Wag(er)ing Histories, Staking Territories: Exhibiting Sovereignty in Native America

摘要

Based on research carried out in 2009¨C2010, this article suggests that gamingrevenues created new possibilities for Native peoples to take control of their ownpublic histories as expressions of cultural and political sovereignty. It recognizesmuseums and cultural centers as parallel spaces for cultural self-representation.Casino-generated funds allow many tribal nations to create or expand existingexhibitionary spaces for repatriated objects?aincluding museums, casinos,resorts, and public attractions?athat publicly articulate stories about history,identity, and the practice(s) of sovereignty. Seemingly disparate spaces?acasinos thematic and generic, museums old and new, garden and memorialsites, village greens and hotel lobbies?acan best be understood as an array ofresponses to the challenges of articulating Native identities to mostly non-Nativepublics. Such sites exemplify particular strategies of Native curation in a varietyof spaces actively shaped for public attention