Every Indigenous person should feel empowered to not only see but visit their community’s objects kept in museums, according to Sarah Leilani Sissum, a Chicago-based Indigenous heritage advocate who works in the repatriation of Native human remains and sacred items.
“We are sometimes the nearest proximity that object might have to our community, to our ‘āina, and so our presence is so important,” Sissum said. “Those collections are ours.”
The recent exhibition titled “Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans” at the British Museum in London has sparked complex emotions among Kānaka Maoli about the right and wrong ways for museums to display Hawaiian objects. Some feel protective over the care and keeping of these physical pieces of culture and their mana, particularly when these objects are away from the islands.
The British Museum is one of several institutions, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., to have hosted similar exhibits outside Hawai'i.
Sissum referred to it as a “very complicated” issue.
Museums that possess Native items but don’t regard Native people as stakeholders face “serious problems,” in Sissum’s opinion.
She said natural history museums are often guilty of depicting Native peoples and their objects through a non-Indigenous lens. Many Western anthropologists are trained from an empirical research perspective, Sissum said, and Indigenous knowledge isn’t traditionally a factor.
“You’re trying to reduce a group of people to make it comprehensible to the field of anthropology, and, when you’re doing that, you’re missing so much of the fullness of a Native people,” she said.
That means museum visitors aren’t being told the whole history, which is a disservice, Sissum added.
“Museums really should be a reflection of the community that they’re in and the community that they are intended to service,” she said.
Her ideal comes in the form of institutions led by Native people.
For instance, Indigenous collections managers at museums are more likely to observe cultural protocols when caring for Native objects, Sissum said. Museums can even invite Native people to have meaningful interactions with those objects and educate the institutions on proper stewardship.
The Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums has awarded several institutions for their excellence in uplifting their respective cultural legacies. Those recognized include the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage and North Carolina’s Museum of the Cherokee People.
“I do very much believe in the power of Native people coming into spaces and institutions and representing our history,” Sissum said.
Kuuipoikaheepueone “Ipo” Wright, founder of the Washington-based organization Hawaiian Diaspora, is steadfast in her belief that Hawaiian objects should be returned to the islands.
“At the end of the day, our artifacts do belong in Hawai'i with our ‘āina and the people, and that’s the bottom line,” she said.
In order to make that happen, relationships need to be built and retained with museums, Wright said.
Some items have been recently relinquished. Last year, the Smithsonian Institution returned the ‘ahu‘ula, or feather cloak, belonging to Chief Keaoua Kekuaokalani to Hawai'i under the National Museum of the American Indian Act, a law that requires the return of Native Hawaiian iwi kūpuna and funerary objects held by the Smithsonian, among other provisions.
“This is about more than just complying with federal law — it’s about doing what is right, and respecting and preserving Native Hawaiian cultural heritage,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) said in a statement at the time.
While working toward that long-term goal, Wright pointed to one silver lining: Museum exhibits can at least help Kānaka Maoli in the diaspora experience certain aspects of Hawaiian culture.
She highlighted an ongoing exhibit, “DISplace,” at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle as an example that appropriately showcases Hawaiian history and artwork. It’s curated by Kānaka Maoli artists Kanani Miyamoto and Lehuauakea.
“Even though we should work toward getting (artifacts) all home, as it currently stands, we should also at least make sure there’s access to it,” Wright said.
Benjamin Ka‘imipono Oclaray, 45, concedes that some museums are working toward reconciliation by repatriating items. “But it’s still frustrating that there’s still so many museums that don’t even recognize that,” said Oclaray, a Kanaka Maoli content creator who lives in Everett, Wash.
In his opinion, a few special circumstances, such as diplomatic gifts from the Hawaiian Kingdom to other countries like the United Kingdom, warrant further consideration.
However, he draws the line at museums displaying looted items for the sake of prestige. Oclaray argues that the practice perpetuates harm.
“How important is it for you to keep it there versus giving it back to the people that have had so much stolen from them?” Oclaray said.
