“It belongs in a museum!” Or, does it?
Volunteer Spotlight: Dr. Ivy Faulkner brings “STEAM” to Phoenix Fan Fusion
By Dr. Ivy Faulkner
On Memorial Day weekend, an event draws thousands of people, with the number growing larger every year, to downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Among the attendees at Phoenix Fan Fusion (formerly Phoenix Comicon), you will find superheroes, cartoon and anime characters, representations of virtually every science fiction and fantasy fandom, and more than a few Star Wars memes brought to life. However, what may surprise the uninitiated is the number of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) professionals, educators, and students who are among these attendees and who present on a range of topics to an interested audience of all ages and backgrounds.
Photo of panelists: Dr Ivy Faulkner, Rebecca Harkness, and Dr. Charlotte Till from left to right
This year, I joined Dr. Charlotte Till, an Anthropology Professor from Phoenix College, and Rebecca Harkness, a PhD candidate from the University of Arizona, to present a panel on issues of repatriation across the globe. This panel was conceived as a way of exploring the topic introduced by the line from the world’s most famous fictional archaeologist, Indiana Jones: “It belongs in a museum.” However, my fellow panelists and I decided to expand the discussion of repatriation to include questioning the idea of keeping cultural materials in museums in the first place. With a room of around 65 attendees, we talked about how archaeological collections are formed, how archaeology has been used to further political and ideological agendas, and current issues around both curation of collections within museums and the return of cultural materials to either its country of origin or descendant community. With the support of my fellow panelists, I also used this opportunity to share a timely NAGPRA claim filed by the Prairie Island Indian Community of Minnesota for the return of the noose used to hang Wicanhpi Wastedanpi, one of 38 Dakota men hanged on Dec. 26, 1862, after the US-Dakota War. Our panel was on May 24 and the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS), who had possession of the noose, had announced that they would make a determination regarding the claim on May 28.
Panelists discuss the issues around the world’s most famous fictional archaeologist’s assertion that “It belongs in a museum.”
I first became involved with Phoenix Fan Fusion as a member of the event staff, mostly working as a moderator for the panels involving science fiction and fantasy authors. However, for the last few years I have been attending as a panel presenter, joining the ranks of over 100 aerospace engineers, software engineers, genetic researchers, environmental scientists, and experts from a wide variety of other fields who volunteer their time to present on an increasingly expanding number of scientific and educational topics. In 2024, there were 65 different STEAM-related panels over the three-day event, as well as an exhibit hall that featured tables on space exploration, herpetology, history, geology, and more. These panels were attended by 2,978 people (averaging 44 guests per panel), with educator participants and attendees receiving 118 hours of professional development credits.
Towards the end of our panel challenging Indiana Jones’ assertation that “It belongs in a museum,” attendees asked questions until we ran out of time and even came up afterwards to continue the discussion, clearly demonstrating public interest in these issues. I even had people find me on subsequent days and tell me how much they enjoyed the panel. The results of a survey of panel attendees indicate that the STEAM panels were generally very positively received. I don’t know if any of the attendees of my panel utilized the contact information that I provided for MHS to share their thoughts or concerns, but on May 28, MHS announced that it had approved Prairie Island’s repatriation claim.
