The "Indian voice" at Capitol: a political reading of the National Museum of the American Indian. This article analyses the different stages of the foundation of the National Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Institution’s museum dedicated to Native American cultures since 2004. The creation of an identity-based museum is investigated through a political perspective, with a special focus on the relationship between indigenous and American identities. The museum adopts an innovative paradigm in terms of cultural policy, based on three original elements - the concept of the «Indian voice», the «living museum» model, and the politics of stewardship - which, taken together, form an attempt to recognize a minority within the frame of nation-building.
Keywords: Identità nativa, identità nazionale, museo identitario, musei etnografici, minoranze, nation-building