New Exhibit Tackles Native American Erasure

Field Museum is debuting its first large-scale Native American exhibit created in collaboration with nearly two dozen members of the Apsaalooke, also known as the Crow tribe, and is putting their perspectives front and center.

12 Things To See, Hear And Eat Around Chicago This Weekend
Visitors explore The Field Museum in Chicago on Feb. 26, 2018. Peter Miller / Flickr
12 Things To See, Hear And Eat Around Chicago This Weekend
Visitors explore The Field Museum in Chicago on Feb. 26, 2018. Peter Miller / Flickr

New Exhibit Tackles Native American Erasure

Field Museum is debuting its first large-scale Native American exhibit created in collaboration with nearly two dozen members of the Apsaalooke, also known as the Crow tribe, and is putting their perspectives front and center.

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In museums across the country, you can visit exhibits featuring Native American artifacts and learn about the history and cultures of different native tribes.

But typically these exhibits are curated by anthropologists or professors… and haven’t always included the perspectives of the communities they’re trying to represent.

Last spring, the Art Institute of Chicago postponed a major exhibition weeks before its opening over concerns there was a lack of indigenous voices included. The Field Museum is also in the middle of a three-year renovation of its Native North American Hall in order to better represent the stories of Native peoples.

But first, the Field Museum is debuting its first large-scale Native American exhibit created in collaboration with nearly two dozen members of the Apsaalooke, also known as the Crow tribe, and is putting their perspectives front and center.

Reset checks in with the exhibit’s curator and Native American scholar Nina Sanders. We also talk to Jonathan Lear, the director at the University of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium in Hyde Park, which is hosting a companion exhibit.