Toward Centering Indigenous Knowledge in Museum Collections Management Systems

Museums still struggle with colonial data legacies within collections management systems, building mechanisms to be “inclusive” but challenged by how to model more expansive post-colonial ways of thinking. Although it anticipated a need to be “inclusive” of Native knowledge in the original design of its CMS, the National Museum of the American Indian is still challenged by the processes for how knowledge is entered into the system and by which information is seemingly “centered” within the system. Following on the release of the Smithsonian’s new Shared Stewardship and Ethical Returns policy, the NMAI is rethinking documentation structures within its CMS based on its dialogue with Native communities, conversations with other Smithsonian museums, and discussions with CMS colleagues. The museum is questioning why certain knowledge seems prioritized over others. Is this a fault of the system classification methods or our own practices? Can we re-envision CMS relationships to center Native knowledge?