Museums, Voice, Context – TLAM Week 8

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Admin

This week in TLAM we trekked to the other end of State Street to visit the Wisconsin Historical Museum and meet with the museum’s director, Jennifer Kolb. The visit gave us a better understanding of how museums now work with Native American bands on repatriation, problems of representation in museum exhibits, and how Native American groups can work with museums to create more informative exhibits.

Jennifer gave us an overview of how the Wisconsin Historical Museum functions and the services it provides to the public, particularly programs aimed at education and children. She explained how the ongoing protests across the street at the state Capitol have affected the daily work of Museum employees and the financial side of things at the site. Due to numerous school field trip cancellations over the fear of non-existent violence at the protests, the Museum has not experienced the same financial uptick that many area restaurants have experienced in the past few weeks. While this did not relate directly to TLAM’s class topic, it illustrated a way in which museums or other public education institutions in more urban areas could be affected by politics and civic unrest. As many of us in the class may work in the management of libraries, archives, or museums someday, this point illustrated to us a problem we may encounter someday.

After a background explanation of the Museum’s permanent exhibit on Wisconsin’s Native American history, “People of the Woodlands,” our class toured the exhibit. The exhibit has existed in a physical form for 25 years now. However, factoring in the years of planning, developing, and building the exhibit, it is closer to 40 years old. As a result, parts of the exhibit are outdated, both technologically and informationally. The treaty section in particular needs some updating, as it portrays Wisconsin Native American tribes in a negative light and deprives them of any voice in the narrative of the Prairie du Chien treaty making. A future project of the Museum will be to re-do this part of the exhibit and incorporate an Indian perspective. Another update to the exhibit would be to include more contemporary parts of Wisconsin Indian life as well as give greater labels credits to artifacts and photos in the exhibit, as well as better contextual explanations for items. We also saw an exhibit about Potawatomi Chief Kahquados and observed how museum objects, archival materials, and community input contributed to this installation.

To wrap up our visit to the Wisconsin Historical Museum, Jennifer explained to us how repatriation works and what the Museum and Historical Society has done to follow the guidelines of NAGPRA. We heard the disheartening story of a curator of the Museum who stole from collections and how the aftermath of that both strained and strengthened ties between the Museum and Wisconsin tribes. This week’s visit gave our class a greater understanding of repatriation and NAGPRA, as well as insight into how a museum can approach and collaborate with Native American groups to update and create exhibits in a culturally sensitive manner.

-Emma Zoch

Tribal Sovereignty – TLAM Week 6

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Admin

Although the controversy has waned, white sportsmen’s anger toward American Indian fishermen reached a boiling point in the late 1980s and early ’90s. White protesters hurled verbal — and occasionally physical — assaults at American Indians who exercised their treaty rights by spearfishing during the spring spawn in northern Wisconsin lakes.

Dr. Larry Nesper, an assistant professor in American Indian studies program at the University of Wisconsin, was a guest speaker Feb. 24 in the Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums class. During a PowerPoint presentation, Nesper, author of The Walleye War, chronicled government documents, treaties, and court decisions that eventually enabled American Indians to fish and hunt on ceded land.

In the 1800s, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld sovereignty for American Indians, Nesper explained. In the following century, that sovereignty was eroded in another series of laws and treaties. Treaties of 1837 and 1842 were central documents regarding American Indian hunting and fishing rights. In those treaties, the Ojibwe ceded land in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan but retained rights to hunt, fish, and gather off-reservation. When the Ojibwe attempted to exercise those rights in the 1950s, it set off another round of litigation. However, the 1983 watershed decision in Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Voigt reaffirmed American Indians’ rights to hunt, fish, and gather off-reservation. Federal Judge Barbara Crabb ruled in 1991 that the state could not interfere with Ojibwe hunting, fishing, and trapping on public lands within the ceded territory in Wisconsin. These rulings set off racist protests at boat landings during the walleye harvest.

Spearfishing continues today. However, the tradition is allowed only on certain lakes, and bag limits are enforced. State game wardens monitor the harvest, and every fish is measured and identified. The number of fish harvested during the spawn is a tiny fraction of the overall haul taken during the standard fishing season.

Mike Cross, director of public library development for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, also spoke to the class Feb. 24. He explained how state library law affects public libraries, including Wisconsin’s five tribal libraries. The law mandates that library directors attain certification, that libraries are open at least 20 hours per week, and that they spend at least $2,500 annually on materials. In return, libraries receive state services and are eligible for federal funding.

The department is considering establishing less restrictive rules for tribal libraries, but such action would require passage of legislation. These rules will be important as the class tries to help build a public library on the Red Cliff Reservation.

History, Media, and Stories – TLAM Week 3

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Admin

For the third week of TLAM, we looked at the topics of Wisconsin tribal histories, media, and storytelling. Class began with a continuation of the discussion from the panel at last week’s screening of “Reel Injun.” Like the panelists, many of us were concerned with the issue of how to present depictions of Native Americans in Hollywood movies and TV to children in a way that can create a positive learning experience. We liked that the documentary ended on a positive note by showing that more Native actors and filmmakers were beginning to tell their own stories, using media as a positive force. This discussion provided a good set-up for our guest of the week, Patty Loew, whose book Indian Nations of Wisconsin we had just finished reading.

Patty had just recently returned from a trip to Mozambique, where she been helping to train community-based journalists. She made an insightful parallel between Native American cultures and the people of Mozambique regarding challenges they face not only in acquiring and transmitting information because of the widening digital divide, but also in how to educate the next generation in traditional culture.

For the rest of the class we learned about how the Tribal Youth Media camp at Lac Courte Orielles, which Patty helped to create, helps Ojibwe children learn about science in ways that integrates with their culture’s traditional methods of learning. A major problem that Patty sees is the tremendous disconnect between Native children and the field of science, partly due to the fact that the way science is taught in ways that aren’t compatible with traditional Native American culture and worldviews. The lack of Native people with a scientific background is especially problematic because today there is a great need for tribes to have scientists that can help them protect their natural resources. At the camp Patty told us about, Native culture leads science, including ethics and values with the other information the kids learned.

The Tribal Youth Media program linked well to the chapter from Donald Lee Fixico’s The American Indian Mind in a Linear World that we read for class this week. Fixico explains the important role of oral tradition and traditional knowledge in teaching Native American history and culture. Storytelling conveys “values, ideas, beliefs [and] insights about the community,” and also serves a relational purpose, connecting people and places. I could easily see how this idea of storytelling and traditional knowledge was integrated into the experience of the science camp at LCO.

Finally, the class went to the Tribal Youth Media website where we watched one of the videos created by the kids, which incorporated both scientific research and interviews with tribal elders. They did an amazing job! Thanks again to Patty Loew for sharing this with us.

- Kelly

Language, History, and Reel Injuns – TLAM 2011 Week 2

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Admin

We began our classroom journey this week in the company of Rand Valentine, associate professor of American Indian studies and linguistics, here at UW-Madison. Valentine came to speak to us about the ever-present need to fight a battle to save Native cultures, not only in our own country but all around the world. Although many languages have already been lost, there are a few that are involved in efforts towards revival here in our region. One of our teachers, Omar Poler has been learning his own beautiful and complex language, Ojibwe, with Valentine. We had a chance to read many insightful articles on Native languages and began reading Patty Loew’s book, Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal. Rand Valentine enthusiastically taught us about the many ways in which Ojibwe is one of the most sophisticated languages that he has ever encountered. We all listened intently, captivated with Valentine’s highly contagious exuberance and moved by his thoughtful presentation.

We also had the opportunity to watch a movie at the Chazen Museum of Art, here on the UW-Madison campus, called Reel Injun. We were presented first with a short film produced by the Screen Actors Guild, and its President’s National Task Force for American Indians which is chaired by the immensely charming, intelligent and talented actress, Delanna Studi, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. We were lucky enough to be joined by Delanna as one of the three accomplished presenters who were asked to lead a panel discussion after the film was shown.

We all sat in a theatre full of people from all different places, and cultures. My husband and I, a white couple of German-American descent, could have felt very uncomfortable sitting in the front row; instead, we were made to feel incredibly warm, and welcomed into the conversation. J.D. , our emcee for the evening and a graduate student here, asked us to think of what we knew or thought we knew about Native American people before the film began. He asked us to think about all of the images we had held in our minds up until that point and then after the film, he would ask us to come together and discuss what had changed.

Reel Injun is a film by the Cree documentarian, Neil Diamond. Diamond steps us through a long and complicated history of Native American actors in films, or the lack of them, from the first days in the silent era through today; when many indigenous film makers are getting recognition for their contributions to this important and far-reaching art form. What we see in the film, is that there has been a lot of ground lost along the way. Despite early positive representation in silent film, Hollywood began to stereotype the Native American in popular westerns, and even children’s cartoons. This created a dangerously skewed image and this negative depiction unfortunately still exists in the minds of the masses today. Furthermore, the film shows us through true journeys into the heart of the American West, just how much this image has damaged views of Native people’s around the world. Instead of being thought of as distinct and sovereign nations living in a contemporary world, many indigenous peoples are seen as caricatures from the past, lost in the dust and forever suspended in some daguerreotype image. His film shows us how, through Hollywood’s lens, many people around the world view all native Americans as being Plains Indians in dress and having the same histories and cultures despite being in actuality, very distinct. Most of these films take place in the American Southwest. Movies like John Ford’s, The Searchers, create sub-human images which are then projected onto all the distict cultures of Native Americans at once—as a whole. The filmmaker travels across the country to speak with some of our real-life heroes about how they became activists who have lived to tell the real stories of many Native cultures.

After the film, we concluded with a thoughtful panel discussion by our three presenters, J.D., Delanna Studi, and Richie Plass. Plass, a member of the Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee Nations and an educator and musician, seems to me to be one of the funniest and most sincere people on the planet. He informed us of his work, trying to fight the depiction of American Indians as used in mascots and logos. These unfair depictions further perpetuate the stereotypes which may have been begun by Hollywood in an attempt to erase a part of American history which reflects badly on us as a nation. This history, as we all know, needs to be discussed fully and openly amongst all people and not left for Hollywood to decide. Just like our meeting at the Chazen, people need to talk about the issues to begin resolve some of these wrongs.

One of the most important parts of our discussions during this evening centered around Native actors and filmmakers increasing presence both in front of and behind the camera; writing, directing and producing these films to try and undo some of this damage. Delanna Studi is working to improve the quality of acting by making sure that Native American actors are seen by casting directors. These directors and writers can no longer say that there are no Native actors to take these roles, or to write stories for. She says that it is our duty to encourage talented writers of any age to provide good stories for the world which will help to represent Native voices in this business.

As the evening wrapped up, I looked around the room of people all chatting happily with one another and felt grateful for being invited to participate in this truly enriching event.
-Jessica Miesner
1. PBS.org website for Reel Injun
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/reel-injun/

2. Reel Injun at the Chazen Museum advertisement
http://mcdsocst.wikispaces.com/file/view/Reel+Injun+uw+mad+jan+28.pdf

3. Richie Plass’s Native Voices website and also his STAR page
http://www.nativevoices.net/richieplass.html

http://www.racismagainstindians.org/Indian101/

and you can watch a little video of him here
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4896&Itemid=131

4. Rand Valentine’s AIS faculty page
http://amindian.wisc.edu/Valentine.html

5. Website on the first 8-minute film, American Indian Actors
http://blog.theautry.org/2010/11/16/starring-native-american-actors/

6. Delanna Studi IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1130669/bio

Week 3: Tribal Histories

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Admin

In last week’s class, we learned about Indigenous languages and came away feeling that they’re something priceless to preserve. This week, TLAM focused on American Indian history. Or, as our guests emphasized, tribal histories. Maybe a little like Indigenous languages and dialects, each community has their own unique history to document, preserve, and share. This is just one reason why tribal libraries, archives, and museums are so important. There’s so much to remember.

One of this week's readings To help us learn more about tribal histories–and the history of history–we were joined by two friends from the UW-Madison History Department. Doug Kiel and Skott Vigil are graduate students pursuing PhDs. Doug is studying the 20th century revitalization of the Wisconsin Oneida; Skott is studying Indian/non-Indian relations in Colorado in the 19th century. Both provided a great overview of American Indian history, which was a great addition to one of this week’s readings, Patty Loew’s Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal.

We also talked about historiography. Skott and Doug noted that much of American Indian history has been produced by scholars who conduct research through primary and secondary written sources, yet rarely reach out to Indian communities as a part of their study. As a result, the published histories of tribes and Indian/white relations have often reflected non-Indian perceptions of the past. With a new generation of scholars, this is changing. But the history of history needs to be remembered.

Larry Nesper's book For the second half of class, Larry Nesper, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and American Indian Studies, provided an overview of Indian/non-Indian relations, especially legal relations with the United States government. He focused on the treaty making process, tracing its origins from the United States Constitution through present day court cases. The author of Walley War: the Struggle for Ojibwe Spearfishing and Treaty Rights, Larry also discussed the violent reaction to a 1983 court decision that restored reserved Ojibwe treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather in northern Wisconsin’s ceded territories.

TLAMers visit LAMPers in Champaign, Illinois

TLAMers visit UIUC LAMPers. Left to right: Timothy Kaneshiro, Amani Ayad, Omar Poler, Christina Johnson, Nathan Fredrickson, Catherine Phan, and Pang Xiong

It was a great week for another reason, too! Right after class on Wednesday (February 3), four TLAMers traveled to participate in the 5th Annual iSchools Conference at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It was such a fun trip. We hung out with our friends from LAMP (LIS Access Midwest Program); presented as a roundtable at the conference discussing our experience developing TLAM at UW-Madison; and were excited to met Miranda, Marisa, and Ally from the University of Washington’s Indigenous Information Research Group. We learned so much visiting with them and especially listening to their amazing, early-Saturday morning presentation on Native Systems of Knowledge: Indigenous Methodologies in Information Science. We are also very appreciative to have visited with Cheryl Metoyer again, also from the University of Washington.

Miranda, Marisa, Ally, and Cheryl… your work is so important! And your advice so very appreciated!

Outside class

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Admin

A preview of the PBS American Experience “We Shall Remain” series was shown Tuesday, March 31, at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Episode 5, “Wounded Knee,” which will be broadcast May 11, was shown. The plan was to show most but not all of it. As Patty Loew began the discussion, however, audience members wanted to know more about the outcome of the events at Pine Ridge Reservation 1973. A gentleman who was at Wounded Knee was in the audience, and he was able to answer questions. Patty also decided to take a vote, and the audience voted to see the entire episode. Afterward, audience members discussed the events of Wounded Knee and spoke of their own experiences of boarding schools (also addressed in this episode). I wish I had a transcript of the remarks. They were quite moving. If there are more opportunities to watch these episodes in a group setting, I urge class members and others to do so.
For more on the series: www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain

Wednesday night assistant professor of art Tom Jones and College Library outreach librarian Janice Rice joined author Steven Hoelscher at the Chazen Museum for a panel discussion following Hoelscher’s lecture on his book “Picturing Indians.” Tom has photos included in the book, and Janice assisted with the book.

The two events were reminders of the connections this class has enabled.

Nancy Mithlo and Tom Jones 3/27/09 Tribal Museums

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Admin

This week we had speakers Nancy Mithlo and Tom Jones discuss their experiences and professional work with museums. Nancy’s background is in anthropology and she has studied and worked all over the country. She spoke about Native American art and museums in relation to education and awareness. She described to us her experiences with the National Museum of the American Indian, her impressions and the controversy surrounding

Nancy Mithlo, a professor with the American Indian Studies program and Art History Department at UW-Madison.

the museum. Also, she spoke of Native American imagery and we viewed a short film by Erica Lord entitled “Redman” that depicts the brutality of racism through rather simple, but stark imagery and dialouge. Nancy also mentioned her new book Our Indian Princess which discusses imagery as communication, issues surrounding causation of racial stereotypes, and how imagery can form the framework for discussion of Native American issues. She gave the names of many artists, intellectuals, books and concpets- below are some links to topics mentioned in the lecture and during lunch following the talk.

Links
Institute of American Indian Arts

The National Museum of the American Indian: Critical Conversations

Andrea Smith, author of Conquest

Fred Wilson, artist

Kevin Grover apology from the BIA

excerpt from “Box of Treasures” short film made by the Kwakiut’l people of Alert Bay, British Columbia

Amy Lonetree, Assistant Professor of American Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Poeh Center

Roxanne Swentzell, artist

Native American Studies Association

Aboriginal Curatorial Collective

The Forward Foundation
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Grants Applicants, contact Alison Freese

more information about the Native American Video Tape Collection, 1976-Pres.

Tom showed us his work and discussed his various projects, (link above). He also shared with us his experience as an artist featured in the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. Two collections that he shared

Tom Jones, professor in the Art Department at UW-Madison.

with us were “Encountering Cultures” and “‘Native’ Commondity.” These two collections are an example of the range of Tom’s interest and the depth of his work.

This was an inspiring presentation by both Nancy and Tom that stimulated much thought and discussion within the group. Their expertise and willingness to share experience and knowledge was greatly appreciated.

Reflection of Progress

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Admin

First things first: I began this class knowing close to nothing on American Indian affairs–contemporary or otherwise–outside a handful of movies and some grossly inadequate public school history classes.

In reality, the classes served no other purpose than to gloss over a few hundred years of American governmental history–with little or no mention of the false premises by which the goverment secured millions of acres of native lands; the countless treaties broken therein; or the decimation of the Indian population due to white disease or outright murder. But, as I said, teachers had to fulfill their state-mandated lesson plans. (Also, Hollywood never provides any sort of authority on, well, anything so it should it come as no real surprise that Last of the Mohicans only propogates Cooper’s mis-nomer and the Native American as noble savage stereotype; if one scrap of redeemable anything can be salvaged then let it be said that Val Kilmer in Thunderheart at least made me aware of Indian sovereignty. )

But I digress.

Like others in the class, I took a leap of faith out into something new because I wanted to replace some admitted ignorance about Native Americans. (This happens when you grow up in a homogenous, white town.) Alyssa summed up quite neatly the thoroughness of Larry, Skott and Doug’s presentations so I will take a different angle.

The January 30th session represents to me the first time TLAM transformed from a set of amorphous, lofty goals into a real class. (It was, for the record, 4 hours long!)

January 30th was particularly powerful on two levels: first, Larry, Doug and Skott were all extremely knowledgable on treaties (dating from 18th to 20th century) and the state-of-affairs of what certain tribes around the country face today (Skott on the Utes and Arapajo, and Doug with the Oneida); second, on a purely emotional level, I felt the presentations even more powerful because they were in-person (not from a page), and each was articulate and engaging on their respective topic to the extent that it encouraged ME to want to engage on a subject I had heretofore felt too intimidated to talk about. (On a general level, I would like to believe these speakers are giving us some tools we can use–vocabulary and confidence–for the hands-on visits.)

In terms of how I see this class developing, I think Larry, Doug and Skott (and subsequent speakers) represent an essential part of the learning process of this class– we in TLAM must understand how the tribes in Wisconsin got to this point in their history–relocations, removal acts, termination, boarding school, allotment–if we are to be of any help to those in Red Cliff. Let me put it this way: the road to Hell is paved with good intentions; we may all have the best of intentions in mind, but we may do more harm than good in rushing up to Red Cliff without having a more informed grasp of what is going on.

Misc.: Doug brought up some provocative points, I thought, on how Indians are percieved as all being wealthy, due to the influx of $ in the last 20 years from gaming. Doug was quick to point out that while one might see some Cadillacs on the Oneida reservation, the generalization that all Indians are wealthy now is far from the truth. Actually, American Indians still rank at the bottom of most poverty categories. (And, even in Wisconsin, we know the existence of a casino does NOT necessarily guarantee wealth for a tribe or band, as is the case for some of the Ojibwe bands up north.)

The incorrect generalized-assumption of wealth and prosperity of Indians is interesting as a stand-alone concept, too. In the context that Indians are supposed to be a down-trodden, poverty-ridden people and culture, it is interesting to conceive of Indians as being monetarily “successful” or “doing well for themselves”. This raises the rhetorical question: What’s wrong with a successful Native American? I got the sense from Doug that this notion of perpetually being down-trodden needs to be challenged in order for a more positive picture to emerge.

According to my notes, we then segued into how $ on the Oneida reservation has not solved everything, as they face just as much political scandal and misappropriation of funds as regular government agencies. The existence of familial politics also makes it extremely difficult to implement long-term projects.

-Eric

Comments on American Indian Education: by Indians vesus for Indians

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Admin

Obviously the history of the treatment of American Indians in the US is a painful reminder of the atrocities committed over the past 200+ years. This article I think does a good job of parsing out the good from the evil, giving description to the reality of Indian education. From this I ask, what is the next step? I would be interested to know what a reservation school would be like if there were no financial or social hindrances. What would be taught and what would be the fundamental differences between it and a traditional Anglo school?

TLAM Class 2012

Convening Culture Keepers - May 2012

TLAM with Loriene Roy (2009)

TLAM Student Group 2012

Red Cliff Library Project