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Interpreting our own: Native peoples redefining museum education Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Morris, Traci Lynn, 1965- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 12:45:25 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/278608 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the tact directly fix>m the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter &ce, whOe others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproductioii is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information CompaiQ^ 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 INTERPRETING OUR OWN: NATIVE PEOPLES REDEFINING MUSEUM EDUCATION by Traci Lynn Morris Copyright © Traci Lynn Morris 1997 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN AMERICAN INDIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfilhnent of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1997 UMI Niunber: 1385747 Copyright 1997 by Morris, Traci Lynn All rights reserved. UMI Microform 1385747 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against miauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 7 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfilhnent of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under the rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of soxirce is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. \ SIGNED: i APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: Professor of American Indian Studies 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This author would like to acknowledge the following people for their encouragement and support; Mark Bahti, Mary Jo Fox, Fred Lomayesva, Tom Holm, N. Scott Momaday, Nancy Odegaard, R. Gwiim Vivian, William vonMetzger, William Vargas, and Wil Grant. In addition, a warm thank you goes out to my parents, James and Dorma Morris; I dedicate this work to them. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. ABSTRACT II. INTRODUCTION THE ARIZONA STATE MUSEUM A HISTORY OF THE GEORGE GUSTAV HEYE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, NEW YORK CITY. GEORGE GUSTAV HEYE COLLECTING AND RESEARCH PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY METHODOLOGY III. MUSEUMS A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSEUMS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSEUMS AND EDUCATION 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued INFORMAL VERSUS FORMAL EDUCATION ,33 MUSEUM EDUCATION DEFINED 34 INTERPRETATION 34 HOW EDUCATIONAL THEORY IS EMPLOYED IN MUSEUMS 36 COGNITIVE APPROACHES 36 SOCIAL THEORISTS 39 MUSEUM TEACHING/LEARNING TECHNIQUES 42 NI. STORYTELLING 46 STORYTELLING AS A METHOD OF TEACHING: NATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING 46 SACRED STORIES 47 STORIES FOR EDUCATION 48 STORYTELLING AND ITS APPLICATION IN A MUSEUM SETTING 49 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued STORIES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO OBJECTS 50 IV. COMPARISON OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS 53 THE ARIZONA STATE MUSEUM DOCENT PROGRAM 53 THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN INTERPRETIVE PROGRAM 59 DESCRIPTION OF THE EXHIBITS 62 V. CONCLUSIONS 72 ANALYSIS 72 ENDINGS 78 OF ANCIENT OBJECTS 80 VI. REFERENCES 81 7 ABSTRACT For my Master of Arts in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona I have done a comparative analysis of the Docent program's at the Arizona State Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. A docent program or guided tour program, is part of educational programing at each museum. In order to fully understand and appreciate objects in a museum, especially those in exhibits dealing with Native Americans, requires interpretation. The guided tour is one of the most popular interpretive techniques. In this particular study, I focus on the use of storytelling as an interpretive technique. This study was done in an educational setting through informal observation of the docents, personal interviews and discussion with the docents and Educational Coordinators at each museum, examination of educational training, examination of Native American education techniques, and investigation of storytelling and its relationship to museums and Native peoples. 8 I. INTRODUCTION Throughout history, museums have had an association with learning and education. Museums representing Native Americans are no exception. However, museums that have collections of material culture from American Indian groups have historically sought to "interpret" the "vanishing" Native and many continue under this premise, despite the fact that Natives have not vanished and now seek to speak for themselves. Native voices or the voice of the object-maker have seldom been included in education or interpretive programs. Fortunately, this is changing, albeit slowly. This study will address two specific museums that seek to incorporate the voice of the Native in interpretation and education. In particular, these programs use the narrative or storytelling voice of Native peoples to interpret and in some cases to reinventing the exhibit. This kind of educating, called informal education, is what museum education programs are all about. Interestingly enough, informal education is also the method by which Native people have been educating their children for eons. In Native communities, storytelling has been a prime method for this tj^e of informal education. Now these two museimis are incorporating Native stories and storytelling, told by Natives, to educate the public. This study seeks to examine this issue through comparative analysis of each museum's education programing and will explore various learning theories and their applications to each museum's setting. The two museums to be examined in this study are; the Arizona State Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. While 9 both of these museums and their collections have similarities they also have extreme differences, which are reflected in their educational programs. The Arizona State Museum represents the Southwestem region of Native Americans from pre-historic, historic and the present through collections primarily comprised of archaeological and ethnographical material. This museum is a public institution which has a long history and is affiliated with a research one institution and is a part of one of this country's top Anthropology programs. Its origins are wrapped up with the begiimings of the University of Arizona prior to the territory of Arizona becoming a state. According to the mission statement "Major museum research programs and activities include archaeological research on state lands, the management and protection of the state's archaeological and historical resources through administration of the Arizona Antiquities Act, and archaeological contracting services for assisting sponsors in meeting federal and state environmental protection mandates"'. The exhibits and the educational program that supports the Arizona State Museum, reflects this commitment to the resources of this state which are primarily Native American in origin. The museum works closely with the tribes individually and with a Native advisory board. In addition, many of the tribes in the state of Arizona borrow from the collections for their exhibits. The education and docent program at ASM is highly structured so as to respect the wishes of exhibited communities in what information is disseminated. However, the exhibits and the education program include a special place for the 10 representation and transmission of Oral Traditions. The use of storytelling has been successfully incorporated into the educational program. The docents are given a plethora of background material on the tribes represented in the exhibit, however, part of the material includes some of the stories of the people. These stories were chosen in conjunction with the Native Advisory board and the museum and they represent