Paper short abstract:

This paper reflects on changes which have been initiated by twelve pipes on exhibit at the Manitoba Museum. In Anishinaabemowin, these pipes are other-than-human-persons and they have begun decolonizing the museum by teaching the institution to respect its relational obligations to its collections.

Paper long abstract:

This paper addresses the changes in museum caring practices which derive from an approach to Indigenous museum collections which privileges the Anishinaabe/ Ininiw/ Dakota view that pipes, as ceremonial artefacts, are other-than-human persons with active social relationships (Viveiros de Casto, Bird-David, Matthews). It follows from this perspective, that Indigenous collections impose obligations on museums, not from a professional asset-based ownership and heritage performance perspective, but with the purpose of renewing historical Indigenous ties and initiating new Indigenous relationships through visits, repatriation, and reconciliation.

This paper reflects on changes in practices and protocols which have been initiated by twelve pipes now on exhibit at the Manitoba Museum (Matthews 2021). In local Indigenous languages, these pipes are spoken of as diplomats and teachers acting in the museum on behalf of First Nations people. This very overt decolonizing role has transformed museum practice at the Manitoba Museum and continues to challenge the museum’s interpretive authority. New travel cases were designed so the pipes can be handled in ceremonies entirely by the Oshkaabewisag, the apprentices of senior Ceremonial elders, without museum staff intervention. New signage, in their absence, speaks of them visiting their communities. The pipes, as Indigenous other-than-human-persons, have changed the museum’s social, ceremonial, and institutional approach to its collections and initiated a process of substantially renegotiating interpretive and administrative authority.