Seventeen scholars contributed to this group work. First exposed to compilation books in the eighties, I found the format exhilarating then. There were so many angles, so much information. Now, however, such books are, to me, rather like walking a cobblestone path. Maybe I just have inappropriate shoes, but the journey is seldom entirely smooth going. And having to adapt to different writing styles every 20 to 30 pages is an added hindrance. Still, the genre is here to stay, and Contesting Knowledge has much to recommend it. Analyzed in four out of twelve pieces, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is viewed from interesting perspectives, and those writings are among the most interesting chapters, along with pieces about particular Native community museums

Cooper, Karen Coody

English

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - LincolnDigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - LincolnGreat Plains Research: A Journal of Natural andSocial Sciences Great Plains Studies, Center for2010Book Review of Contesting Knowledge: Museums andIndigenous Perspectives edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith.Karen Coody CooperCherokee Heritage CenterFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsresearchPart of the American Studies CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Ithas been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences by an authorized administrator ofDigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.Cooper, Karen Coody, "Book Review of Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith."(2010). Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences. 1133.http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsresearch/1133Great Plains Research Vol. 20 No. 2, 2010264© 2010 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincolnmaterial culture, the possible ramifications of which Melt-zer discusses before proceeding in the following chapter to consider the origins and lifestyle of Clovis and the issue of human extinction of Pleistocene megafauna. Post-Clovis occupations of North America are the focus of chapter 9. Unlike Clovis, these people exhibit extensive diversity in their material culture, and Meltzer discusses why and how this diversification came to be. Much of the chapter centers on the Great Plains and offers a detailed discussion of bison and bison hunting. The final chapter considers how the initial occupation of North America served to biologically preconfigure susceptibility to European-introduced diseases, such as smallpox, and concludes with a discussion of how Native American depopulation bears upon understanding the past and ownership of the past, as well as considerations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatria-tion Act and the Kennewick remains. While readers lacking any anthropological back-ground might not find First Peoples in a New World easy going, their effort would reward them with a good review of topics and controversies surrounding the peopling of North America. Susan C. Vehik, Department of Anthro-pology, University of Oklahoma.Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives. Edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009. 362 pp. Maps, pho-tographs, notes, index. $35.00 paper. Seventeen scholars contributed to this group work. First exposed to compilation books in the eighties, I found the format exhilarating then. There were so many angles, so much information. Now, however, such books are, to me, rather like walking a cobblestone path. Maybe I just have inappropriate shoes, but the journey is seldom entirely smooth going. And having to adapt to different writing styles every 20 to 30 pages is an added hindrance. Still, the genre is here to stay, and Contesting Knowledge has much to recommend it. Analyzed in four out of twelve pieces, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is viewed from interesting perspectives, and those writings are among the most interesting chapters, along with pieces about particular Native community museums. Native writer Amy Lonetree’s “Museums as Sites of Decolonization” compares NMAI exhibits to those of the Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Culture, Mt. Pleas-ant, Michigan. Lonetree notes that NMAI “fails to tell the hard truths of colonization.” She finds NMAI to be an institution of a nation-state, unable to vary from a national agenda. Searching for a successful decolonizing exhibit, Lonetree finds that the Ziibiwing Center provides the best example. It makes oral traditions the overarch-ing framework in which to discuss Anishinabe lives and history. Viewers learn about land theft, disease, poverty, violence, and forced conversions of faith. The exhibits discuss removals, smallpox, and alcoholism. Lonetree notes that the Center’s exhibition walls narrow as the hard truths are faced. Background voices read disturbing texts of treaties and documents, should a viewer not be inclined to read exhibit labels. Knowing the colonizing section is emotionally taxing, the Center next offers a roomier space, inhabited with a heartbeat sound and soft music, where positive aspects of the community are described and visitors can calm down. Contesting Knowledge, with five times more non-Native than Native authors, I realized, can itself be seen as an aspect of lingering colonization where Native people are the subject described and analyzed primar-ily by others. Ann McMullen’s contribution, however, doesn’t analyze a strictly Native topic, but instead takes a unique look at George Heye, the premier collector of Native materials now belonging to NMAI. She works at exposing the maligning descriptions of him and his work as examples of bias.  Gwyneira Isaac’s contribution illuminates how the Zuni A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center ap-proaches archival material and replicated artifacts, and how institutional places can adapt to honor Native sen-sitivities. Brian Daniels notes how Northern California tribes learned the importance of cultural documentation from various court decision setbacks. Daniels notes that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act only guaran-tees the right to beliefs, not the practice of them. Aiding their continuing struggles, the Hupa, Yurok, and Shasta have emphasized archives and museum development. These and other interesting chapters illuminate Native efforts to survive. Karen Coody Cooper, Cherokee Heri-tage Center, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.The American Indian Oral History Manual: Making Many Voices Heard. By Charles E. Trimble, Barbara W. Sommer, and Mary Kay Quinlan. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2008. 160 pp. Notes, appendices, bibliogra-phy, index. $65.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.  The American Indian Oral History Manual offers a clear, succinct, and practical approach to guide and en-courage the collection of American Indian oral history 

Book Review of \u3ci\u3eContesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous
Perspectives \u3c/i\u3e edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith.

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and
Social Sciences Great Plains Studies, Center for
2010
Book Review of Contesting Knowledge: Museums and
Indigenous Perspectives edited by Susan Sleeper-
Smith.
Karen Coody Cooper
Cherokee Heritage Center
Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsresearch
Part of the American Studies Commons
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It
has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences by an authorized administrator of
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
Cooper, Karen Coody, "Book Review of Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith."
(2010). Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences. 1133.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsresearch/1133
Great Plains Research Vol. 20 No. 2, 2010264
© 2010 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
material culture, the possible ramifications of which Melt-
zer discusses before proceeding in the following chapter to 
consider the origins and lifestyle of Clovis and the issue of 
human extinction of Pleistocene megafauna.
 Post-Clovis occupations of North America are the 
focus of chapter 9. Unlike Clovis, these people exhibit 
extensive diversity in their material culture, and Meltzer 
discusses why and how this diversification came to be. 
Much of the chapter centers on the Great Plains and offers 
a detailed discussion of bison and bison hunting.
 The final chapter considers how the initial occupation 
of North America served to biologically preconfigure 
susceptibility to European-introduced diseases, such as 
smallpox, and concludes with a discussion of how Native 
American depopulation bears upon understanding the 
past and ownership of the past, as well as considerations 
of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatria-
tion Act and the Kennewick remains.
 While readers lacking any anthropological back-
ground might not find First Peoples in a New World easy 
going, their effort would reward them with a good review 
of topics and controversies surrounding the peopling of 
North America. Susan C. Vehik, Department of Anthro-
pology, University of Oklahoma.
Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous 
Perspectives. Edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith. Lincoln: 
University of Nebraska Press, 2009. 362 pp. Maps, pho-
tographs, notes, index. $35.00 paper.
 Seventeen scholars contributed to this group work. 
First exposed to compilation books in the eighties, I 
found the format exhilarating then. There were so many 
angles, so much information. Now, however, such books 
are, to me, rather like walking a cobblestone path. Maybe 
I just have inappropriate shoes, but the journey is seldom 
entirely smooth going. And having to adapt to different 
writing styles every 20 to 30 pages is an added hindrance. 
Still, the genre is here to stay, and Contesting Knowledge 
has much to recommend it.
 Analyzed in four out of twelve pieces, the National 
Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is viewed from 
interesting perspectives, and those writings are among 
the most interesting chapters, along with pieces about 
particular Native community museums.
 Native writer Amy Lonetree’s “Museums as Sites of 
Decolonization” compares NMAI exhibits to those of 
the Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Culture, Mt. Pleas-
ant, Michigan. Lonetree notes that NMAI “fails to tell 
the hard truths of colonization.” She finds NMAI to be 
an institution of a nation-state, unable to vary from a 
national agenda. Searching for a successful decolonizing 
exhibit, Lonetree finds that the Ziibiwing Center provides 
the best example. It makes oral traditions the overarch-
ing framework in which to discuss Anishinabe lives and 
history. Viewers learn about land theft, disease, poverty, 
violence, and forced conversions of faith. The exhibits 
discuss removals, smallpox, and alcoholism.
 Lonetree notes that the Center’s exhibition walls 
narrow as the hard truths are faced. Background voices 
read disturbing texts of treaties and documents, should a 
viewer not be inclined to read exhibit labels. Knowing the 
colonizing section is emotionally taxing, the Center next 
offers a roomier space, inhabited with a heartbeat sound 
and soft music, where positive aspects of the community 
are described and visitors can calm down.
 Contesting Knowledge, with five times more non-
Native than Native authors, I realized, can itself be seen 
as an aspect of lingering colonization where Native 
people are the subject described and analyzed primar-
ily by others. Ann McMullen’s contribution, however, 
doesn’t analyze a strictly Native topic, but instead takes 
a unique look at George Heye, the premier collector of 
Native materials now belonging to NMAI. She works 
at exposing the maligning descriptions of him and his 
work as examples of bias. 
 Gwyneira Isaac’s contribution illuminates how the 
Zuni A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center ap-
proaches archival material and replicated artifacts, and 
how institutional places can adapt to honor Native sen-
sitivities. Brian Daniels notes how Northern California 
tribes learned the importance of cultural documentation 
from various court decision setbacks. Daniels notes that 
the American Indian Religious Freedom Act only guaran-
tees the right to beliefs, not the practice of them. Aiding 
their continuing struggles, the Hupa, Yurok, and Shasta 
have emphasized archives and museum development. 
These and other interesting chapters illuminate Native 
efforts to survive. Karen Coody Cooper, Cherokee Heri-
tage Center, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
The American Indian Oral History Manual: Making 
Many Voices Heard. By Charles E. Trimble, Barbara W. 
Sommer, and Mary Kay Quinlan. Walnut Creek, CA: Left 
Coast Press, 2008. 160 pp. Notes, appendices, bibliogra-
phy, index. $65.00 cloth, $22.95 paper. 
 The American Indian Oral History Manual offers a 
clear, succinct, and practical approach to guide and en-
courage the collection of American Indian oral history 


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Book Review of \u3ci\u3eContesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives \u3c/i\u3e edited by Susan Sleeper-Smith.

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