Paper assignment #2: Critical Paper: NMAIPaper assignment #2: Critical Paper: NMAI
AMS 102

INTRODUCTION TO AMS

PAPER ASSIGNMENT #2

CRITICAL PAPER:

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

In Lea Sonzas Decolonizing vision: Native Americans, film and video activism, Sonza frames her discussion within the concept of settler colonialism theory.  She defines settler colonialism theory as the setting up of a system of power which perpetuates the genocide and the repression of indigenous peoples and cultures, while normalizing settlers territorial occupation and exploitation of the resources with which indigenous people maintain a genealogical relationship.The normalization of the settlers occupation of indigenous territories istightly linked to the idea of hegemony which, contributes to show various notions and events as natural, while they are actually historically and economically constructed, in order to gain the consent of the population (p.2)

For paper assignment #2, please address the following questions in essay form:

Utilizing a settler-colonial perspective, discuss HOW the exhibit and treatment of indigenous artifacts and body remains (especially from the Heye collection) function to normalize hegemonic narratives about Native American communities that serve to normalize the perspective of settler societies.  Which predominant hegemonic narratives are reflected in the Museums collection and presentation of Native artifacts?  How do institutions like the NMAI ultimately work ideologically to gain the consent of the larger American population?

Discuss HOW these narratives, narratives that structure how we think about our relationship to Native American communities, are mirrored in the structures of the law and policy.  HOW have indigenous communities been treated in relation to U.S. law and policy.  How have policies that have historically been used against native communities been produced from hegemonic narratives about them and how do these hegemonic narratives (via the media, museums, etc) get redeployed to reinforce inequality?

Please cite relevant articles from this course.  Do not use academic content from outside the course.  Bibliography required. 5 pages, standard format.

https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.amazonaws.com/5c0e944292c0d/7026115?response-cache-control=private%2C%20max-age%3D21600&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27Sonza2018_Article_DecolonizingVisionNativeAmeric.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20200929T210000Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAZH6WM4PL5SJBSTP6%2F20200929%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=63fc3b830ef889965e72c26e0c6e9f9453d60ed32ae72c376d8d511aa14ac5ed
^ LINK TO SONZA’S FILM AND PAPER

DEADLINE: TBD