Engaging indigenous participation: toward a more diverse profession

Abstract

This paper looks at the reasons why there are few indigenous people training to be conservators. Barriers that prevent indigenous students enrolling in academic programs include financial and societal pressures. Places in conservation programs are few and prerequisites to enter are strict. Less formal methods of training in conservation include workshops and internships. However, both have limitations. Workshops allow museums to engage with communities but in some instances may be detrimental to collections. Internships introduce those new to conservation to the profession, but examples of indigenous interns continuing in the profession are rare. Indigenous professionals who succeed may face challenges such as added responsibilities and possible resentment from colleagues. Initiatives that have been successful in increasing indigenous participation are discussed. These initiatives tend to be well funded and at a national level demonstrating that it is the role of the profession to engage indigenous participation and thereby create a more diverse profession.

Keywords:

• indigenous material culture
• diversity
• conservation education
• museum internships
• museum professional development

Acknowledgements

This article was written while the author was a Guest Scholar at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles. The author would like to particularly acknowledge Sean Charette and Anna Duer from the GCI, as well as Associate Professor Ellen Pearlstein (UCLA/Getty Program) and Associate Professor Robyn Sloggett (The University of Melbourne) for their support.