A BRIEF REPORT ON THE GSI WEEK:INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM‘INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND MUSEUMS’&EXCURSIONSDATE OF EVENT: NOV 28 - DEC 3, 2023
LOCATION: HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ROOM & ZOOMNUMBER OF PERSONS ATTENDING: 99 (ONLINE PARTICIPANTS INCLUDED)1

Acknowledgement:
The GSI Week 2023: a series of events, including International Symposiums on ‘Migration andMemory of Place’ and ‘Indigenous People and Museums’, was held to deepen understandingof Indigenous peoples through active interaction with them between November 28 toDecember 3, 2023, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, JAPAN. The area known as Hokkaido has been
stewarded by the Ainu, Indigenous people of Japan. We respect the custodians of the land,Hokkaido. We thank all attendees, panelists, collaborators, and sponsors, including Dr. Akira
SAI, Mr. Yuki ISOBE, Ms. Amanda GOMES, Mr. Aleksandr ULANOV, Ms. Clara ASTIER, and Mr.
Michael IOANNIDES for their contribution to the event. We also thank the GSI Director, Prof.
Hirofumi KATO, and its members, Dr. Kanako UZAWA, Dr. Jilda ANDREWS, Ms. Sumie HIROSE,and Ms. Mayu HIROTA for providing this opportunity and facilitating both symposiums andexcursions. The symposium was streamed online and recorded live by the GSI staff. Finally,
but not least, we thank all the local members for sharing their valuable knowledge andexperience with the participants during the excursions before the symposiums.

2Land Acknowledgement:
Dr. Kanako UZAWA held a land acknowledgment speech stating that the university where
they gathered stands on the land owned traditionally by the Ainu and has historically andunjustly held stolen Ainu ancestor’s human remains. It is critically important to acknowledge
this historical fact, and she expressed her humbleness for this opportunity to stand andspeak on their behalf. She also recited her poem. This poem served as an epitaph to her
Ainu ancestors, who have been guiding her through her Indigenous pathway up to thismoment. Because of them, we stand together, and because of them, we continue ourIndigenous way of life.

Ainu Human Remains
Releasing the anger of the past helps us to move forward in our life journey
We dance and sing for this moment to be together
The togetherness reminds us who we are
Joy of dance
Tundra of music that runs through our body
Our moment together

Voices from the past that echo within ourselves
Clinging on our back, trying to get back to a present time and life
Breath that comes back to a body
Rusted and cold bones filled with the smell of blood
A last drop of the blood sings to our heart
Clinging to each otherFinally, warm blood running through a body
Searching for the joy of life, which we once had and lost

Getting life back isn’t easy
Trying to remember how it was to breathe, laugh, and cry
My present life seems different from how I remember3

Introduction:

Hokkaido University Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity (GSI1) heldthe GSI Week from Nov 28 to Dec 2, 2023. The GSI week started off with excursions to theNational Ainu Museum and Park “Upopoy,” visiting Ainu local community called Nibutani
located in Biratori Town as well as the Ainu Culture Promotion Center “Pirka Kotan.” 11participants (except GSI staff and supporters) from Australia, Sweden, and Norway. This
aimed to deepen understanding of the Ainu people and culture before the actual symposiums.
They experienced the Ainu food class, dance, and talks by local Ainu individuals. This
strengthened better understanding of the Ainu people and culture before the symposium
sessions, which resulted in fruitful discussions over the topics. In addition to the excursions,Ms. Amanda GOMES also organized an “Early Career Researcher´s session” for graduate
students at Hokkaido University as well as other relevant university students right after theexcursions. The participants were a mixture of Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants,
and some of them also shared their cultural experience and art with local Ainu members. The
actual two international symposiums on ‘Migration and Memory of Place’ and ‘IndigenousPeople and Museums’ were held on Dec 1 and 3, 2023.

1

GSI was Launched in April 2021. GSI is one of the research and educational hubs under Hokkaido
University’s Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE). For further informationon the GSI, please see at https://gi-core.oia.hokudai.ac.jp/gsi/

4

Table of Contents
Acknowledgement:
Land Acknowledgement:
Introduction:
GSI Week 2023
Excursions
Symposium ‘Indigenous people and Museums’–Crafting voices of Indigenous peoples–
Program
Abstract
Conclusion:
Photo Album:

522466777
91314

GSI Week 2023
Excursions
The purpose of the excursions was to deepen the knowledge about the Ainu culture andpeople so that participants' experiences in Hokkaido would become more meaningful andmemorable, which they could take home with them. Some of the participants have alreadybeen in Japan and specifically expressed their particular interest in visiting the Nibutanicommunity. The first excursion was to visit the National Ainu Museum and Park “Upopoy,”where they had a chance to communicate and ask questions with the Upopoy staff directly.
Some participants later expressed how different the experience was compared to theprevious Upopoy visit. On the following day, they visited the Ainu Nibutani community, which
is full of cultural activities: Ainu food class, local museum visits guided by community
members, a talk by the prominent Ainu leader, Mr. Shiro KAYANO, and finally, a cultural
exchange program at the Nibutani community center in the evening. The last excursion took
place in Sapporo, visiting the Ainu Culture Promotion Center “Pirka Kotan” where participants
were welcomed by Sapporo Ainu community members with lunch and cultural activities suchas music concerts and dance. This allowed the participants to reflect on and compare the local
Ainu community and the Ainu community in the city. Overall, feedback from the participants
was highly positive and all expressed great appreciation for these unique experiences.

6Symposium ‘Indigenous people and Museums’–Crafting voices of Indigenous peoples–
Program
09:40

Doors Open

10:00-10:05 Opening Remarks | Prof. Hirofumi KATO, Director of GSI, Hokkaido University

10:05-10:10 Message from the Australian Embassy Tokyo

10:10-10:15 Greetings | Dr. Kanako UZAWA, Ainu representative, Hokkaido University & theUniversity of Oslo
10:15-10:45 yukar (Ainu oral literature) & Response | Ms. Haruna YAZAKI & members of theAustralian delegation

10:45-11:05 Presentation 1 ‘The National Ainu Museum’s Approach to the Ainu Language’
Ms. Haruna YAZAKI, the National Ainu Museum (the Foundation for AinuCulture)

11:05-11:25 Presentation 2 ‘My Grandfather, My Father, and I – A Role of Each of Us’
Mr. Kenyu YAMAMARU (Keni), the National Ainu Museum (the Foundation forAinu Culture)

11:25-11:45 Presentation 3 ‘Dancing with museum objects – Exploring Ainu Indigeneity in amuseum space through Ainu collections-’
Dr. Kanako UZAWA, Hokkaido University & the University of Oslo

11:45-12:15 Discussion | Ms. Haruna YAZAKI, Mr. Kenyu YAMAMARU (Keni), & Dr. Kanako
UZAWA

12:15-13:45 ❖ Lunch (90 mins) ❖7

13:45-14:05 Presentation 4 ‘Museums as interfaces of authority and knowledge – anAustralian experience’Dr. Michael PICKERING, Hokkaido University & Australian National University

14:05-14:25 Presentation 5 ‘Mapping the collection store and making it a place for people’
Dr. Vanessa RUSS, the University of Melbourne

14:25-14:45 Presentation 6 ‘Museums and ancestral futures – new modes of cultural work’
Dr. Jilda ANDREWS, Australian National University

14:45-15:15 ❖ Tea break (30 mins) ❖15:15-16:00 Conversation ‘The changing Indigenous art centre model: reclaiming processesof cultural expression outside of western needs’ Ms. Mayatili MARIKA, theUniversity of Melbourne & Mr. Kade MCDONALD, Agency, moderated by Dr.
Jilda ANDREWS, Australian National University

16:00-17:30 Panel Discussion and Q & A session | All Contributors

17:30-17:45 Closing Remarks | Prof. Hirofumi KATO, Hokkaido University

17:45-18:00 Closing Ceremony

8Abstract(1) ‘The National Ainu Museum’s approach to the Ainu Language’Ms Haruna YAZAKI, the National Ainu Museum (the Foundation for Ainu Culture)

Ainu is the language of the Ainu people and has been spoken
in the northern part of the Japanese archipelago andsurrounding areas. However, since the Meiji era (1868-1912),
the Ainu language has been gradually cut off from daily life
due to Japanese assimilation policies. In 2009, UNESCO
designated it as an "Endangered Language" and recognized
it as "Critically Endangered". Under these circumstances, asa center for the revival and development of Ainu culture, Upopoy: National Ainu Museum andPark has positioned the Ainu language as its first language. Ainu appears first on all
information displays, including the names of facilities and rooms at the National Museum andthe National Park. The Museum also uses Ainu for major information panels in the Permanent
Exhibition Room. Various issues need to be considered, such as dialects and notation methods,
not to mention how to express new words, such as the names of facilities and some words inguide signs. To meet these challenges, various groups of people participate in theconsideration and decision-making process: the Ainu-language expert staff in Upopoy,
external Ainu language researchers, Ainu language learners, and practitioners, including
many Ainu themselves. In this presentation, I discuss some of these efforts, especially thoserelated to information displays and exhibition texts.

(2) ‘My Grandfather, My Father, and I – A Role of Each of Us’
Mr Kenyu YAMAMARU (Keni), the National Ainu Museum (the Foundation for Ainu Culture)

In this presentation, I will report on the importance ofmuseums as a cultural institution to the local Ainu
community, referring to my own family history as an
example, and discuss how we can connect to the next
generation in the future. Three generations of my family: me,9

my father and my grandfather, have all worked at the Ainu Museum which was in ourcommunity. It sounds like, on the surface, that we had inherited a great deal of Ainu culture
within the family, but that was not the case.My grandfather, who was a member of the town
council, came to work at the Ainu Museum to contribute to the tourism sector, while myfather came to work at the museum to support his family. Though reasons may vary, theexistence of the museum allowed my grandfather, father, and I some time and occasion toface our identity and Ainu culture. Reflecting on my own story, I share my thoughts on whatrole the museum -- now known as Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park-- can play for thelocal Ainu community and for the coming generations to face their culture and roots.

(3) ‘Dancing with museum objects – Exploring Ainu Indigeneity in a museum space

through Ainu collections-’
Dr. Kanako UZAWA, Hokkaido University & the University of Oslo

This presentation explores a new way of understanding theterm Ainu Indigeneity by opening up space for further
discussion on how we can find our narratives and new
expressions in museum space with focus on the Ainu
collection. The presentation will make a reference to themost recent projects: 1) Ainu art exhibition project incollaboration with the University of Michigan Museum of Art in the United States and 2) The
video art project on the Ainu collection in the Museum of Cultural History at the University ofOslo in Norway. By this, Uzawa will share a new way of giving our own narratives to thehistorical Ainu collections in museums, and furthermore discussing how we can transfer Ainu
Indigeneity to the next generation.

(4) ‘Museums as interfaces of authority and knowledge – an Australian experience’Dr. Michael PICKERING, Hokkaido University & Australian National University

Every museum, art gallery, or university has its own internal culture. They have systems ofgovernance and project implementation that are guided by that internal culture. Like all
10cultures, they reproduce themselves, generally promulgating a conservative approach tocertain issues over time. One outcome of this is that the concerns and contributions of
Indigenous people, both as staff and as external interestgroups, are often explicitly under-represented. Indigenous
input is managed, mediated, and moderated, often to thepoint of sterilization of content. Indigenous driven change
is rejected, while trends to conservative ‘traditional’ andinoffensive representations of culture prevail. This
presentation looks at some of the issues that have arisen in
the author's experience as a curator, researcher, and corporate manager.

(5) ‘Mapping the collection store and making it a place for people’
Dr. Vanessa RUSS, the University of Melbourne
Museums are designed with exhibition spaces and cafes,
and collection stores that no one gets to visit. Any museumwith Aboriginal cultural material in it today also includes
visits to the collection store. It’s a privilege to visit with anElder who might as they pass sing to the objects they see
having remembered the song of their creator or thecountry from which that object comes from. On theirdeparture, it can feel like the object was just as happy to see them too. As the University ofMelbourne works towards a new home for its Indigenous Collections, the strategy for thePlace for Indigenous Art and Culture started with the principle that objects have feelings too.
This paper unpacks this work and presents on the new museum model that is best forAustralian Aboriginal people in a time of deep divide.

(6) ‘Museums and ancestral futures – new modes of cultural work’
Dr. Jilda ANDREWS, Australian National University

This presentation demonstrates a new method of museum collections research,developed in line with an Indigenous land management tool known as ‘cool burning’. Here I

11will explore ways that regenerative cultural land
management practices can be extended and applied to thetangled and overgrown environment of museum archives
and collections. By considering collections research as‘regenerative’, it is possible to productively reframe
cultural material as a contemporary tool and active in
producing new knowledges. Suchan approach gives historical collections an important role in the making of strong, continuing
cultural futures.

(7) ‘The changing Indigenous art centre model: reclaiming processes of culturalexpression outside of western needs’
Ms. Mayatili MARIKA, the University of Melbourne & Mr. Kade MCDONALD, Agency,
moderated by Dr. Jilda ANDREWS, Australian National University

For too long, Indigenous Australian art centres have beenvalued principally as a foundation of art making and sales.
This has in part arisen from the flourishing Australian art
industry and the increasing global demand on Indigenousart and craft production. Today, art centres as Indigenousled enterprises have evolved to support a range ofimportant cultural activities that generate dynamic cultural
outputs – only some of which are made to meet market-demands. Other outputs include
comprehensive archives of Indigenous knowledge, libraries, and repositories for collectionsof significant cultural material, some of which are still used in ceremony and cultural practice
today. As art centres increasingly play this role of archive,
issues around institutional power and control over museum
collections arise, including their ongoing management, access,conservation, preservation, and repatriation. Innovative andcollaborative solutions are today being initiated andembraced by cultural leaders rather than museums, but
discussions are still limited by western constraints around12

concepts of property, ownership, and resourcing. This moderated discussion explores somecontemporary examples and the new modes of collaboration required to support Indigenous
self-determination in the continuously evolving art-center model.

Conclusion:
The 2023 GSI Week was a significant step in contributing to bringing new perspectives andIndigenous traditional knowledge to the international symposium table. It was initiated by
Indigenous scholars of JAPAN and Australia, which was the first time Indigenous scholars
engaged themselves in the planning phase. This resulted in having more open and dialoguebased panel discussions, which enabled non-academic and local Ainu participants to be partof the discussions. The diversity of panelists from various areas of the world also helped to
articulate ongoing common issues and challenges, which helped to form future collaboration,such as an issue on the repatriation of Indigenous human remains and cultural property
stored in museums. In addition, the Early Career Researcher´s session for graduate students
organized by Ms. Amanda GOMES contributed to creating more space for graduate students
to present and discuss their research with Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars withexpertise in the fields. Lastly, the excursions and encounter with the Ainu people and culture
highlighted the importance of participatory action research where Indigenous peoples cancreate their narratives in research and bridges between valuable local knowledge andacademia with the question of how Indigenous-related research should be represented andpracticed in the University space.

13

Photo Album:

Gift form Ms. Mayatili MARIKA and Dr. Jilda ANDREWS to Prof. Hirofumi KATO

Participants from overseas attending at the lecture“Hokkaido University Campus and the Ainu people”
by Prof. Jeffry GAYMAN

Waiting for lunch at a restaurant where
the average age of the staff is 84

At Pirka Kotan

Dancing with Nibutani Ainu
Culture Preservation Group
With Ainu Artist,
Mr Toru KAIZAWA

Preparinglunch14