American Museum of Natural History closes Native American object rooms in response to new government rules

The American Museum of Natural History in New York announced this Friday, January 26, that it would close two rooms to the public in which Native American objects are exhibited, in accordance with new government rules.

Towards restitution to the tribes concerned? The American Museum of Natural History in New York announced this Friday, January 26, that it would close two rooms in which Native American objects are exhibited. This is within the framework of new rules put in place by the Joe Biden government and which came into force on January 12.

These require museums to obtain consent from descendants of indigenous tribes before displaying objects related to cultural, religious or funerary practices or beliefs. The objective is, ultimately, to return these objects to the tribes.

“Growing emergency”

In view of the large number of Native American objects exhibited in two of its rooms, the New York Museum of Natural History decided to close them rather than remove or cover certain objects. These items include a birch bark canoe from the Menominee tribe, 12,000-year-old darts and a Katsina doll from the Hopi tribe in Arizona.

The move reflects a sense of “growing urgency” on the part of all museums to review how they represent indigenous cultures, according to the prestigious museum’s director Sean Decatur. The New York Museum of Natural History attracts some 4.5 million visitors a year.

Other American museums, such as the Field Museum in Chicago, the Peaboy Museum of Archeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and the Cleveland Museum of Art, have covered some display cases or removed only the most sensitive objects, according to the New York Times.

2024-01-27 06:54:12
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