Date of Award
2025
Degree Type
Open Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
History, MA
Program
School of Arts and Humanities
Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair
JoAnna Poblete
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Joshua Goode
Terms of Use & License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Rights Information
© 2025 Daniel A Gruber
Subject Categories
Museum Studies
Abstract
The American Indian self-determination movement of the 1960s and 1970s catalyzed fundamental transformations in how museums represent Indigenous cultures, histories, and peoples. Through analyzing the demands for tribal sovereignty, cultural authority, and equitable representation during this pivotal era, I show how these principles were applied in contemporary museum practice through an exhibition analysis of the Autry Museum of the American West. This thesis traces how federal American Indian policy evolved from legal and socio-cultural assimilation toward self-determination while also examining how anthropology and museums historically reinforced colonial and imperial narratives that positioned American Indians as federally dependent, scientific specimens. Through exhibition analyses, I show how activist principles of cultural sovereignty influenced museums to shift from sites reinforcing colonial and imperial frameworks into spaces that promote Indigenous perspectives and healing from historical trauma. This transformation represents a reimagining of how museums approach Indigenous culture and history, showing the continued and lasting impact of the self-determination movement on American museology.
ISBN
9798280717954
Recommended Citation
Gruber, Daniel A.. (2025). From Self-Determination to Decolonization: How American Indian Activism Reshaped Museum Spaces. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 948. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/948.
