha Kucha will demonstrate the lengths The Smoki Museum of American Indian Art and Culture has gone to in order to right the wrongs of the past and bring the museum into the future.
Description
Presented by the museum’s Executive and Assistant Directors this proposal seeks to add to the current museological dialogue about decolonization and how it affects industry standards of best practice and museum infrastructure. It also seeks to educate other institutions about the unique circumstances that have contributed to the museum’s decolonization and promote the museum and its resources through scholarly networks.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Cynthia Gresser, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2019. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
Hello Cynthia Gresser,
I support your progress on this timely topic and have just a few questions or considerations for you that will help me further understand the research in addition to hopefully helping you along with your research. My first question is whether or not the decolonization research you’re conducting on your specific collection looks at the attribution of provenance, at the collection series or artifact level, and whether or not it can be a component of authority that decolonization will change–rectify–if need be? Our history often attributes ownership to the first white/European entity to posses an object, and I’m wondering how re-attributing provenance changes the collection. Perhaps this is an issue that occurs less often at your institution? Also, will you be addressing stakeholders during this pecha kucha? I understand this is just a quick and powerful presentation, but I’ve encountered numerous experiences with ethical boundaries being imposed because of the values of stakeholders. Often, I have found, that what is right cannot be done because of money and people involved.
I hope that made sense to you! I am very excited about your work and would love to talk more about it and learn from you.
All the best,
Kimberlee Roberts