Diversity and Equality in the Glenbow Museum

Last week, I read a chapter of Looking Reality in the Eye that discussed the issues of diversity in museum exhibits. In this chapter, Gerald Conaty and Beth carter discuss the issues in creating an exhibit on the Blackfoot Indians and the challenges that arose due to cultural differences. The Glenbow museum staff made a point to fully include the Blackfoot community in the process of creating this exhibit from start to finish, this included both groups coming together to establish what the goal of the exhibit would be.

As I read the chapter titled "Diversity and Equality in the Glenbow Museum," I was reminded of a discussion that was held at a meeting I attended. Although it started off as a discussion about commemoration and memorialization, we eventually ended up discussing the social responsibility of museums. Even after the exhibit at Glenbow was opened, there were still changes and alterations that were being made. Looking beyond that, the experience of involving the Blackfoot community (versus a committee of academics) in the process of creating the exhibit and making the greater community aware and informed about this particular group of people made me wonder about the social responsibility of museums. In the chapter, the authors state that "the museum should take the opportunity to move away from a safe, neutral position if, by doing so, we could raise awareness and enhance the human rights debate." I though about a question that one of the discussant in my meeting posed in asking "at what point does social responsibility no longer become the museums responsibility?" How socially involved can a museum be without being biased or having a political agenda.

How well would this model work in a situation where there were opposing political and cultural interpretations that were based in fact?

This is not to say that I am against museums as social activists and I appreciate the efforts that the Glenbow museum took to open the Nitsitapiisinni exhibit. I am just curious as to how you think these efforts could be translated into other exhibits that cover diverse communities and possibly controversial issues. I think Conaty and Carter made it a great point to highlight how non-traditional working with diverse communities can be, and how important it is to foster those deep relationships that must surpass most regular business relationships.