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The image of Native Americans in the United States has changed through
the passage of time. Part of this change is directly related to the representation of
their cultures in a museum setting and the inception of cultural resource laws that
govern them. This research looks at four museums, two in the United States and
two in the United Kingdom, and compares their representation of Native
Americans. Unlike museums in the United States, museums in the United Kingdom
do not have to comply with laws that protect source communities. A source
community is defined as the original group that an object found in a museum
setting originates. Laws like the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (1990) have shaped the relationship between museums and Native
Americans in the United States. It has fostered a deeper understanding of Native
American worldviews in American museum displays. This research demonstrates
how American museums have changed the way they plan for and create displays
about Native Americans because of cultural resource laws. This research reveals
three movements in the United States that have occurred, due in part to cultural
resource laws. First, the dichotomy between museums’ relationship to their visitors
in comparison to their responsibilities to source communities and how this has
shifted; second, funding and the power struggle it has created in museums. Third,
the issue of repatriation of objects, both nationally and internationally, due to the
variety of opinions that surround this topic; and how this demonstrates a better
working relationship with Native Americans in the United States, and is cause for
great strife for the United Kingdom and other countries. These three illuminate the
uneven relationship between museums and Native Americans and how cultural
resource laws in the United States have begun to alter this relationship. NAGPRA
has helped to reestablish Native Americans’ legal authority over their culture in the
United States. |
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