Abstract
Museum anthropology faces many challenges in working with American Indian people and material culture. This thesis embodies, explores, and contributes to these historical challenges and shared goals through a case study involving research for the collaborative development of an audio tour for the California State Indian Museum in Sacramento. Exploration of the contentious history of museum anthropology highlights varied concerns and approaches to decolonization as they are expressed in the process of collaborative exhibit development and critique. Fifteen California Native consultants participated in open-ended interviews designed to elicit concepts, knowledge, histories, cultural concerns and areas of personal interest and involvement that interviewees wished to convey to the public. Transcripts of interviews with 14 consultants comprise a data-rich set of appendices and Native perspectives. Interviews demonstrated that despite a long history of tension between museums, anthropologists and American Indians, the opportunity to engage in mutually respectful collaborations is not lost. A sample compilation of interview material related to the topic of basketry demonstrates how the addition of an audio tour featuring Native voices and concerns will help to re-present California State Indian Museum exhibits in light of contemporary Native life.