Collecting Myaamiaki: An Exploration of Indigenous Space through Things

Year 2007, Issue: 26, 75 - 89, 01.10.2007

Nichole S. Prescott

Abstract

Europeans and newly fashioned Americans have expressed a variety of emotions toward Native Americans: curiosity, rage, fear, apathy, bewitchment, and intrigue. Their actions toward Indians have submitted to a similar evolution: cooperation, aggression, attempted eradication, neglect, inaction, and possession. Understanding the relationship between Native peoples and non-Natives requires a thorough examination of bitter historical truths. A means of gaining insight into this tortuous and enigmatic relationship is through the study of the exchange and collection of Native cultural objects and the meanings these objects now hold for some Indian peoples today.

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