Date on Senior Honors Thesis

5-2025

Document Type

Senior Honors Thesis

Degree Name

B.A.

Department

Humanities

Committee Chair

Dr. Felicia Jamison

Committee Member

Dr. Thomas Jennings

Committee Member

Dr. John Gibson

Author's Keywords

Kentucky history; museum; decolonization; Indigenous; anthropology

Abstract

Utilizing prominent decolonial museums scholarship, interviews conducted with anthropology and museum professionals, and Kentucky museum exhibitions, this research explores the history of Kentucky’s public institutions’ Indigenous representation and recommends guidelines to improve their portrayal of Native people. Through a historical analysis, this research finds factors that influence Kentucky institutions’ portrayals of Native history, such as early harmful grave looting of Indigenous ancestral remains, the prominence of the Myth of the Dark and Bloody Ground, and a weakened state governmental Native American Heritage Commission. After considering both decolonial theory and the experiences of Kentucky heritage professionals, this research recommends three methods of decolonizing museums that respond to Kentucky’s past engagement with Indigenous history. Kentucky history institutions may consider evaluating their collections according to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, developing new exhibits in collaboration with Indigenous representatives with ancestral ties to Kentucky, and undergoing structural changes to include Indigenous people in both the museum and governmental realms. These methods are demonstrated in three case studies of Kentucky public institutions that envision a new path of decolonizing their exhibitions and including Native stakeholders in the process.

Lay Summary

In the United States, the establishment of museum exhibitions largely coincided with the mass collecting and displaying of North American Indigenous cultural artifacts and funerary remains. In the twenty-first century, museums have reshaped their spaces based on inclusion and initiated practices to collaborate with Indigenous people. The methodology of decolonization, when applied to museums, emphasizes de-centering dominant cultural narratives, which are usually those of white, male colonizers. This research engages with this concept of de-centering dominant perspectives by exploring the different methods that Kentucky’s public institutions can employ to include Indigenous people ethically. In Kentucky, this means directly acknowledging its past engagement with Native people, both in the eighteenth century and those following. Therefore, this thesis provides a summary of some of these key factors and several methods that institutions should utilize to decolonize their organization.

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