Bonus Question: To other, or not to other? That is the bonus question...

I liked the National Museum of the American Indian. First of all because it uses the term American Indian rather than Native American, which can be confusing historically due to American Nativists. Also, when you use the word "native", it definitely has a negative connotation, as "natives" are seen as backwards peoples. It's a really new museum, and I really liked the wave-like design of the exterior. It was probably meant to signify the harmony the American Indian tribes had with the earth.

A major theme in many American Indian culture was the connection between stages of life, color, and the four seasons. One culture correlated adulthood with north and the color red, while another put adulthood in the east and the color was yellow. Symbols for death, birth, and the like changed with each nation, but there was still this theme of the cardinal directions symbolizing different stages in life, elements, and objects like corn and wheat. This way of categorizing life is certainly a tool of remembrance. It creates an order of the complicated world and made it manageable and teachable. The nuances of each culture was shown in the different ways they categorized similar things.

When it comes to othering the American Indians, I think the museum really tried its best not to create the "ooh look and the funny Indians" affect. Contrary to what my chill homie Tonks says (I was looking through other peoples blog post and I just knew I was gonna disagree with her), I didn't see the striking contrast between us versus them. On the top floor, they explored the cultures and customs of several A.I. nations (I'm getting tired of typing, sorry), which you have too if you're gonna make a flippin museum. What was good was that in each little section, they put up pictures and little bios of people alive today who were members of those tribes. The entire second(?) floor was devoted to the lives American Indians today, which I thought was really nice. This exhibit highlighted the incorporation of their culture with modern American culture. There was one display of a modern American Indian living room (idk why, seems kinda weird to me, but w/e). A museum-goer next to me said, "Damn, that looks just like a regular house!" aka it looked like a normal house. This exhibit showed that the American Indians are just like every other American, yet they haven't lost their precious culture. I think this was a great way to balance out the natural othering effect a museum creates on its own.

Making a museum in general others the American Indians. But then again, so does every other celebration of ethnicity. The Chinese New Year parades, Puerto Rican Day parades, even Gay Pride events other the individuals that partake in them. You can't avoid othering when everyday life involves the automatic classification you make in your mind of every person you see. Like Lucia says in her response to esta pregunta extra (I had to look up bonus on google translate lolz), the is "more a celebration of American Indian culture". For this reason I give the American Indian museum some props. Word.

P.S.- Having bangin food helped a bit too ;)