TALMs 2009: not just for entertainment purposes...

I had the great pleasure to attend the Tribal Archives, Libraries & Museums conference in Portland this past October. What a great event! Malissa Minthorn Winks, TALMS planning committee, and all the folks at IMLS did a great job in pulling together interesting sessions, delicious lunches, nice events, and great guest speakers, all of which was relevant to the needs of tribal librarians/archivists/museologists/language specialists. I told my advisor, jokingly, 'I want to quit taking classes at the U and do all my coursework here!' She told me not jinx things up that way...

So I won't. But I will say this for those who aren't in the know: tribal archives, libraries and museums have a very different purpose guiding the work than mainstream American libraries, archives and museums. Don't be fooled: the practices may be similar, the processes, tools, and desires for technology and materials may look familiar, but here is the huge difference. Tribal libraries, archives, and museums are first about cultural perpetuation. Access to information, literacy, education, entertainment, knowledge preservation, artefact acquisition, all these are great. But ultimately, cultural perpetuation is THE VEHICLE that guides all these other activities.

And I don't mean cultural perpetuation as in the 'preservation of this important part of American history,' or 'preservation of our Native language, memories, and lifeways.' No, what we're talking about is cultural perpetuation instead of preservation. Our Native communities are not like dried fruit, that needs to be preserved in a jar, saved for next winter, or until the grandchildren ask for it. No, perpetuation refers to making daily use of the inherent knowledge that us tribal peoples have within our communities. Sometimes non-Native people visit tribal-run libraries/archives/museums and think they are pretty nice. Interesting information. Entertaining. A peek into the 'authentic.' But for us, cultural centers are simply another means for organizing, safeguarding, and sharing knowledge. They are edifices and institutions that serve as tools in the process of our becoming as tribal nations. Our search is not for remnants of the 'authentic,' as one guest speaker described during the conference, but rather are actions toward the fortification of tribal sovereignty.

*An extra special thanks to Maria & Kereti Rautangata--inspirational!*