The Center for Art Collection Ethics (ACE) at the University of Denver (DU) is pleased to offer a postgraduate, non-degree Certificate in the Ethical Stewardship of Native American Collections, June 21-26, 2020.
Grounded in Native perspectives and expertise, the program focuses on cultural protocol, tribal consultation, and object studies, with an emphasis on case studies of the historic tribes of Colorado—the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho. The program includes discussion of the 1990 United States Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), but goes beyond training in legal requirements to address a broader range of ethical issues in collections care.
Through the week-long certificate program, held on the DU campus, participants will:
Learn from tribal members themselves about their history, and the meaning of ancestral items now in museum collections
Appreciate the spiritual dimension of Native items
Gain an understanding of cultural protocol, and differences among tribes
Develop skills to carry out consultations with tribes
Utilize a variety of resources in carrying out research: object studies, archival materials, secondary resources
Work in small groups to carry out a research project on Native items and present their findings in a symposium
Confirmed sessions and speakers include:
Object studies and archival research using in collections at the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology, and at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS)
Tour of the exhibition “Written on the Land” at the History Colorado museum, created in close partnership with Ute tribes
Dakota Hoska (Oglála Lakȟóta), Assistant Curator of Native Arts at the Denver Art Museum, and Melanie Yazzie (Diné), artist and Professor of printmaking at the University of Colorado-Boulder, on stewardship of contemporary Native art
Chip Colwell, Senior Curator of Anthropology at DMNS and author of Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits: Inside the Fight to Reclaim Native America’s Culture, on collecting and repatriation of Native items
Joseph Aguilar (San Ildefonso Pueblo), San Ildefonso Pueblo Tribal Historic Preservation Office, on the ethics of indigenous archeology
On-campus research sessions facilitated by DU staff in the Museum of Anthropology, and faculty in the Departments of Anthropology and History
Keynote address by Cynthia Chavez Lamar (San Felipe Pueblo/Hopi/Tewa/Navajo), Assistant Director for Collections at the National Museum of the American Indian
Qualifications: We welcome applications from graduate students and emerging professionals with various backgrounds, including art history, museum studies, anthropology, cultural studies, history, religious studies, and library and information science. We encourage participation from under-represented communities, as well as staff at academic museums and galleries, who are likely to share their knowledge with students—the next generation of curators.
A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience is required. Applicants are welcome to explain equivalent experience in the application essay.
Participants will be selected based on their potential to have a meaningful impact on their communities, and cultural institutions. In order to maximize contact with speakers and facilitators, we will limit acceptance to twenty applicants.
We are accepting applications through Sunday, March 15, 2020. Additional program and application information is available at https://www.du.edu/…/ethical_stewardship_native_american.ht….