Caitrin Scarlett Engle

CAITRIN SCARLETT ENGLE, then a graduate student at University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, was awarded a grant in April 2022 to aid research on “The Power of Placemaking: Collaborating with Descendant Communities to Re-Imagine the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum,” supervised by Dr. Jennifer Shannon. In 2019, Mesa Verde National Park (Mesa Verde) began a collaborative re-interpretation project of a scale never before attempted by a U.S. National Park museum. This collaboration brings together Mesa Verde employees, museum professionals, archaeologists, and, most importantly, members of the twenty-six Pueblos and tribes associated with Mesa Verde to redesign the park’s museum. This project documents this redesign process from the perspective of each of the parties involved. It investigates how the redesign, guided by the associated tribes, affects the colonial relationships that have long defined encounters between the park, tribes, and anthropologists. How might relationships be challenged or maintained throughout the process, and what new ways of narrating place might emerge? How can Native and archaeological knowledge be interpreted together in a way that creates more accurate, innovative, and ethical exhibits? How has this process (re)Indigenized Mesa Verde? Will this endeavor change how park employees conceptualize their work? In addition to contributing to scholarly conversations about placemaking, museum anthropology, and Indigenous theory, the research provides practical takeaways for National Park Service employees and museum practitioners.