Over the course of more than a decade, the Haida Nation triumphantly returned home all known Haida ancestral remains from North American museums. The Force of Family is an ethnography of those efforts to repatriate ancestral remains from museums around the world.

Tangible and intangible forms of indigenous knowledges and cultural expressions are often found in libraries, archives or museums. Often the "legal" copyright is not held by the indigenous people's group from which the knowledge or cultural expression originates. Indigenous peoples regard unauthorized use of their cultural expressions as theft and believe that the true expression of that knowledge can only be sustained, transformed, and remain dynamic in its proper cultural context. Readers will begin to understand how to respect and preserve these ways of knowing while appreciating the cultural memory institutions' attempts to transfer the knowledges to the next generation.

One of the central theoretical and practical issues in post-colonial Africa is the relevance, nature, and politics at play in the management of museum institutions on the continent. Most African museums were established during the 19th and 20th centuries as European imperialists were spreading their colonial tentacles across the continent. The attainment of political independence has done little to undo or correct the obnoxious situation. Most African countries continue to practice colonial museology despite surging scholarship and calls by some Afro-centric and critical scholars the world over to address the quandaries on the continent�s museum institutions. There is thus an unresolved struggle between the past and the present in the management of museums in Africa. In countries such as Zimbabwe, the struggle in museum management has been precipitated by the sharp economic downturn that has gripped the country since the turn of the millennium. In view of all these glitches, this book tackles the issue of the management of heritage in Zimbabwe. The book draws on the findings by scholars and researchers from different academic orientations and backgrounds to advance the thesis that museums and museology in Zimbabwe face problems of epic proportions that require urgent attention. It makes insightful suggestions on possible solutions to the tapestry of the inexorably enigmatic amalgam of complex problems haunting museum institutions in Zimbabwe, calling for a radical transformation of museology as a discipline in the process. This book should appeal to policy makers, scholars, researchers and students from disciplines such as museology, archaeology, social-cultural anthropology, and culture and heritage studies.

Museums and Social Activism is the first study to bring together historical accounts of the African American and later American Indian civil rights-related social and reform movements that took place on the Smithsonian Mall through the 1960s and 1970s in Washington DC with the significant but unknown story about museological transformation and curatorial activism that occurred in the Division of Political and Reform History at the National Museum of American History at this time. Based on interdisciplinary field-based research that has brought together cross-cultural and international perspectives from the fields of Museum Studies, Public History, Political Science and Social Movement Studies with empirical investigation, the book explores and analyses museums' - specifically, curators' - relationships with political stakeholders past and present. By understanding the transformations of an earlier period, Museums and Social Activism offers provocative perspectives on the cultural and political significance of contemporary museums. It highlights the relevance of past practice and events for museums today and improved ways of understanding the challenges and opportunities that result from the ongoing process of renewal that museums continue to exemplify.

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.

"In a field with the unique mission of helping budding artists, teachers, students, and researchers embrace all ways of knowing, what might we learn from Indigenous research, pedagogy, and contemporary art practices? And how might educators approach Native cultures differently if contemporary Native artists were studied as agents of social change with important stories to tell, if research was seen as a connecting and emancipatory practice, and teaching as holistic and egalitarian? Transforming Our Practices addresses these questions through a blend of voices and experiences, creating a resource that has not been present in the field of art education. Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors explore Indigenous research methods, pedagogy, and contemporary art studio practices--providing a reference, a model, and a spiritual source for educators who wish to expand their knowledge about Native ways of knowing, artistic practices, and philosophies. Chapters in three major sections, each with a lead essay and a separate focus--Indigenous Research, Indigenous Pedagogy, and Indigenous Contemporary Studio Practices--illustrate the application of the methods and philosophies presented in each section through case studies, curricular examples, and classroom practices. Ideas related to studio practice are integrated as inseparable from teaching and research. This exploration of new artistic and scholarly terrains, filtered by Indigenous perspectives, creates a space for sharing conversations and for learning truths and wisdom through the ideas of Native artists, researchers, and educators." -- Publisher's description

"In a field with the unique mission of helping budding artists, teachers, students, and researchers embrace all ways of knowing, what might we learn from Indigenous research, pedagogy, and contemporary art practices? And how might educators approach Native cultures differently if contemporary Native artists were studied as agents of social change with important stories to tell, if research was seen as a connecting and emancipatory practice, and teaching as holistic and egalitarian? Transforming Our Practices addresses these questions through a blend of voices and experiences, creating a resource that has not been present in the field of art education.