Blog Post 3

Research Question: What and how are New York Indigenous groups and institutions doing, as it pertains to preserving and creating a digital presence, when it comes to disseminating their culture?

Research Paragraph: My topic that I want to explore is what are Indigenous groups in New York doing to maintain a digital presence? I really want to look at how smaller and much less budget heavy institutions, keep up in the digital landscape. When I talk about the digital landscape I'm talking about both preservation, conservation, and protection of their cultural objects, alongside how they keep their voices loud and heard on the internet as that is where our society is drifting towards, online. I really want to explore not only the evolution of some of these tactics but also where the trends point to as a next step or where the digital goals are actually leading to. I also want to explore the idea of how these cultures in particular view digital preservation as it has many benefits but a lot of what we view as solutions in the modern museum do not align with their beliefs and they face different challenges than some of our more familiar cultures but also have some similarities that should be highlighted.

Thesis Topic

My thesis topic will be examining how museums handle displaying culturally sensitive objects. My thesis will focus specifically on the Rochester Museum and Science Center and will be a case study of how they go through the process of handling and exhibiting the Charlotte carousel panel. I do not yet have a working title title for my thesis, but have been attempting to throw some ideas around about that and should have one worked up by next week. The research question my thesis will address is "What are the best practices museums should abide by when exhibiting culturally sensitive objects?" I will attempt to answer it by doing the case study of the RMSC and by doing research on other institutions that have experienced similar issues. I will also be looking at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture to see how they have attempted to handle this problem. This is still a working question, and may be a bit broad, but for the moment, I think broad is good because it will encompass more research, and I can always narrow it down at a later point if necessary. As for research, I have found a number or journal articles that deal with this subject matter, and have compiled many newspaper articles and online commentary dealing with the carousel panel directly. I have attempted to make contact with some staff members at the NMAAHC and am currently waiting for their replies.