On Location at the Edge of the Woods
My research examines the formation and history of ten cultural centers situated at the Edge of the Edge of the Woods, the majority established following Expo ‘67. With diverse histories some created by community members, others by Haudenosaunee political bodies, and still others by the state of New York each of these organizations is now directed by and staffed by Haudenosaunee peoples. Located across Haudenosaunee territory these centers include: Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center, Six Nations Indian Museum, Seneca Art and Culture Center at Ganondaghan, Woodland Cultural Center and Museum, Akwesasne Cultural Center, Seneca Iroquois National Museum / Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center, Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center, Oneida Nation Museum, the Native American Center for the Living Arts (The Turtle) and Shako:wi Cultural Center.
(Here is a link to the Google Map)
My research examines this history within a political and cultural context to determine community initiatives and motivations that led to the formation of these organizations. Although Tsi Teyótte Karhá:kon and Condolence may not have explicitly directed the creation of these facilities, they now play an important role in providing space for contemporary expressions of these philosophies and I will demonstrate that these philosophies have always guided this work even at a subconscious level. I will ask how they challenge the colonial discourse in museums which Benedict Anderson describes as “institutions of power” that shape “alternative legitimacies;” narratives that disposes and dissociate Indigenous peoples from their lands and heritage.[1] From a Haudenosaunee perspective the museum is more than a holder of national narratives but a place to engage in culturally grounded healing and restitution. Much like the Indians of Canada Pavilion, the growth of these centers throughout the 1970s and into the early 1990s spoke to the need and desire in community for a new approach to Indigenous material culture and stories that would continue to challenge the broader museum community.
[1] Anderson, Benedict and Richard O'Gorman. Imagined Communities: Reflections On the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 2006. 163-164, 181; Susan Ashley, “State Authority and the Public Sphere: Ideas on the Changing Role of the Museum as a Canadian Social Institution,” Museum and Society 3, no. 1 (March 2005).
