Ravens, Storms, and the Ecological Indian at the National Museum of the American Indian

Abstract

Against a cold February wind I walked down 4th Street toward the new National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). My eyes and being felt relief the moment I saw it. The museum's complex layers and curves of sand-colored limestone and surrounding native vegetation represent an island of organic form in a sea of gray linearity. Most agree that the architecture is a success. People (Indian and non-Indian alike) are much less certain about the success of what is inside the new Indian museum on the Washington mall. I was there to experience and review what one native colleague called our new Indian lodge in the Capitol. I went to the NMAI for a few specific reasons, both personal and professional. Being an Anishinaabe/M6tis scholar-activist, I experienced the new NMAI through several different lenses. I wanted to see what a well-funded Indian-made museum would look and feel like. What are the stories, textures, images, messages, and sounds that Indian people want to share with the world? For various reasons I missed the grand opening and procession in September 2004. Having missed that historic moment, a0