Toward an Indigenous Curatorial Practice: Learning From Tłıchǫ Metaphors of Care to Establish Principles of Curation

The displacement of items of cultural heritage from Indigenous communities is continually perpetuated through their appropriation into collection systems that are inappropriate to Indigenous laws and customs. This paper presents the efforts of the Tłı̨chǫ Government (TG) to address such issues by creating a system that is rooted within its values and traditions for the curation of its cultural heritage. It is embarking on this journey through the creation of its digital archive and the development of programming for its community museum in Behchokǫ̀, Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. This process first entailed stepping back to carefully consider Tłı̨chǫ traditions of caring for knowledge and cultural heritage through learning circles and a Strong like Two methodology. Analyses of these results were then used to infer principles of curation—ownership, preservation, stewardship, and categorization. This research contributes to the decolonization of the field of cultural heritage management (CHM) and presents a leading example of how the exercise of sovereignty over cultural heritage by Indigenous Nations stands to reactivate displaced belongings within their communities.