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Native Cultures ARE World Cultures: Rethinking Red Path Museum

The aim of our intervention is to call attention to the lack of Indigenous representation in McGill University’s Redpath museum. Claiming to represent world cultures, it neglects to reference a culture so connected to Canadian heritage. What makes this intervention pertinent lies in the fact that the museum is situated on contested Mohawk land, and calls to evict McGill from this location by the residents of Kahnawake have been part of a recent discourse on colonialism in Canada. We wish to incorporate a permanent display filled with objects that a committee of Indigenous representatives believe best illustrate their culture. Since First Nations peoples in Canada are diverse, we aim to recognize them all, while emphasizing Mohawk culture due to the location of the museum. In order to disrupt the “museum effect” and give life to Redpath, we will also invite members of First Nations communities to visit the museum and use these articles, successfully evading the stagnancy that accompanies trapped objects. After drawing on scholarly discourse concerning Indigenous self-representation and exhibiting cultures in post-colonial museums, it is our hope that Canada’s, and particularly McGill’s, colonial past will become a discursive topic that incites recognition for those that have been wronged and overshadowed.

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