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Last revised August 21, 2005.

Course Syllabus for IRLS 588 005

Link to Course Outline

Fall 2005 Instructor:

Marty Kreipe de Montaño


COURSE NAME, NUMBER, AND PREREQUISITES

IRLS 588-005: Indigenous Information Services

Perspective in Museums With American Indian Collections

Fall 2005 Instructor: Marty Kreipe de Montaño


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COURSE DESCRIPTION

“Museum exhibitions and publications are not objective. Every exhibition and every publication has a viewpoint. Historically, most museums with Native American collections have been interpreted by non-Indians from a non-Indian perspective. This course examines voice, or perspective in museum exhibitions and the implications of different perspectives for learning. The role of the library in the museum world is also examined” 3 credit hours

This course will begin with an introduction to the history of ethnographic museums, which have evolved from curio cabinets of the wealthy, to national showcases for diversity. Then we will examine historic labels and publications in several museums with American Indian collections including the Kansas Historical Society Museum, the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation and its successor, the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.

Museum exhibitions that ignore the perspective of the people who created the objects on display risk alienating the very people they whose lifeways they are trying to interpret. Ignoring Native American perspectives perpetuates stereotypes and provides little learning.

Label copy and museum publications will be shared with students and examined for subtle and not so subtle bias built into different perspectives. Students will be asked to visit and report on interpretive perspective in local museums.

Course materials will include the text of labels and museum publications, articles on museum interpretation, images of exhibitions, on-line resources, and visits to museums.

There will also be materials on libraries in museums with an emphasis on collection development and library expenditures.

The course will begin with an overview of the history of ethnographic museums and an examination of labels and museum publications from several museums. The instructor will share personal experience from working in museums with American Indian collections for over twenty-five years. Especially pertinent to this course is the radical revamping of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation as it was re-invented as the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. The class will visit local museums to uncover interpretive philosophies and discover the perspective used in these museums. (OR- The class will be asked to visit local museums in small groups and to report on interpretive perspectives). In the December class there will be a guest lecturer, the Librarian at National Museum of the American Indian, Lynne Altstatt. Lynne will discuss the role of the library in the museum world and the history of the libraries at the National Museum of the American Indian/Museum of the American Indian. There will be class exercises concerning collection development and budgeting for museum libraries.


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COURSE OBJECTIVES

As a result of taking this course students will understand that museum exhibitions affect people’s perceptions of American Indians and that all exhibitions have a perspective. Students should be able to identify perspective in museum exhibitions. Students will learn to evaluate words used to describe events, people, and artifacts to uncover the voice behind the label. Students will also gain an understanding of the importance of the museum library.

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REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS

1. Callander, Lee A. “I need no blanket: hide robes from the Great Plains” Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Newsletter Vol. X #3, October, 1985.

2. Cobb, Amanda. “The National Museum of the American Indian As Cultural Sovereignty.” American Quarterly, June, 2005, Vol 57, #2 pp 485 – 506

3. Estoque, Justin. “The Native voice as it speaks through the architectural design of the National Museum of the American Indian.” June 26, 2005

4. Fisher, Mark “Indian museum’s appeal, sadly only skin-deep” Washington Post September 21, 2004 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36831-2004Sep20.html

5. Force, Roland W. 1999 The Heye and the Mighty: Politics and the Museum of the American Indian. Honolulu: Mechas Press pp 3- 18

6. Forgey, Benjamin “Natural Wonder” Washington Post September 17, 2004 www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27598-2004Sept16.html

7. Fuller, Nancy J. “The museum as a vehicle for community empowerment: the Ak-Chin Indian community ecomuseum project.” Pp. 327 – 365 IN Karp, Ivan, Christine Mullen Kreamer and Stephen D. Lavine, eds. Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1992

8. Lavine, Steven D. and Ivan Karp, Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution. 1991 Introduction “Museums and multiculturalism” pp. 1 – 9

9. Lester, Joan “The American Indian: a museum’s eye view”. Indian Historian 5 (2):25 – 31 1972

10. National Museum of the American Indian. The Changing Presentation of the American Indian: Museums and Native Cultures NMAI & U of Washington Press

11. Rothstein, Edward “Museum Review: Museum with an American Indian voice” The New York Times. September 21, 2004. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E4D71539F932A1575AC0A9629C8B63

12. Wallace, Kevin. “A Reporter At Large: Slim-Shin’s Monument” The New Yorker November 19, 1960

13. West, W. Richard, Jr. “The National Museum of the American Indian: Journeys in a post-colonial world” Plenary address for The Meaning and Values of Repatriation Conference, World Archaeological Conference at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research and the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia, July 8, 2005

Each student should read one of the articles listed below and report on it in class, followed by class discussion. Students can sign up for one of them during the first class.

FROM: Lavine, Steven D. and Ivan Karp, Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution. 1991

Karp, Ivan “Culture and Representation” pp. 11 – 24

Crew, Spencer R. and James E. Sims “Locating authenticity: fragments of a dialogue” pp159 – 175

Gurian, Elaine Heumann “Noodling around with exhibition opportunities” pp 176 – 190

Livingston, Jane and John Beardsley “The poetics and politics of Hispanic art: A new perspective” pp 104- 127

Ybarra-Frausto, Tomas “The Chicano movement/ the movement of Chicano art” pp 128 – 150.

Hudson, Kenneth, “How misleading does an ethnographical museum have to be?” pp 457 – 464

Fitzhugh, William W. “Ambassadors in Sealskins: Exhibiting Eskimos a t the Smithsonian” in PP206 – 245 Henderson, Amy and Adrienne L. Kaeppler, eds. Exhibiting Dilemmas: Issues of Representation at the Smithsonian. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press 1997.

FROM: Karp, Ivan, Christine Mullen Kreamer and Stephen D. Lavine, eds. Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1992

Lavine, Stephen D. “Audience, ownership, and authority: designing relations between museums and communities” pp 137 – 157

McDonald, George “Change and Challenge: museums in the information age” pp 158 – 181


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COURSE POLICIES

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask me.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center . If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

According to the UofA's Academic Policies, one unit of credit involves at least 15 contact hours and 30 hours of homework, and graduate courses such as this one may require more. Since this is a three-credit course, you can expect to spend at least 135 hours on it during the semester.

All assignments must be completed for you to receive a final course grade. In other words, opting out of an assignment in exchange for a lower grade for the course is not an option.

Incompletes

The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.
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GRADING

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CONTACTING ME

Students can reach me via email martydem@aol.com or by phone (301) 266-1592.

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