Yes Museums could return ALL baskets & cultural items (many they rarely use or display). Collaborate with tribes for visiting exhibit/research. Uphold sovereignty, build best practices, be better. Just give them all back. (Don’t get me started on remains of ancestors. Sheesh.)
Museums will invite me to do “decolonizing museums” talks. I’ll go “Step 1 give everything back. End of steps.” They’re confused. I’ll say “anyway. Whose got keys to the warehouse?” Someone asks “wait? Do you mean everything?” I advance to next slide which says “yes. Everything.”
Many museums won’t acknowledge they built immense wealth b/c of genocide. Values of “preservation” dispossessed Natives of wealth & control over lands, histories & cultures. Saying “Museums kept items preserved/safe.” Cool. We survived. Thanks for the assist. Give ‘em back.
If you’re a museum employee, admin, or donor you should actively work to return all items to Natives. You have hundreds/thousands? of baskets in a warehouse (UC Berkeley) why do you need to be in charge of them? If assumption is you’ll do better job… that’s white supremacy.
We are still here. We educate, do workshops, write books... Despite stubborn institutions that just don’t wanna give anything back we make partnerships w/ those hoarding our ancestors & items. You think we gonna get items back & be like “KICK ROCKS” We’re already doing the work.
Also if you have a donor that’s like “I’ll give you my collections but you can NEVER GIVE THEM BACK to Native people…” then work closely with tribal groups represented to decide 1/ if you want that jerks stuff 2/ how you can create policies allowing for unlimited loan or use.
Museums can right now return items to empower tribal nations at a time when our sovereignty is constantly being challenged. To say “Indigenous peoples should be in control of their items and we’ll create lasting relationships demonstrating how powerful these partnerships can be.”
Anyway. This has been Thursday Latte Thoughts with Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy. #LandBack #BasketsBack #WaterBack #FireBack #DecolonizeMuseums
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