Date of Award

1-1-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Richard Clemmer-Smith, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Esteban Gómez, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Frederique Chevillot

Keywords

American Indian, Critical museology, Indigenous curation, NAGPRA, Native American, Sacred objects, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

Abstract

This thesis explores the questions of how and why indigenous curation is incorporated into collections care and management for American Indian sacred, ceremonial, and religious items at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) through the examination of staff discourse. This thesis also discusses the importance of incorporating non-Western ontologies and epistemologies into classically Western science and natural history museums, and how this helps reconcile differing collections care and management practices. Through the presentation and examination of data and literature, I argue that it is important to include indigenous curation in museums because it aids in cultural revitalization and reclamation for Native Americans, and that incorporating indigenous curatorial methods and alternative ontologies and epistemologies aids in the decolonization process in museums. This argument is presented through a case study of the Anthropology Department at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

Rights holder

Julia Marie Strunk

File size

111 p.

File format

application/pdf

Language

en

Discipline

Museum Studies, Cultural Anthropology

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