Week 9 Reparation

 This week I read about how Colorado Museums are doing reparation for Native American artifacts. This doesn't just mean returning the objects however. This includes respecting the tribes culture by separating certain objects and creating relationships with tribes (Simpson, 2019). After reading and realizing the impact Shelia Goff had on the History Colorado Museum, its clear to me that museums don't need to simply return the objects they contain, but also establishing relationships with the tribes that owned them. Staying with these relationships allows these tribes to educate not only the museum curators but also the public on their culture and traditions. This attitude of establishing relationships with Native American tribes has spread to other museums as well. According to Chip Colwell, the senior curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, "It allows institutions to not just work mechanically, but really to try to do the right thing, to try new ways to honor and respect Native Americans and build a new kind of relationship that allows us to mend the wounds of the past and also build a new way for museums to celebrate Native American culture and history." (Simpson, 2019) While Colorado is one of the leading states in museum relations between Native American populations and settlers, there is still always room for improvement. There are many museums that do not share or may find an issue with creating a connection with the peoples they've stolen art work from. Museums that have art spanning multiple countries and tribes may find themselves at odds with establishing personal relationships with these communities, especially bigger museums. Smaller museums face an inverse problem. Whereas larger museums typically have the funding necessary to move objects from place to place, smaller museums do not. This is why smaller museums need to establish a connection with the people in state whose culture pieces they've stolen, just as many museums in Colorado are currently making strides towards. In my own vision, I see the world progressing to the point where museums find fake alternatives to the real thing and encourage people to visit the museum or location of the original piece, though this will take time, effort, and patience.

 Scott, K. (2019) Ute Pipe, Special to The Colorado Sun

Simpson, K. (2019, March 1). To right historic wrongs, Colorado museums embraced spirit of a law that repatriated Native American artifacts and remains — largely by listening – The Colorado Sun. The Colorado Sun. https://coloradosun.com/2019/03/01/history-colorado-native-american-remains-repatriation-nagpra/

 

Comments

  1. Shannon PalmerOctober 25, 2020 at 6:54 PM

    Hello Nathan!
    Thank you for sharing this information. I really appreciated the point you made here, about the importance of not only giving back these items, but creating relationships moving forward. I feel like these opportunities to give items back should absolutely be looked at as the start of collaborations, in order to give these priceless pieces a place that they can be honored, and their story could be told! What do you think is the reason more museums aren’t giving items back? I wonder how much of it comes down to finances and not so much of unwillingness to do so.
    Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. SoarxisscaredOctober 25, 2020 at 10:02 PM

      I think the reason museums aren't giving items back is because they feel the items are more useful to the public or that the original owners would not take proper care of the items. I'm sure finances do play some role in giving items back, though certain museums with huge funding such as the British museum, don't have that same disadvantage.

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