Kentucky history is Native history: decolonizing Native portrayals in Kentucky museums.

Abstract

Utilizing prominent decolonial museums scholarship, interviews conducted with anthropology and museum professionals, and Kentucky museum exhibitions, this research explores the history of Kentucky’s public institutions’ Indigenous representation and recommends guidelines to improve their portrayal of Native people. Through a historical analysis, this research finds factors that influence Kentucky institutions’ portrayals of Native history, such as early harmful grave looting of Indigenous ancestral remains, the prominence of the Myth of the Dark and Bloody Ground, and a weakened state governmental Native American Heritage Commission. After considering both decolonial theory and the experiences of Kentucky heritage professionals, this research recommends three methods of decolonizing museums that respond to Kentucky’s past engagement with Indigenous history. Kentucky history institutions may consider evaluating their collections according to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, developing new exhibits in collaboration with Indigenous representatives with ancestral ties to Kentucky, and undergoing structural changes to include Indigenous people in both the museum and governmental realms. These methods are demonstrated in three case studies of Kentucky public institutions that envision a new path of decolonizing their exhibitions and including Native stakeholders in the process