We had an incident last Saturday at our museum. In conjunction with our
current exhibition "Ancestral Memories: A Tribute to Native Survival", a
local native American man was scheduled to have a storytelling session in
the gallery. The fact that this event was scheduled by the museum on the
Thanksgiving weekend was no accident - it was felt that it would provide
another local perspective on what we have to give thanks for, not to
mention an antidote for the stereotyping of local native peoples around
this time of year. Indeed, the entire exhibition is intended to challenge
just these stereotypes, and to present native peoples in a contemporary
light as living, breathing and fully functioning members of our society.
Too many of our school tours brought embarrassing facts about these
stereotypes to the forefront, as illustrated by an eight-year old's
questioning the authenticity of a native American docent by stating "if you
are a real Indian, then where are your feathers?"

But I digress. On Saturday, the man, a tribal elder, came as scheduled to
the museum accompanied by his wife, also an elder. The man began his talk,
weaving his life experiences with his perspective on where the world is
going. After about twenty minutes of intriguing stories, his wife stood and
gave an extremely emotional outpouring of some of the indignities that she
and her people had suffered, and continue to suffer, at the hands of the
intruders to her homeland. This tearful outpouring had its intended effect
on most of us in the audience of around fifty - some were also crying. One
woman and her two sons (around 12 and 15 years old) left at this point.

The storyteller then once more picked up the thread of his stories of
visits by UFOs and prophecies, the Bible and similarities between world
religions, even some comments about the Biosphere project in Arizona.
Afterward, nearly everyone stayed to speak informally with this couple who
had come to share their Saturday with us.

The following Tuesday, I was called by the woman who had left with her
sons. She was well-spoken and polite as she informed that she did not think
that the museum was an appropriate place for a "furthering of one's
political agenda." She was talking about the man's wife's outpouring. The
woman went on to claim that she had brought her sons to a "storytelling",
and was extremely disappointed in the "false advertising by the museum".

I (also politely) informed her that I thought the museum was a perfect
place for this day's activity, and questioned the use of the term
"political agenda". I told her that had she stayed, she might have been
able to see the day's activity in perspective, rather than reacting to the
elder woman's five minute speech. The productive period after the session,
when the public mingled informally with the couple, was perhaps the most
gratifying event of the day.

The caller and I agreed to disagree on the use of museums as political
platforms, and also on the definition of "storytelling"...

Anybody have any similar experiences?


OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MINE,                \\|//
NOT THOSE OF RMAH!                              { @ @ }
---------------------------------------------oO) -{~}- (Oo------------

Jim Gilmore, Curator of Public Programs & Exhibitions

Redding Museum of Art & History           [log in to unmask]
PO Box 990427, Caldwell Park              916)243-8801
Redding,CA 96099-0427                     fax 916)224-8929

Museum Home Page:http://www.shastalink.k12.ca.us/www/rmah/RMAHmain.html