Indigenous Cultural Centers and Museums: An Illustrated International Survey documents a rich legacy of collaboration across the spatial disciplines combining creative art practice, architecture, construction, landscape design, and urban design in the production of unique and culturally significant social institutions. This book covers a wide range

Here is a lavishly illustrated descriptive survey of 48 leading indigenous cultural centers around the world (35 are from Australia and 13 from North America, Japan, Europe, and Asia). The book shows how each is a potentially transformative, politically compelling addition to the field of cultural production, illustrating how the facilities --- all built in the last three decades --- have challenged assumptions about nature, culture, and built form. Using the spatial-temporal practice of place-making as the starting point, the facilities highlighted here are described in terms of collaborations between a number of stake-holders and professional consultants. The book adopts the format of a descriptive survey with separate chapters devoted to individual case studies. A broad introductory chapter which presents the arguments and overview precedes richly illustrated short individual essays on selected projects. Each chapter commences with the details of the project including, location, area, cost and consultants, followed by a project description, and discussion of background, design development and reception of the projects. Each project is approached as an architectural commission, detailing the critical criteria, consultants, and processes. The format is adopted from architectural review essays typically used in awards or journal publications within the profession which are accessible and relevant for both academics and practitioners. Considerable attention is given to the process, and to the evaluation of the project as a cultural response. Each case study has been written with consultation of architects or administrators of the facilities for accuracy. Indigenous Cultural Centers and Museums: An Illustrated International Survey documents a rich legacy of collaboration across the spatial disciplines combining creative art practice, architecture, construction, landscape design and urban design in the production of unique and culturally significant social institutions. This book provides material on hitherto unknown bodies of work of talented architectural practices, working collaboratively with culturally different client groups and developing consultative processes that test models for inter-cultural engagement.

Indigenous museums and cultural centres have sprung up across the developing world, and particularly in the Southwest Pacific. This book looks to the future of museum practice through examining how these museums have evolved to incorporate the present and the future in the display of culture.

Interpreting Native American History and Culture at Museums and Historic Sites features ideas and suggested best practices for the staff and board of museums that care for collections of Native material culture, and who work with Native American culture, history, and communities. This resource gives museum and history professionals benchmarks to help shape conversations and policies designed to improve relations with Native communities represented in the museum. The book includes case studies from museums that are purposefully working to incorporate Native people and perspectives into all aspects of their work. The case study authors share experiences, hoping to inspire other museum staff to reach out to tribes to develop or improve their own interpretative processes. Examples from tribal and non-tribal museums, and partnerships between tribes and museums are explored as models for creating deep and long lasting partnerships between museums and the tribal communities they represent. The case studies represent museums of different sizes, different missions, and located in different regions of the country in an effort to address the unique history of each location. By doing so, it inspires action among museums to invite Native people to share in the interpretive process, or to take existing relationships further by sharing authority with museum staff and board.

Museum exhibitions focusing on Native American history have long been curator controlled. However, a shift is occurring, giving Indigenous people a larger role in determining exhibition content. In Decolonizing Museums, Amy Lonetree examines the co

The first American national museum designed and run by indigenous peoples, the Smithsonian Institution?s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC opened in 2004. It represents both the United States as a singular nation and the myriad indigenous nations within its borders. Constructed with materials closely connected to Native communities across the continent, the museum contains more than 800,000 objects and three permanent galleries and routinely holds workshops and seminar series. This first comprehensive look at the National Museum of the American Indian encompasses a variety of perspectives, including those of Natives and non-Natives, museum employees, and outside scholars across disciplines such as cultural studies and criticism, art history, history, museum studies, anthropology, ethnic studies, and Native American studies. The contributors engage in critical dialogues about key aspects of the museum?s origin, exhibits, significance, and the relationship between Native Americans and other related museums.

The essays in section 1 consider ethnography's influence on how Europeans represent colonized peoples. Section 2 essays analyze curatorial practices, emphasizing how exhibitions must serve diverse masters rather than solely the curator's own creativity and judgment, a dramatic departure from past museum culture and practice. Section 3 essays consider tribal museums that focus on contesting and critiquing colonial views of American and Canadian history while serving the varied needs of the indigenous communities.