Negotiating 'Indigeneity': museums, indigenous cultural heritage, and indigenous activism

1. Research Activities Field research was conducted among First Nations in British Columbia, Canada (based at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, June-July). The data collected since the beginning of the postdoc, notably through interviews with Indigenous communities, academics and museum professionals, together with relevant literature analysis, suggest that: - indigenous peoples all over the world are increasingly involved in the representation and curation of their heritage in museums (this phenomenon is related to the global movement of indigenous revitalization that initiated in North America in the 1960s, and has gained momentum in the recent decade) - there are a number of challenges, issues and concerns that are shared among Indigenous groups in Taiwan, Norway, Canada and the USA, and that find partial expression in relationships between indigenous communities and museums, - the demands put forward by IP to museums are increasingly affecting both museum theory and practice (in complex ways that I will aim to examine in the last part of my postdoc) - theoretically, three overlapping and inter-related effects of colonialism - exotification and the construction of cultural difference; cultural assimilation; and appropriation of cultural heritage and de-legitimation of related practices - have emerged as useful theoretical lenses to examine contemporary relationships between IP and museums; The findings of my research are being incorporated in all my outputs (written articles and seminar presentations) and most notably in the monograph volume I am now drafting (see below for editorial details). 2. Dissemination Academic publications: ? 2014 Museums in China. The politics of Display After Mao. Monograph, Boydell and Brewer Publishers (UK), Heritage Matters book series. ? 2014 'Polysemic objects and partial translations: Museums and the Interpretation of Indigenous Material Culture in Taiwan', in Museum Anthropology 37(2): 102-117. ? 2013 'Controversial indigeneity: representing non-officially recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan' Nordic Museology (2013:2) ? A book proposal for a book entitled 'Museums and Indigenous Peoples: rethinking museum theory and practice through indigenous perspectives' was submitted in August 2014 to Routledge, Museum Meanings book series In preparation: ?special issue of Journal of Nordic Museology stemming from the Sami conference Paper and book reviews 2014 [Book Review] European Museums in the 21st century, vol.1,2,3, Basso Peressut et al. Eds, Journal of Nordic Museology 1:122-128. I was invited to act as peer-reviewer for a paper for Museum and Society, a paper for a special issue of Museum and Society, and one for the Journal of Material culture. Seminars/conferences ? Tromsø paper on expertise of indigenous curators ? MUCEM is conference. This was an academic but also a public event (open to the public) and it contributed to disseminate my research among international and specifically French audiences ? 2014 ?Notes on the politics of display of indigenous heritage in contemporary Taiwan?, seminar paper, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, 9 July. Sami conference organization: I am co-organizing the international conference Rethinking Sami cultures in museums, planned for Autumn 2014,IKOS, UiO. I convened the 'Museological lunch seminar series' in Spring (sole organizer) and Autumn (co-organizer) 2014: focus on relationships between museums and source communities as part of my postdoctoral research activities. 3. Teaching 1.10.2013 Research methodologies in museum studies, Master course in Museology, IKOS 22.10.2013 lecture on 'Museums in Non-Western contexts', Master course in Museology, IKOS Spring 2014 - Museene kulturhistorie (30 students) 6 lectures + 2 visits 25.08.2014 lecture on research methodologies in museum studies, Master course in Museology, IKOS Research grants applications ? Fritt Ord, Institute of Comparative Studies in the Humanities, Oslo, Kulturrådet (March 2014); ? RCN Personal Overseas Visit (June 2014) for 2 months in Leicester Pedagogical skills: One day seminar (10am-3:30pm) "Communication and presentation technique" by David Tomlinson, for PhD and postdocs organized by UiOdoc . Learning Pedagogical Skills course at UiO started in September 2014. In September 2013, I enrolled in the mentoring programme offered by the UiO to female international post-doctoral researchers, which ended in June 2014.

Indigenous activism is increasingly engaging museums in demands for social justice, yet this phenomenon remains under-researched and poorly understood. Recent scholarship in museum studies has examined how museum initiatives have enabled indigenous group s to re-appropriate their cultural heritage. These analyses however have not taken into account the actions of indigenous activists and their impact on museum practice. At the same time, activism has emerged as a major theme in studies of indigenous movem ents, yet the central role of cultural heritage in indigenous activists' actions has not been addressed. Overlooking the interplay of activism and museums impedes a full understanding of contemporary processes of (re)definition of indigenous identities. This research project thus aims to further the understanding of the relationship between museums and indigenous activism. Theoretically, the study brings together, and builds upon, three areas of research: museum studies, indigenous studies and material c ulture studies. Methodologically, the project deploys an interdisciplinary research tool-kit combining methods in museum studies and social anthropology. Empirically, the investigation focuses on Taiwan and, to a lesser extent and in a comparative perspec tive, on Norway. In both settings, museums, indigenous cultural heritage, and indigenous activists play a key role in the ongoing (re)definition of indigenous identities. Research findings from Taiwan and Norway will be examined and interpreted in relatio n to other international contexts (including Australia, Canada and USA). The research is likely to open up a new field of enquiry in museum studies by generating new insights - relevant also to anthropology, culture studies and socio-political research - that illuminate the relationship between indigenous activism and museums, and the role of cultural heritage in the politics of representation of indigenous groups.