Power, Objects, and a Voice for Anthropology.

Anthropology is today in search of a public voice for communicating its knowledge, insights, and understanding to a broad public audience. One of the key historical voices of anthropology, the museum, has grown increasingly silent as it struggles with issues of power in the representation of Native peoples and the burden of large, dated collections of material culture. The potential remains for the museum to regain its role as a voice for anthropology by ceding power and easing its overwhelming dependence on the material objects of culture. Museums with a focus on public learning can serve as forums for bringing the full range of anthropological endeavor to a wide and diverse audience, Reintegrating museums into anthropology will require changes in both sides of the relationship: academic anthropology will have to accept museums as a critical vehicle for public communication, and museums will have to commit to significant changes in curatorial responsibilities, exhibits, and collection practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]