Decolonizing Museums: Collecting Indingenous Culture in Taiwan and North America

This course addresses "global indignity" in comparing ethnographic collections in Taiwan and North America. How do Anthropology museums maintain and interpret objects collected under English, US, or Japanese colonialism. In hands-on and virtual examination of museum collections, students follow ethnographic artifacts from useful circulation to glass cabinets—and ultimately to art galleries. We explore collecting and representation strategies of “ethnic” objects in relation to colonialism, decolonization, ethnic politics, and nationalism. What are strategies of the post-colonial museum and indigenous-led design?