Time Schedule:
Deana Dartt-Newton
AIS 475
Seattle Campus
Current research and readings in American Indian Studies content areas.
Class description
This course will explore the foundations of Native American representation in museums which had its beginnings at the turn of the 20th century with World's Fairs and an Anglo-American preoccupation with collecting Native American materials for display as curios. The course will address some of the impacts of the period of "salvage" ethnology, as Anthropologists traveled to Native communities and collected what they believed to be the last vestiges of primitive indigenous cultures. In many cases, human bodies (some even recently deceased) were also collected for display and research. We will then discuss American Indian protests of museums and their practices beginning in the 1960s, which paved the way for significant changes both ethically and legislatively for the representation of Native peoples. The term will end with in depth discussions and analysis of the contrasts between mainstream museums and the over 200 Native owned museums that represent their cultures and histories from a community perspective.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
