I have had the experience of working on diverse staffs in Hawaii
and in the Southwest. As an interpreter and manager in parks
around the Navajo Nation and dealing with Pueblo cultural
materials, I feel I have benefited from the insights provided
by Navajo and Pueblo co-workers. They have helped me to
understand the inner mechanisms and workings of a culture
I was not raised in.

I have understandings of the culture I was raised
in (East of Lake Wobegon--northern Wisconsin) that are very
difficult to explain to people from other backgrounds. Yet my
wife, raised in the Southwest, has been able to see patterns
of interaction and value sets that I was blind to in my own
culture.

From the standpoint of our visitors, I think there are two
advantages from having diverse staffs, at least in areas dealing
with Indian materials. First, there is a difference in presentation
style between cultures, one which I think stems partly from the
difference between an oral tradition and a written heritage (holistic
versus linear, if you will). That difference is reflected in how things
get presented verbally as well as in exhibits. There's a different
flavor or quality, especially if the speaker is of the tradition being
related. If, for example, an exhibit is being developed within some
Indian traditions, the preferred flow of traffic will be clockwise, not
counter-clockwise.

Second, we are more likely to be sensitive to nuances of cultural
values and expected behaviors when we are working together to
tell a story. Many an exhibit has incorporated a really stupid
display of an object (sometimes inaccurate, sometimes offensive)
because nobody on the exhibit staff knew any better.

One final point: when YOUR people are not to be seen anywhere on
the 'other side of the desk' or in a position other than janitorial in
a museum or site, how welcome do you feel? And when the place is
supposed to be telling YOUR story, how much confidence do you
have in how well that story is going to be handled?

I don't think it's an either/or situation, as some of this thread
has implied. We need all points of view, and we need to be listening
to each other, and we need to be remembering that our POTENTIAL
audience (in the US, anyway) is increasingly diverse. If we don't
recognize, appreciate, and accommodate that diversity, we' may see our
numbers stay flat or even decline, and we all know how welcome that
is!

Best,

Tom
--
Tom Vaughan    "The Waggin' Tongue"
<[log in to unmask]>   (970) 533-1215
11795 Road 39.2, Mancos, CO 81328  USA
Cultural Resource Management, Interpretation, Planning, & Training