Museums' role discussed

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Tuscarora photographer Jolene Rickard paid a visit to Toronto this month to participate in a conference at the University of Toronto. The event, (Re)Visualizing National History: Museology and National Identities in Europe in the New Millennium, took place March 3 to 5 at the Munk Centre for International Studies.

On March 4, Rickard, an associate professor of photography and art history, State University of New York at Buffalo, and currently a guest curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, shared the stage with Ruth Phillips, Canada research chair and professor of art history at Carleton University.

The two scholars talked about Aboriginal identity in North American museums.

Rickard explained why museums matter to Aboriginal peoples.

She asked, "How did Aboriginal peoples access the modern 20th century economy? The primary means was through culture (until gaming became legal), and this gives the museum great significance."

Culture, she added, "has been our economy, from roadside stands to cultural projects. These bring authority and prestige to the community and economic benefits for people locked out of industrial economies."

Rickard talked about the National Museum of the American Indian, and Phillips looked at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Both museums are federal institutions, and Douglas Campbell designed both buildings, but they differ in other respects.

Canada does not have a separate museum for Aboriginal peoples. At the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Phillips said, there are "two different stories, two bodies occupying the same space, two different views."

She pointed out, "All museum narratives are selective," and said the themes for the Canadian museum came from asking people, "What do you want people to understand about being Aboriginal in Canada today?"

The answers they got were diversity, the relationship to the land, pride, and engagement in contemporary life. The display An Ancient Bond with the Land shows the regional lifestyles of Aboriginal groups.

Phillips commented, "The Canadian Museum made a conscious decision to present vitality and modernity. There is very little depiction of victims, very little said about unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, spirituality or repatriation."

The National Museum of the American Indian, which was created by an Act of Congress in 1992, includes all the Indigenous peoples of the hemisphere. Based on an early 20th century private collection, plus artifacts amassed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs from the 1930s to the 1970s, this museum features 18 community spaces and galleries. The three main galleries look at "Our Universe, Our Peoples, Our Lives." In the "Our Peoples' gallery, Rickard said, "gold, disease, gun, treaties, bibles" tell the story of genocide, and "there is an annotated bibliography to back up every statement in the gallery."

Event organizer Suzanne Solomon had opened the discussion, referring to the "delicate relationship between identity and display." Display and representation involve some very basic questions, she said.

Rickard asked, "What do you call people? Canada uses First Nations and Aboriginal."

Looking at identity, Rickard said, "Most people do not see Native people in contemporary society. Most people know Indians through 19th century photography. There are millions of Indians living Indian lives."

Rickard's career evolved from her work in photography, which, she says, "gives her a public forum and the opportunity to advocate." She finds inspiration in the work of Tuscarora stone carver Duffy Wilson, and Thomas Hill, of the Woodland Cultural Centre.

She feels "discussion of Aboriginal space in Canada is more evolved than in the U.S." To her, the National Museum of the American Indian provides "a forum for Aboriginal people to speak back.

"The face of Indian America is one of the poorest," she said, adding she hopes the museum will lead people to "rthink the Americas as an Indian place."

Quoting George Erasmus, who said, "The history of our people needs to be told," Phillips said, "Non-Natives must come to understand Native views on land, culture, etc." and she described the role of the Canadian Museum of Civilization as that of an "honest broker."

The National Museum of the American Indian officially opens Sept. 21, 2004. The opening ceremony will feature a procession of 20,000 Indigenous people from across North America. The museum expects to draw 6 million visitors a year.