Hello everybody,My name is rossy and I am doing a Art History/ Museum studies Masters degree.I first want to say that i enjoy this listserv very much and i find most of the articles in discussion very helpful.I am currently taking a course with one of the curators of the museum and i must say after all i have learned i would have to disagree with the article.

I am no expert but I can say how I feel a certain discomfort when entering traditional museums. Personally,I think is great that Indigenous people have been able to speak from themselves.I think that we as outsiders,tend to want to create a culture for them by setting objects in display that we feel might be aesthetically beautiful and imposing upon them a sense of primitiveness, what neccesarily might be important to us is not neccesarily important to native peoples.In addition,we need to realize that the discourse of art history has long followed a tradition of simplifying culture through the placement of quotidian objects.This gives us a false sense of culture,and also makes us feel superior whether it is a concious thought or unconcious.I think museums of this kind,are a step to a new kind of future,and it of course will make us uncomfortable at the beginning because of all of the institutions that it defies.I know that as a latin american person,i personally feel disgust,when i visit certain museums and see how my own culture is presented.

In terms of the museum as a commercial space, there is definitely a trend towards this,although this museum in particular is being attacked for it, there are many museums participating in this kind of behavior.Right now the museum of Modern Art in New York city is charging 20 dollars admission to obtain access to the museum,i dont see how this could give access' to the masses".It blantantly excludes certain types of people,and to me thats not what art is all about.

Another point to take into consideration is that indigenous people have been exploited for hundreds of years.Yet,they were not given the respect or any financial gain for the display of their bodies and their culture.America however,made hundreds of dollars through their display in world's fairs, yet this is something that is rarely discussed in the classroom.