Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 20 February 2018
New exhibit examines Native American imagery in U.S. culture

By FELICIA FONSECA can Indians in the modern
Associated Press world, said Julie Reed, a
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — history professor at the Uni-
Bold. Visionary. A spectac- versity of Tennessee.
ular success. “Even when I’m standing
The words in an online pro- in front of students, identi-
motion for a new museum fied as a Cherokee profes-
exhibit in Washington, D.C., sor, making the point from
describe an 1830 U.S. law Day 1 that I’m still here and
that forced thousands of other Cherokee people are
American Indians from their still here, I still get midterm
lands in the South to areas exams that talk about the
west of the Mississippi River. complete annihilation of In-
Provocative, yes, says the dian peoples,” she said.
co-curator of the exhibit Ganteaume said that while
"Americans" that opened Native people have deep
last month at the National histories in other countries,
Museum of the American the United States is more of-
Indian. Bold and visionary in ten fixated on using images
imagining a country free of of them.
American Indians. A spec- Side galleries expand on
tacular success in greatly what’s familiar to most
expanding wealth from Americans: the Trail of
cotton fields where millions A woman looks at a section of the "Americans" exhibit that explores the historical context of the Tears, Pocahontas and
of blacks worked as slaves. Trail of Tears, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, the Battle of Little Bighorn.
"When you're in the show, in Washington. Associated Press An orientation film on the
you understand bold and invention of Thanksgiving
visionary become tongue exhibit at the newly estab- depths at which people mounted on the wall and starts with a once widely
in cheek," co-curator Ce- lished African-American recognize indigenous peo- a 1948 Indian Chief motor- used television screen test
cile Ganteaume said. museum that talked about ple are ingrained in Ameri- cycle. featuring an Indian head
The exhibit that runs how economically won- ca's identity and learn how Dozens of clips expand on and then questions the
through 2022 has opened derful slavery was for the it happened, she said. how the imagery has per- hoopla of the national holi-
to good reviews and push- South." An opening gallery has meated American culture day when America already
es the national debate over Ganteaume said the web- hundreds of images of in television and film. had Independence Day.
American Indian imagery site isn't encyclopedic and American Indians — often But when historic or car- Eden Slone, a graduate stu-
— including men in head- neither it nor the exhibit is a stoic chief in a Plains-style toonish images are the only dent in museum studies in
dresses with bows, arrows meant to dismiss the experi- headdress or a maiden — perception people have of the Washington, D.C., area,
and tomahawks — and ences of American Indians. on alcohol bottles, a sugar what it means to be Native, said she was impressed by
sports teams named the Instead, it challenges the bag, motor oil, a missile they can’t imagine Ameri- the exhibit’s design and in-
Chiefs, Braves and Black- teractive touch tables. She
hawks. The NFL's Washing- never realized that Tootsie
ton Redskins logo on one Pop wrappers featured an
wall prompts visitors to think image of an American Indi-
about why it's described an in a headdress, holding
both as a unifying force in a bow and arrow.
D.C. and offensive. “I think the exhibition was
The exhibit falls short, some carried out well and it defi-
say, with an accompany- nitely makes you think of
ing website and its charac- Native American imag-
terization of the Indian Re- ery,” she said. “When I see
moval Act. images like that, I’ll think
The online text is a perplex- more about where it came
ing way to characterize an from.”
effort that spanned mul- Reed, University of Ten-
tiple presidencies and at nessee professor and
one point, consumed one- Cherokee woman, fears
fifth of the federal budget, people will get the wrong
said Ben Barnes, second impression about the In-
chief of the Shawnee Tribe. dian Removal Act from the
The law led to the deaths of website. An essay puts a
thousands of people who positive spin on what Reed
were marched from their calls ethnic cleansing.
homes without full com- Yet, she plans to visit.
pensation for the value of “I think there is legitimacy
the land they left behind. to say, come look at this ex-
And it affected far more hibit. That’s a fair response
tribes than the five high- to criticism,” Reed said. “I
lighted online, he said. want to go and give the ex-
"It made it seem like it was Objects using imagery of Native Americans are on display at the "Americans" exhibit at the Smith- hibit a fair shake because it
a trivial matter that turned sonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new may be brilliant and could
out best for everyone," he exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. do everything the website
said. "I cannot imagine an Associated Press does not.”q