Interpreting our own: Native peoples redefining museum education

Abstract

For my Master of Arts in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona I have done a comparative analysis of the Docent program's at the Arizona State Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian. A docent program or guided tour program, is part of educational programing at each museum. In order to fully understand and appreciate objects in a museum, especially those in exhibits dealing with Native Americans, requires interpretation. The guided tour is one of the most popular interpretive techniques. In this particular study, I focus on the use of storytelling as an interpretive technique. This study was done in an educational setting through informal observation of the docents, personal interviews and discussion with the docents and Educational Coordinators at each museum, examination of educational training, examination of Native American education techniques, and investigation of storytelling and its relationship to museums and Native peoples.