Generations of people walked through museums--and still do--looking at items used by the people who used to live on the land around us. But their descendants are still around, and the items may still have uses. You might not want to use a basket from hundreds of years ago, but similar baskets are still made and used by Native American people. And indigenous people are talking to museums about "decolonizing" their collections, to think of items as "belongings" instead of "artifacts."
We explore the concept further in the latest edition of our Underground History podcast, a joint project with the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology. Chelsea Rose of SOULA talks to Grand Ronde Tribal Member Stephanie Craig, who teaches basket weaving skills. She explains the evolving thinking about what physical items represent, and how and even if they should be displayed.