book chapter
Prologue: the repatriation of the Nuxalk Echo mask
Switchbacks : art, ownership, and Nuxalk national identity, by Jennifer Kramer • Vancouver • Published In 2006 • Pages: ix-xiv
By: Kramer, Jennifer.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In October 1995 a special ceremonial object known as the Nuxalk Echo Mask was sold by an elder of the tribe to a non-Native art dealer from Victoria. This mask, which was believed to be over 140 years old, was passed down through the generations, gaining an incredibly complicated genealogy in the passing. This mask formed an important part of the Nuxalk cultural heritage and before it could be retrieved from the buyers, many questions had to be resolved regarding the determination of the ownership of cultural objects, the Nuxalk use of the concept of 'cultural heritage' as proof of their nationhood, the significance of Nuxalk entanglements within Canadian law and the Western art market, the relationship between selling Nuxalk art, and the creation of contemporary Nuxalk identity, and the Nuxalk's strategic use of accusations of cultural appropriation. Kramer discusses the anxiety and ambivalences manifested by the Nuxalk as they negotiated interactions with outsiders, until eventually the mask was returned.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Visual arts
- Buying and selling
- External trade
- Property in movables
- Government regulation
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Nuxalk
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northwest Coast and California
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle; 2010
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1995
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1995-1998
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- British Columbia, Canada
- NotesAdditional notes
- Jennifer Kramer
- for bibliographical references see document 10: Kramer
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 2006445100
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Bella Coola Indians