Tribal College Relations Initiative Project TCRI

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Tribal College Relations Initiative Project(TCRI)

• Nancy Marie Mithlo,
• Assistant Professor,
• Smith College

Jennifer Chen, Research Assistant, Smith College
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History Of The TCRI

• In 1978 the Institute of American Indian Arts in
  Santa Fe, New Mexico acquired 7,000 photo
  negatives taken from the late 1940s to the early
  1960s from across Native North America. The
  unparalleled collection is in peril of being lost
  due to inadequate storage, lack of proper
  documentation, and an absence of interpretation.

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Project Description

• The TCRI will bring four Smith college students
  to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a 6 week summer
  internship at the Institute of American Indian
  Arts Museum. Students will work with Dr. Mithlo
  in cataloguing the photo archive and digitizing
  the images. Students will also have the
  opportunity to visit other museums and
  communities in the Santa Fe area.
• It is hoped that this project will expand into a
  multi-year outreach initiative involving other
  tribal colleges and Native American communities.
  Collaborative research in the areas of visual
  anthropology, cultural resource management, and
  research methods form the basis of this
  multi-institutional proposal.

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Educational Goals

• To build a long-term meaningful relations with
  Smith and select tribal colleges through the
  medium of visual anthropology
• To offer students and faculty an avenue to pursue
  common research interests outside the regular
  parameters of a classroom
• To question how historic photos inform our
  current understandings of representation,
  intellectual property rights, and repatriation

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Research Agenda

• The relationship of native and non-native
  communities
• The self-identity of native populations in
  various regions of America
• The overt and covert rationales of photo
  documentation
• The ethical considerations surrounding photo
  documentation including appropriation,
  appreciation, and interrogation
• The visual representation of identity within a
  community
• The changing nature of visual representations
  over time
• The selective representation of identity by the
  photographer

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In the image on the right, a young man is dressed
traditionally, yet appears to be squatting next
to a childs teepee which sports a painting of a
polar bear. Why would he be posed in such a
manner? What purpose do you think this image
served? In the photo on the left a very different
image of a Plains man is portrayed. Here a native
cowboy relaxes self-confidently astride his
horse. Both men confront the camera with their
gaze. If the purpose of the images was the
authentic portrayal of the Plains Indian, which
is more successful?
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Interestingly, these photographs are generally of
two types, idealized traditionally dressed women
inactively posed as objects of beauty and
alternately modern women at work and play. What
do these depictions of native women indicate to
you? Are the rodeo beauties any less appealing in
there sense of themselves than the two women
posing in there feathers in from of a teepee?
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The ways in which Americans play Indian suggest
tokenism, condescension, trivialization, and even
racism. What are the implications of native
people themselves participating in these symbolic
acts? Can meaningful cultural messages be
conveyed by Indians putting on feathers or are
they participating in self-exploitation? What do
you the viewer make of the varied expressions on
the childrens faces?
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Would images such as these qualify as pictures of
Indian men in the viewers minds? What defines
ones identity? Is identity conveyed by dress
(feathers or farm clothes) or occupation (warrior
or farmer)? Could the intent of the photographer
and the context of showing the image determine
how the identity of native people is interpreted?
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Student Internship Opportunities

• Expand and enhance students skills in archival
  management and interpretation
• Challenge students to think critically meaning of
  images
• Opportunity to work in a professional environment
  with people from various backgrounds

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Projected Cost (First Year)

• Student assistance will be required in preparing,
  arranging, advertising, and hosting presentations
  at Smith and 5 college area as well as organizing
  the application process for Summer 2002
  internships 1000.00 (possible source Student
  Internships)
• Guest lecturer Linda Poolaw to Smith this spring
  to make a presentation of a related undertaking
  she led at Stanford University with her father
  Horace Poolaws work 2,500.00 (possible source
  the Connections Fund)
• Four Smith College students will spend 6 weeks in
  Santa Fe during the summer 2002 as Praxis interns
  conducting and inventory of the project and
  archiving the material 3,000.00 archival
  materials and consultant student costs 4,000.00
  each x 4 16,000.00 project director costs
  5,000.00 Summer 2002 costs 24,000.00
• The First Year Of The Project (2001-2002) will
  cost approximately 27,500.00

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Why Is The TCRI Important To Smith College?

• Research potential for understanding ethnic
  identity and visual representation
• Means of linking Smith College with Tribal
  Colleges in a long term meaningful manner
• Opportunity to think critically about the ethics
  of field work and the practice of conducting
  research with Native American communities