Drawing Lines in the Museum: Plains Cree Ontology as Political Practice

Authors

  • Claire Poirier Memorial University of Newfoundland

Keywords:

Indigenous peoples, Plains Cree, museums, ontology, traditional knowledge, repatriation, Aboriginal-state relations, sacred materials

Abstract

This article examines how a Plains Cree elder "devel-
ops protocol" with an extensive collection of Plains Cree sacred
materials. Protocols- both political and ceremonial acts that
govern through laws of exchange and reciprocity - involve
humans and the sacred items in a relational system of agents.
Taking Glenbow Museum's storage room as a meeting place for
two distinct ontological engagements - the state via museolog-
ical practice, and the Cree through the protocols of one elder -
conflicts in how each approaches sacred subject matter are iden-
tified. While the state assumes bureaucracy must prevail, the
Cree elder requires protocols to guide the process.

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Published

2022-03-15

How to Cite

Poirier, C. (2022). Drawing Lines in the Museum: Plains Cree Ontology as Political Practice. Anthropologica, 53(2), 291–303. Retrieved from https://cas-sca.journals.uvic.ca/index.php/anthropologica/article/view/958

Issue

Vol. 53 No. 2 (2011): New Directions in Experimental and Engaged Ethnography

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Claire Poirier

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