Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 16:41:29 -0500
From: kolea <kolea-AT-world.std.com>
Subject: Re: Museumizing the 'other'/'Native' as spectacle? 


At 04:51 AM 10/10/00 -0500, Miriam Schacht wrote:
>Apologies for using this list to generate reading suggestions, but my 
>library and journal searches haven't helped me very much so far... 
>Apologies also if this is a bit vague; I'm trying to avoid lengthy 
>summaries of my topic! Basically, I am looking for material on
>
>* Generally, the role of the museum/the exhibit in colonialism, but in 
>particular,
>
>* The use of actual persons as exhibits and as spectacles - such as as 
>Saartjie/Sara Baartman ("the Hottentot Venus") or Ishi ("the last wild 
>Indian").
>
>I've found a few articles (such as Haraway's article on the American 
>Museum of Natural History, and several on the individual cases I've 
>mentioned) but I'm having difficulty finding more theoretical material 
>about the use of "the native" as spectacle that would be useful in this 
>context. I know I've actually read some articles much like what I'm 
>looking for, but can't for the life of me remember where. (That'll teach 
>me to keep better track of my reading...)


Since the role of the museum/exhibit in colonialism continues today, and
since no one's mentioned this so far, I thought I should suggest a rather
interesting set of texts--the NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act) legislation and the subsequent public records of
compliance (and non-compliance) with this law.  Check out the government
statute and documents as well as news articles about NAGPRA-related
disputes.  There may be some interesting articles on the MLA database
under "repatriation" and then other database searches (in law or anthro)
under "NAGPRA" may yield commentary, though perhaps not "theory".



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