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Museum Management and Curatorship 21 (2006) 171186 www.elsevier.com/locate/musmancur

Counterfeit museology$
Michael M. Ames{
Received 22 January 2006; accepted 23 June 2006 Michael M. Ames passed away while his article was being prepared for publication. The Editorial Board and staff of Museum Management and Curatorship are honoured to publish the last written work of this preeminent scholar and practitioner

Abstract Museums are not usually seen to be agents of change. If they are to serve as important mechanisms for empowering local communities to dene, recognize, and develop their own indigenous heritages, they should rst consider a potential contradiction contained within this initiative: museums specialize in the representation of other peoples, while people have the sovereign right to represent themselves. Left unresolved, this contradiction could produce counterfeits of good intentions. The introduction of professionalized cultural management may mitigate the responsibilities of the citizenry to actively participate in the production and preservation of their own heritage. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Museums; Development; Representation; Heritage; Empowerment; Co-participation

An educator is a person who has to live in the deep signicance of Easter. Paulo Freire

1. The idea of the great museum and its counterfeits The Idea of the Museum, as institutionalized in and represented especially by universal museums, national museums, and large urban onesincluding the great-museum palaces and secular temples of Europe (Horne, 1984: p. 15), and encoded in the ICOM denition of museums, has become a major international cultural force for heritage
Revised and expanded version of paper presented to Museums and Communities: Perspectives on the Place of Museums in Global, National, and Local Communities, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Bangkok, September 2728, 2005, co-ordinated and chaired by Paritta Chalermpow Koanantakool. { Deceased. 0260-4779/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.musmancur.2006.06.003
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preservation and education, especially in the West (British Museum, 2003; Horne, 1984; Kreps, 2003; Lewis, 2004). The modern nation-state, Horne (1984: p. 166) writes in his survey of great European museum, when it formed, needed to give the people a dramatized sense that they were part of the state, with a share in its future. This Idea of the Museum, more correctly a complex of ideas, encodes two fundamental principles that have far-reaching implications for the museum movement: (a) that collections are vital to the understanding of heritage, thus they should form the focus of museum work, and (b) this work is a moral good every community should respect and desire. These principles represent a notion of culture that infuses technical procedures with moral imperatives. The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of this Museum Idea, claiming universality for its two basic principles, when it is presented to local communities and Indigenous or Tribal peoples on the assumption that they too need to implement the Museum Idea as a means to preserve, develop, and celebrate their own heritages. The concern is how this Museum Idea shapes attitudes, and subsequently actions, towards both what is to be considered valued heritage and the proper role of museums (for a Canadian example of how a federal agency is struggling to come to terms with the traditional role of museums, see Minister of Public Works & Government Services Canada, 2005). Discussions concerning the social impact of museums generally have focused on their relation to society in general or on the middle and upper classes from whom the bulk of museum visitors are drawn. What might museums do for the relatively disadvantaged or vulnerable sectors of society normally beyond their reach? It is a matter of relative deprivation. Every nation produces and sustains populations that are relatively disadvantaged, as well as those more advantaged. How can mainstream museums assist in the cultural development of those who are minorities, marginalized, left out, distanced from the centre, impoverished, and/or discriminated against? (It also of course can be argued that it is not the business of museums to engage in community animation or development.) Museum professionals (for the purposes of this paper they will be referred to as museologists), from metropolitan to community institutions, promote the Idea of the Museum with the enthusiasm of true believers and for good reason. Museums serve useful purposes. They can tell good stories based on objects. They do not serve all purposes, however. Museologists limit their agency to the extent they are tied more closely to collections than to community, and to the practice of transferring knowledge based on objects than to creating possibilities for the construction of knowledge based on ideas (Shelton, 1997). Assisting communities to develop their own cultural interests requires a different skill set. Even with their natural good will, museum initiatives may prove to be counterproductive, creating a condition of museological iatrogenesisunwanted side effects of good intentions (Illich, 1975: pp. 2627; Cayley, 1992: pp. 105108). John McKnight (1995), following Ivan Illich (1975, 1977), describes the disabling effects of bureaucratic systems, especially in the medical and educational professions, when imposed upon communities. They tend to counterfeit the manifestation of community by manufacturing the need for the professional services they set out to provide (McKnight, 1995: pp. 2325). The Age of Disabling Professions, wrote (Illich, 1977: p. 11), is an age when people had problems, experts had solutions, and scientists measured imponderables such as abilities and needs. The more people are encouraged to rely upon professionals the less likely they will develop their own initiatives.

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Similar processes of counterfeiting community formations can result from the interventions of well-intentioned museum professionals beholden to the Idea of the Museum. This was noted as long ago as 1983 when Alpha Konare (1983: p. 146, quoted in Kreps 2003: p. 42), a former president of ICOM, criticized the application of the western model of museums to non-western contexts: The traditional museum is no longer in tune with our concerns; it has ossied our culture, deadened many of our cultural objects, and allowed the essence, imbued with the spirit of the people, to be lost. The same westernized museumication process continues, at least in the Indonesia community described by Christina Kreps (2003: p. 42): In summary, I discovered that people in Central Kalimantan were museum-minded, but in their own ways. They have their own means of interpreting and appropriating museological concepts to t into their own cultural patterns. What Indonesian museum leaders see as a lack of museum-mindedness may be a form of resistance to a predetermined idea of the museums meanings and purposes as well as forms of cultural representation and curation imposed from above and from outside local communities. Imposing the Idea of the Museum on local communities without proper consultation may produce the counterfeits of which Konare and Kreps speak. Revolutions begin when people who are dened as problems achieve the power to redene the problems, McKnight asserts (1995: p. 16, 48). There is no greater power than the right to dene the questions. Now to the other side of the contradiction, that people have the sovereign right to represent themselves. The argument is that they and not scholars or museums, contrary to notions about the transcendent value of scholarly knowledge, own their own histories. The rst step will be to consider an unusual form of self-representation. 2. Viniece Walker and the Humanities projects Earl Shorris (1997, 2000) a contributing editor of Harpers Magazine, social critic, novelist, teacher of the Humanities, and poverty researcher, wrote about his interest in the causes of poverty. In the course of his research he interviewed a Black woman he met in a New York State prison. His account of that interview led to the introduction of a innovative barrier-free Clemente Humanities Programme in 199596, and to subsequent counterparts in 50 communities in ve countries, including to a low-income inner city area (Downtown Eastside) of the Canadian City of Vancouver and to a First Nations1 community, The Musqueam Indian Band, adjacent to Vancouver. These two cases will be considered below. The woman Shorris interviewed was Viniece (Niecie) Walker, a high school drop out, street kid, crack head, HIV positive, sent to a maximum security prison when she was 20; still there eight years later when Earl Shorris met her, and only recently released after completing her full sentence (Shorris, 2005). She was not a model for a Good Citizenship Award, one might presume. Despite her troubled past, however, Niecie completed high
1 The Native Indian people in Canada are now more usually referred to as First Nations, Natives, or Aboriginals, while many also use their own tribal or language names. The Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand might be considered anthropological counterparts.

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school during her prison years, and was working on a college degree in psychology and philosophy when Shorris met her. (The following summary of Shorriss conversation with Niecie Walker is adapted with the authors permission from Shorris, 2000: pp. 95100 and 2005. See also OConnell (2000) and Schugurensky (2002).) Shorris asked Niecie why do you think people are poor? She startled him with her answer. Niecie replied to Shorriss question by asserting that people were poor because they dont have the moral life of downtown. You got to begin with the children, she told Shorris. Youve got to teach the moral life of downtown to the children. y And they wont be poor no more. Her response puzzled Shorris. Moral life of downtown? What did she mean? What I mean is what I saida moral alternative to the street, Niecie replied. How could the moral life of downtown provide a way out of poverty, a path to citizenship, Shorris asked? You need jobs and political power. No, Niecie replied. To enter the public world, to practice the civic life, to be socially and politically active, people must rst learn to reect, to think critically and rationally about their world. That is what she meant by the moral life of downtown. Obtain the kind of education in the theory and practice of citizenship the middle and upper classes take for granted. Then they can participate effectively in civic life. (They needed to acquire what Pierre Bourdieu referred to as the cultural capital of the dominant classes.) And the way you do that, Earl, Niecie continued, is by taking them downtown to plays, museums, concerts, lectures, where they can learn the moral life of downtown. These places and events are widely accessible and they encourage reective thinking, spirited dialogue, and reasoned debate, which are the foundations for good citizenship. Shorris used the Niecie story to highlight how the humanities can enable those normally excluded from higher education to develop the critical skills necessary for active participation in public life. The underlying principle (Shorris, 2000: p. 117) is the late Robert Maynard Hutchins often repeated statement that, the best education for the best is the best education for all. Shorris introduced the rst Clemente Humanities programme in 1995 to 30 students recruited from New Yorks poor, drug rehabilitation clinics, and neighbourhood centres (Schugurensky, 2002). His current project is to recruit University of Chicago professors to teach the humanities course to teenagers drawn from a local high school reputed to have the citys highest rate of student dropouts (Shorris, 2005). Niecie and Shorris bring us back to the topic of museums. Though the Clemente Progamme was initially designed for poor people, its principles are more widely applicable and certainly not beyond the abilities of museums who wish to work with minorities or others who may be vulnerable, disadvantaged or disenfranchised. The potential of the humanities, in fact, gives an advantage to museums. The examined life, reective thinking, is a precursor to a politically and socially active life (Shorris, 2000: p. 11). As Freire (1998: p. 55) has noted, critical awareness or conscientization is necessary to enable disadvantaged people to locate themselves in their own histories and to represent themselves against those who may dominate and exploit them, take advantage of them, ignore them, or monopolize their cultural representations. Exposure to museums, art

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galleries, opera, and other elite arts provide part of that conscientization experience. (The use of works of art by art museums and galleries may prove to be more effective in raising critical awareness than the use of objects by history or anthropology museums and science centres.) Self-awareness and self-representation can empower people to make themselves present as agents in the struggle to expand their own possibilities and to struggle against injustice and intolerance. But is this enough? Next, we consider two experiments in Vancouver, Canada. 3. Two humanities experiments in Vancouver, Canada In 1998, two University of British Columbia (UBC) undergraduates, Alison Dunnet and Am Johal, inspired by Shorriss, 1995 Clemente project, introduced to a depressed area of downtown Vancouver (Downtown Eastside) a barrier-free university-level Humanities 101 course, which by 2005 has exposed several hundred low-income people to classic works in the humanities and social sciences. It is widely viewed as a success and has become a regular offering of the University of British Columbia. Though judged as a successful pedagogical intervention, at least in reference to those enrolled in the programme, Humanities 101 appears to have had little impact on the over-all condition of poverty, addiction, and dislocation in Vancouvers inner core. Self-awareness and self-representation takes one only so far. We will return to this point later. In 2001, the Presidents Ofce of the University of British Columbia and ofcers of the adjacent Musqueam Indian Band asked the university to make its intellectual resources more accessible to Musqueam. (The university is situated within the traditional territories of the Musqueam, whose present community of about 900 people is a ten minutes drive from the campus.) Two of us from the university and one from Musqueam, inspired by Shorriss Clemente and UBCs Humanities 101 experiments, instituted in September 2001 a weekly university-level, barrier-free Musqueam 101 seminar at Musqueam. It is cosponsored and co-supervised by representatives from both the Musqueam Band and the university. Musqueam people are more interested in reclaiming their own history than learning the classics of the dominant society to which they are already exposed. They have rich history of their own, but one taken from most of them through the colonization process. Evidence of human use of the Fraser River estuary (adjacent to the City of Vancouver) where they reside goes back some 10,000 years, to the time the ice shield began to recede. The present Musqueam site has been occupied for at least 23000 years. Current occupants can trace their genealogies back four to ve generations or more, some claiming as many as 3000 living relatives scattered within a radius of a few hundred kilometres. UBC professors, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, volunteer their time to present reports on research relevant to the community. Others, including community cultural experts (elders, cultural professors), also present. (See Appendix A for a summary of lectures for the inaugural 200102 year.) Attendance is free and begins with a communal meal. About 2030 community members, only two or three with university-level education, regularly participate in the Musqueam 101 seminar, and some give talks themselves.

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A university credit option is available, though it was not until 200405 that a handful of participants, including a respected elder, took this option. Over the years, participants have become increasingly assertive in speaking about how their own personal and family histories connect to wider social and political events. Both the governing Band Council and community members strongly support the programme. Beginning in September 2004, Drs. Susan Rowley and Jennifer Kramer, curators at the UBCs Museum of Anthropology, became the universitys representatives on the Musqueam 101 managing committee. The Musqueam 101 programme has spawned a series of activities for Aboriginal youth co-sponsored by Musqueam and the UBCs Ofce of Community Affairs, including an annual Aboriginal youth soccer tournament now in its third year. Three new initiatives are to be introduced, two beginning in September 2005 (Ferraby, 2005): a Bridge Through Sport Reading Program for Musqueam youth aged 414; a creative writing programme for the 1529 Musqueam age group to be taught by Aboriginal author and UBC instructor Richard Van Camp. A three day Aboriginal Youth Leadership Fair in conjunction with a UBC Student Leadership Conference will be held in January 2006, followed by follow-up workshops. It can be said of Musqueam 101, like Humanities 101, that it is successful. It also must be said that it has had little apparent effect on the overall welfare of the Musqueam community, including the high rates of unemployment, school drop-out rates, poor health, alcohol and drug addiction, suicide, etc.. Something more is needed. 4. Limitations of cultural literacy programmes The acquisition of cultural capital through literacy programmes may be a necessary step towards establishing critical awareness and self-representation, but it is not a sufcient one. To be aware is not enough by itself to make one free, self-condent, employable, and sober, etc., though it may be a necessary precondition for the struggle to reclaim ones voice, history, and future. There are other barriers to overcome besides lack of cultural capital and other actions to take besides acquiring literacy. Liberating education can change our understanding of reality, Freire states (Shor & Paulo, 1987: p. 175). But this is not the same thing as changing reality itself. No. Only political action in society can make social transformation, not critical study in the classroom. Earl Shorris, whose Clemente Course has become the model for so many others, notes (Shorris, 2005) that there was no intention for that programme to change entire communities: although we do not yet know what it means to the community to have an increasing number of people who have come to the democratic idea through reection. It is not necessary or even useful, I think, to teach political or social action in the Clemente Course. To do so is to attempt to mobilize even small numbers of people. I think it is far more useful to educate them so that they themselves can choose the role of citizen, member of the community. The idea of the Clemente Course was to enable members of the community to think reectively, emulating the situation of the Athenians who came through the humanities to reection and thus to the idea of autonomy and democracy.

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The aim of the course is not to direct people, but to give them power. How they use the power of autonomy can only be a decision they make. I often say that my aim is to make the poor dangerous in the sense that any person with legitimate power is dangerous. Museums are less likely to offer this kind of education to the extent they base their offerings on interpreting objects rather than the great books, events, and ideas of history. Shorris (2000: pp. 4049) writes about the surround of force that encloses disadvantaged peoplesisolation, poverty, hunger, discrimination, crime, disease, unemployment, landlords, police, government policies and regulations, medical establishment, poor housing, and other restrictions on freedom of choice and movement about the city. Those surrounded by these forces nd limited time or opportunity to learn the skills of cooperative politics, thus remaining vulnerable to the divisive forces of external agencies. As one Vancouver Downtown Eastsider was heard to remark, the poor always have to ght for everything, so we also ght with each other. The people of Musqueam, situated on the edge of Canadas third largest city, are also contained within surrounds of force including racism and colonialism represented by the controlling bureaucracies, a dominant school system that does not adequately address their needs, unbalanced representations in the media, and a largely unsympathetic public. They too lack sufcient means to control or to overcome all these surrounds of forces. 5. The intersection of two principles of representation Cultural independence, in Freires (1988) words the liberation from domination, comes only when people are capable of imagining a different world to be brought into being (which reects the importance of literacy), and they possess the power to represent themselves, often through struggle and the formation of strategic alliances with external agencies. It is in the construction of strategic alliances (cf. Antonio Gramscis discussion of the formation of historic blocs in Forgacs (2000, Section VI)), where the two principles of representationthe sovereign right to represent oneself and the museological mission to represent otherscan intersect in positive ways. The idea is for the community and the museum to form an alliance of equals where the community denes the problem (heritage preservation or community development, for example), thereby setting the agenda, and the museum provides needed expertise and external connections. The solution might be a collection-based institution, or perhaps variations on the idea of community theatre (Boal, 1985). Or it might be a coordinated approach to levels of government and the media. The key task for the museum in a development context, with all its intellectual resources, is less to transfer knowledge than to create the possibilities for the indigenous construction or production of knowledge relevant to the community (Freire, 1998: p. 30) and to assist in any subsequent action. The role of a socially responsible museum, Janes and Conaty (2005) suggest in their introduction to a collection of novel museum experiments, is to engage in the search for and production of meaning. Museums are unique places to foster this sense of interrelatedness along with the deep respect required for intercultural understanding, easing the plight of the disadvantaged and stewarding the environment (2005: p. 14). Embracing a more socially responsible role is not a new idea, they note, nor does it require

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forsaking traditional museum duties, only the reframing of their purpose (Janes & Conaty, 2005, p. 8; see also Ames, 1994). Two models of co-participatory partnerships in community development are cited here for consideration by museums. One is derived from participatory community development theories (Ryan & Robinson, 1996; Chambers, 1994; Holland & Blackburn, 1998; also Ames, 1999, 2005 for direct references to museums). Participatory engagements are not without their problems and contradictions any more than are other development approaches (e.g., Kapoor 2002; Mohan & Stokke, 2000). They have the merit of being based on the idea of equal partnerships and respect for Indigenous Knowledge. A second model for co-participation in community development is the professionalclient relationship. The clientperhaps a community or a cultural agency within itissues a call for proposals. Professional agencies (for-prot as well as not-for-prot) submit their bids, and a contractual relationship is established between the client and the successful bidder. The recent exhibition planning for the new Alaska Native Heritage Center, Anchorage, Alaska, by the Vancouver design rm of Jensen & Associates (2000 and Appendix B2) is one example. A contract typically prescribes legal duties and responsibilities for both the principals and sub-contractors. There is no reason why museums could not participate in such contractual relations with community-based clients. The University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology contracted with Vancouvers Expo86 Worlds Fair to design several of its pavilions and to manage one of them, with Canadas National Canadian Museum of Civilization to design and install major exhibits in its Grand Hall, and is currently working with two local Indigenous communities on the design of their new cultural centre to open in conjunction with Vancouver-Whistlers, 2010 Winter Olympics. This is not the place to review theories of community development, as useful such a review would be. There are nevertheless four principles derived from these theories that merit attention because they relate to how museums might approach communities from a developmental perspective: (1) Successful development generally cannot be initiated from outside but must be introduced and managed from within a community. The preferred role for external agencies is to help remove barriers and to provide support. (2) Development will be more successful when it focuses on the assets of a community rather than on its needs. (3) Development and support of living representatives of heritage (elders, cultural experts) should precede the sustainable development of that communitys heritage. (4) Sustaining the work of cultural experts requires sustainable organization and resources from within the community as well as from outside. Donaldo Macedo (1998: p. xxix), a colleague of the late Paulo Freire, recounts a discussion in a seminar he gave at Harvard University. A white middle-class student described how her white friend gave up a successful career in business to offer her services to a community centre in a Black area of Boston. Her friend explained to one of the staff how much more rewarding it would be for her to work helping people in need than to work just to make money. The African-American staff member responded: Maam, if you really want to help us, go back to your white folks and tell them to keep the wall of racism from crushing us.

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Macedos story suggests that the rst task for those proposing the expansion of the Idea of the Museum into local communities would be to direct their efforts to educating their own constituents in metropolitan areas about racism, discrimination, and the condition of minorities. A parallel task would be to offer assistance to local communities in developing what the communities themselves identify as importanteven if it is to be an Idea of the Theatre rather than the Idea of the Museum. The argument is not that museologists should abandon their activism. They possess the authority of expertise in collection management and interpretation, a widely recognized social status, and a commitment to cultural wellbeing and (one would hope) to social justice. What needs to be suspended is the assumption that the Idea of the Museum necessarily contains within it all the solutions to a communitys interest in its heritage, and in particular the notion that valuable heritage is that which experts judge to be suitable for institionalization. The museological initiative is only one alternative, and could in fact unintentionally limit local initiative and thus be counterproductive. Conversion to the idea of suspending ones own professional assumptions requires a professional rebirth, which Freire refers to as the Easter Experience or class suicide (Freire, 1988: p. 47): The educator for liberation has to die as the unilateral educator of the educatees, in order to be born again as the educator-educatee of the educatees-educators. An educator is a person who has to live in the deep signicance of Easter. (Cited in Taylor, 1993: p. 55.) An Easter experience may sound like dramatic overkill for well-mannered museologists, who have only good intentions to assist in the more mundane business of helping communities to develop and preserve their own heritages. Freires advice nevertheless serves to remind us that before we become too enamoured by our own expertise we pause to listen to those we wish to assist. An added benet is that the exploration of nonmuseological alternatives in the community context might inspire us to introduce new initiatives into our own urban institutions, thus helping to break open the traditional western Idea of the Museum. Appendix A. Musqueam 101 terms of reference and inaugural year 200102 schedule Musqueam 101 (Co-Sponsored by the Council of the Musqueam Nation and the Ofces of the Provost Vice-President Academic & Dean of Arts, UBC.) A.1. Musqueam 101 terms of reference and non-credit and credit options (August 4, 2003) Musqueam 101 is a barrier-free learning opportunity for Musqueam Band members, cosponsored by the Musqueam Indian Band and the University of B.C. through the Ofce of the Vice-President Academic/Provost. It was instituted in September 2001 and runs for two university terms each year, SeptemberNovember and JanuaryApril. The purpose of this course is to make the academic resources of the university more accessible to the Musqueam community and to provide community members more direct exposure to the higher learning of the university. The course meets at the Band Council Ofce Wednesday evenings, 69 p.m., beginning with a light meal. This course focuses on a broad spectrum of issues relating to First Nations people and communities in the context of their importance and interest to the Musqueam community.

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Lecturers include experts from Musqueam, the University of B.C., and elsewhere. Topics have included natural resources including ethnobotany, vegetation of the Fraser Lowlands, sheries and the law; early settlement patterns; Aboriginal and western legal systems; historic Musqueam legal cases; governance, self-government, and tribal alliances; residential school healing; education through story work; teaching of the Medicine Wheel; Musqueam language development; Aboriginal performing arts; culturally sensitive research methods. Learning objectives, non-credit option: 1. To provide a welcoming atmosphere for people to come together to share their insights and knowledge about matters relevant to the Musqueam community. 2. To gain a deeper understanding of Musqueam within a broader context of history, events and conditions. 3. To participate in the art of dialogue through questioning and debating points of view. 4. To participate in the assessment of arguments in terms of logic and evidence. Learning objectives: credit option: The rst four above, plus: 5. To improve analytical skills through directed readings, note taking, written reports, and weekly journal entries to be assessed by tutors. 6. To improve debating skills through active participation in class discussions. 7. To develop organizational and presentation skills by making an end-of-term public presentation.

A.2. Report for the Inaugural Year, September 2001 April 2002. (April 10, 2002) Schedule of Topics Wednesdays, September November 2001. September 19 September 26 October 10 October 17 Professor Emeritus Michael Kew, Musqueam history and culture. Tour of Koerner Library with Trish Rossell and First Nations House of Learning with Richard Vidan and others. Light meal at FNHL. Professor Emeritus Michael Kew continued. Margaret North, Biogeographer and Senior Instructor Rtd., Department of Geography, UBC, on the pre-white settlement vegetation of the Fraser Lowlands. Professor Michael Blake, Archaeologist, Dept. of AnthropologySociology, on early culture history of the coastal area. Cancelled for funeral. Cancelled for funeral. Professor Cole Harris, Dept. of Geography, UBC, Effects of early small pox epidemics on Native land policies, with special reference to the Musqueam area. Professors Brian Elliott and Ralph Matthews, Dept. SociologyAnthropology, UBC, First Nations. Involvement in Aquaculture.

October 24 October 31 November 7 November 14

November 21

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November 28

Professor Margery Fee, Associate Dean of Arts, UBC, First Nations Studies at UBC.

Schedule of Topics, January 9 April 9, 2002: January 9 January 16 January 23 January 30 February 6 February 13 February 20 February 27 March 6 March 13 Professor Michael Kew, University of B.C. Emeritus, Musqueam history. Musqueam history, cont. Dana Claxton, First Nations artist, mix-media works. Prof. Bruce Miller, University of B.C., First Nations legal systems. Theresa Campbell, First Nations women in prisons. Dr. Bruce Alexander, Dept. Psychology, Simon Fraser University, theories of addiction. Dr. Charles Menzies, Dept. AnthropologySociology, UBC, research with, among, and for Indigenous people. Dr. Shirley Seepetza Sterling, Co-ordinator Tskel, storytelling as literature. Professor Paul Tennant, Dept. Political Science, UBC, BC politics and Aboriginal issues. Sharon Thira, Programme Director of the Provincial Residential School Project, lecture and workshop on intergenerational survivors of Indian Residential Schools. Dr. Carl Johnson, Nhla7kapmt and Dept. Classics, UBC, First Nations search for identify. Professor Michael Chandler, Dept. Psychology, UBC, communitybuilding factors that curb suicide rates among First Nations. Marvin Storrow, QC, Senior Partner, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, the Guerin and Sparrow landmark legal cases. Professor Michael Blake, Archaeologist, and David Cunningham, Project Coordinator, Museum of Anthropology, review of Musqueam archaeological materials and the making of Written in the Earth exhibition.

March 20 March 27 April 3 April 9

Field trips: (1) Seattle, courtesy of Canadian Studies, UBC. (2) Die Fledermaus and Of Mice and Men, courtesy of Vancouver Opera Society. (3) The Messiah, courtesy of the Bach Choir. Appendix B. Planning the Alaska Native Heritage Center Extract from: A presentation to The Aboriginal Economic Development Conference Copyright 2000 by D. Jensen & Associates Ltd., Exhibit Designers 17-415 W. Cordova St., Vancouver, BC, Canada VB 1E5, djensen@portal.ca March 31, 2000 Re: The Alaska Native Heritage Center A Gathering of Traditions

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We are pleased and honoured to be asked to present some information on the development of the ANHC. Since its opening one year ago the Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) has proven itself as both a major tourist attraction as well as a place of learning. Over the next 20 min we will attempt to briey outline some contributing factors to its current success. To begin, it is important to note that the most obvious single reason why this project has achieved success is because it is a direct reection of the values, ideas and attitudes of the Alaska Native people. This authenticity was achieved by involving Native cultural experts, artists and crafts people at every stage of planning, design and implementation. What we hope to explore with you today are some of the procedures used to ensure this authenticity through participation. We were rst asked to participate in this project back in 1992. Our rst task was to review and make recommendations on the work done to date. During this review, it quickly became clear that the architectural planning component had moved well out in front of the other key planning components such as programming and exhibitry (see Diagram B). We suggested the preparation of a Masterplan that would consider the entire project and begin to develop relationships between planning components, so all participating in the design process could work together and share information through each phase of the work, i.e., planning, design, construction and operations (see Diagrams C and D). Early in the preparation of the Masterplan it became obvious that there were two distinct user groupsthe Alaska Natives and the tourists/visitors. Each had somewhat different needs, but with some overlap. To succeed, it would be necessary to meet the specic needs of each group, but at the same time create spaces where they could meet and share experiences. This meeting place idea became a key element in both the concept and marketing of the centre (see Diagrams E and F). In our discussions with the client and Cultural Committees, the parts of the visitor experience or exhibit elements were identied (see Diagram G). How these elements connected with one another to create a logical and seamless visitor experience was then discussed, and the beginning of a oor plan began to emerge (see Diagram H). This led, eventually, to a nal layout prepared by the architects during that design development phase of the project (see Diagram I). Most museums work with in-house designers and researchers to tell stories about the community to the general public. Good museums consult with the communities they are representing and also know the needs of their visitors. They are therefore good at connecting community storytellers with the general public. Other institutions choose to work less with their communities and are therefore less successful at creating and maintaining a bridge between the people with the stories and those who wish to hear them. The ANHC built a very strong bridge by including the keepers of cultural knowledge into every step of the planning process. This direct rst person link with the real stories and values has made the ANHC the success it is, and should provide useful insights for all who follow (see Diagram J). B.1. Development of exhibition plan: general concepts to specic features General operating principles Exhibition theme Values underlying the theme Key messages for each stage of exhibit, illustrating the values and theme

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ANHC general operating principles: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ANHC ANHC ANHC ANHC ANHC celebrates the cultural similarity and diversity of Alaska Natives. recognizes continuity in Alaska Native history. honours the spiritual, holistic world view of Alaska Natives. respects the interconnectedness of Alaska Natives. recognizes the cycles of an organic world.

Exhibition theme: We are the storytellers Values underlying ANHC theme: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Holistic world view: respect all aspects of life. Importance of elders and the family. Living cultures: past is always part of our present and future. Subsistence: a natural way of life is to live in harmony with nature over the long term. Language and oral traditions are the key to culture.

Example: key messages for entry to ANHC: 1. 2. 3. 4. We have always been here and will always be here. There are ve major cultural groups of Alaska Natives. Visitors are welcome. Language is vital to our culture. ANHC exhibition plan.

B.2. We are the Storytellers: content through consensus How six Alaska Cultural Committees worked with Vancouver Exhibit Designers to tell their stories The big challenge Six committees of 60 people, largely living in Anchorage but representing all 11 Alaska Native cultures, were to work with D. Jensen & Associates, an exhibit design team based in Vancouver, B.C. Together, they would develop opening exhibits for the rst centre in Alaska that would celebrate all 11 Alaska Native cultures. It was also the rst time many committee members had worked so closely with people from other Alaska Native cultures. What was the specic role of the committees? 1. To determine what stories were to be toldand howin the two main exhibit areas: 1. Cultural galleries (contemporary stories). 2. Traditional villages (stories from our past). 2. To ensure accuracy. How?  By selecting or approving quotes, images, objects, text (plant signage).  By recommending artists and crafts people.  By determining policy procedures for choosing art for the building (other than exhibit areas).

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Who were the six committees?

Five Cultural Advisory Committees: Responsible for all matters relating specically to their culture: 1. Athabascan. 2. Inupiaq/St. Lawrence Island Yupik. 3. Yupik/Cupik. 4. Aleut/Alutiiq. 5. Eyak/Tlingit/Haida/Tsimshian. 1 Cultural Steering Committee (members drawn from ve committees)  Responsible for decisions involving all the cultures, e.g. art and architecture; demonstrations; special programmes. Membership  60 people of whom 5% to 10% were not living in anchorage.  Mostly elders and some non-native advisors. (Younger members always went to their own elders for approval.)  Pat Petrivelli, ANHC Cultural Ofcer, acted as liaison with design team.

 

How the committees worked:

   

Met monthly in nal year of 10-year-long project. Government grant provided $25 honorarium per meeting. (Majority volunteered their time and donated their fee back to ANHC.) Long distance challenges: J committee members living in villages and J exhibit design team based in Vancouver. Examples of errors caught, changes made.

How the committees stayed focused:

 

Goal: Gathering of Traditions. Every culture would be respected at the ANHCnot just native cultures. We would share cultural knowledge. Four guiding principles re developing exhibits: 1. We have a wonderful story to tell. 2. It is important to tell it right. 3. Eventually, we will be able to tell it all. 4. We are the storytellers. We tell our story in our own words.

Toughest part:

   

Staying committed over a 10-year period. Getting information in format that could be faxed or mailed to those out of town. Unable to move project forward until concensus reached on each issue. Meeting exhibit design teams deadlines.

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There was nothing simple about this project. The Committee members were determined the new Center would be accurate to the best of their ability. So they reviewed everything with a ne tooth comb. But it was worth it. Today, theyre very proud of the Alaska Native Heritage Center. References
Ames, M. M. (1994). Working the boarder zones: Some practical applications of museum anthropology. Proactive, Society of Applied Anthropology in Canada, 13(2), 213. Ames, M. M. (1999). How to decorate a house: The renegotiation of cultural representations at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. Museum Anthropology, 22(3), 4151. Ames, M. M. (2005). Museology interrupted. Museum International(227), 4450. Boal, A. (1985). Theatre of the oppressed. New York: Theatre Communications Group. British Museum. (2003) Universal Museum. /http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/newsroom/current2003/universalmuseums.htmlS. Cayley, D. (1992). Ivan Illich in conversation. Concord, Ontario: House of Anansi Press. Chambers, R. (1994). The origins and practice of participatory rural appraisal. World Development, 22(7), 953969. Ferraby, J. (2005) Aboriginal special project funding. Email August 6 from Jacquie Ferraby, Program Coordinator, Ofce of Community Affairs, University of B.C. Forgacs, D. (Ed.). (2000). The Antonio Gramsci reader: Selected writings 1916 1935. New York: New York University Press. Freire, P. (1988). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, discourse, and civic courage. Lanham, New York, Oxford: Rowman and Littleeld. Holland, J., & Blackburn, J. (Eds.). (1998). Whose voice? Participatory research and policy change. London: International Technology Publication. Horne, D. (1984). The great museum: The re-presentation of history. London and Sydney: Pluto Press. Illich, I. (1975). Medical nemesis: The expropriation of health. London: Calder & Boyars. Illich, I., et al. (1977). Disabling professions. New York, London: Marion Boyars. Janes, R. R., & Conaty, G. T. (Eds.). (2005). Looking reality in the eye: Museums and social responsibility. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press. Jensen, D. & Associates (2000). Aboriginal economic & sustainable development for the new millennium. A presentation to the Aboriginal economic development conference, March 31, Aboriginal Business Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs, Vancouver, Canada (pp. 119). Kapoor, I. (2002). The devils in the theory: A critical assessment of Robert Chambers work on participatory development. Third World Quarterly, 23(1), 101117. Konare, A. (1983). Towards a new type of ethnographic museum in Africa. Museum International, 35(3), 146149. Kreps, C. F. (2003). Liberating culture: Cross-cultural perspectives on museums, curation and heritage preservation. London: Routledge. Lewis, G. (2004). A debated museum concept: Partnership in universality. Museum International, 56(4), 4045. Macedo, D. (1998). Foreword. In P. Freire (Ed.), Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Discourse, and Civic Courage (pp. xixxxii). Lanham, Boulder, New York, Oxford: Rowman & Littleeld. McKnight, J. (1995). The careless society: Community and its counterfeits. New York: Basic Books. Minister of Public Works & Government Services Canada (2005). Towards a new museum policy discussion guide. Catalogue no. CH4-95/2005. Available at /www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/ph/pubs/mus-pol-mus/index_ e.cfmS. Mohan, G., & Stokke, K. (2000). Participatory development and empowerment: The dangers of localism. Third World Quarterly, 21(2), 247268. OConnell, K. (2000). Social transformation through the humanities: an interview with Earl Shorris. /www.mfh.org/newsandevents/newsletter/MassHumanities/Spring2000/shorris.htmlS. Ryan, J., & Robinson, M. (1996). Community participatory research: Two views from Arctic Institute practitioners. Practicing Anthropology, 18(4), 711. Schugurensky, D. (2002). First class of the Clemente course: Humanities education for the poor. /http:// fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/daniel_schugurensky/assignment1/1995clemente.htmlS.

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186 M.M. Ames / Museum Management and Curatorship 21 (2006) 171186 Shelton, A. (1997). The future of museum ethnography. Journal of Museum Ethnography, 9, 3348. Shor, I., & Freire, P. (1987). A pedagogy of for liberation: Dialogues on transforming education. Westport, Conn. & London: Bergin and Garvey. Shorris, E. (1997). New american blues: A journey through poverty to democracy. New York: Norton & Company. Shorris, E. (2000). Riches for the poor: The Clemente course in the humanities. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Shorris, E. (2005). Personal correspondence, Email July 21. Taylor, P. V. (1993). The texts of Paulo Freire. Buckingham & Philadelphia: Open University Press.

Further reading
Freire, P. (1999). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. Wall, R. (2003). A turbulent priest in the global village: Ivan Illich 19262002. /http://www.lewrockwell.com/ wall/wall28.htmlS. M.M. Ames The late Michael M. Ames (PhD, Harvard University) was Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and Director of the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology from 197497 and 200204. He conducted anthropological and museological research in South Asia, Canada, and Australia. His citations include election to the Royal Society of Canada-1979; the Weaver-Tremblay Award for exceptional contributions to Canadian applied anthropology-1994; Fellow of the Canadian Museum Association1996; Order of Canada-1998; USA Western Museums Association Directors Chair Award-2000, and ICOM Canada 2002 Prix DExcellence.