Making Native Space: Cultural Politics, Historical Narrative, and Community Curation at the National Museum of the American Indian

The work of presenting native history in the museum setting is always challenging; a commitment to prioritizing native perspectives and interests in a national museum is all the more so. Certainly, any museum is today a multilayered space of representational possibilities, and thus creating exhibitions in collaboration with native constituents is a dynamic and challenging task. This article is a summary of current exhibition planning strategies at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), which having developed a model collaborative approach for its opening exhibitions, is now in the unusual position of needing to scrutinize that model of "community curation," and to consider other strategies for resolution of representational issues and educational mandates as we develop our next major exhibitions.