Spirited Encounters American Indians Protest Museum Policies and Practices

by Cooper, Karen Coody

• ISBN13: 9780759110892
• ISBN10: 0759110891
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-28
• Publisher: AltaMira Press

Summary

During the twentieth century, dozens of protests, large and small, occurred across North America as American Indians asserted their anger and displayed their disappointment regarding traditional museum behaviors. In response, due to public embarrassment and an awakening of sensitivities, museums began to change their methods and, additionally, laws were enacted in support of American Indian requests for change. The result is that American museums have revised their long-held practices due to American Indian protests. Spirited Encounters provides a foundation for understanding museums and looks at their development to present time, examines how museums collect Native materials, and explores protest as a fully American process of addressing grievances. Now that museums and American Indians are working together in the processes of repatriation, this book can help each side understand the other more fully.

Author Biography

Karen Coody Cooper was recently the museum training program coordinator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: American Indians, Museums, and Protest	p. 1
Protesting Exhibitions	p. 15
Politics and Sponsorship of The Spirit Sings	p. 21
Display of Sacred Objects	p. 29
Display of Human Remains	p. 39
Art Confined to a Reservation of Its Own	p. 49
The Long Road to Repatriation	p. 61
Demands for Return of Material Objects	p. 65
Demands for Return of Human Remains	p. 85
Whose Heroes and Holidays	p. 105
No Celebration for Columbus	p. 109
Thanksgiving Mourned	p. 121
The Custer Chronicles	p. 131
Claiming Our Own Places	p. 137
Native Cultural Sites	p. 143
Transforming Museums	p. 155
Conclusion: Achievements Gained by Protests	p. 171
Works Cited	p. 183
Index	p. 197
About the Author	p. 207
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