Lunch Club Series | When the gloves come off: Cross-cutting methodologies and Indigenous Arctic heritage outside the museum

Lunch Club provides affiliates of the Stanford Archaeology Center with a community-oriented forum for engagement with current issues in archaeology. On Oct 21, 2026, we will host Dr.Amber Lincoln from Stanford University Archaeology Collections.

Abstract:

In this talk, I describe a framework for exploring material heritage that I have developed with Inupiat cultural advisors in Northwest Alaska. This method applies museum perspectives (collector and collecting histories, storage and display practices, and regimes of value) to material heritage in the wider world and applies Indigenous Knowledge of material practices (processing materials, making practices, using, fixing and fussing with tools, and keeping heirlooms) to interpretations of museum collections. I present two case studies demonstrating results from this cross-cutting methodology. The first describes how Inupiat of Shishmaref, Alaska use historical objects to know and narrate their pasts. The second re-evaluates Indigenous Arctic museum collections within the context of Arctic Peoples' knowledge and uses of weather.