Switchbacks: Art, Ownership, and Nuxalk National Identity examines how the Nuxalk of Bella Coola, British Columbia, navigate questions of cultural ownership, transmission, and the role of art in reclaiming heritage. Jennifer Kramer conducted participant observation in Nuxalk artists’ studios, cultural education classes, and daily life to explore the movement of both tangible and intangible cultural expressions such as, masks, regalia, songs, and dances, between education, the Western art market, and legal systems. She likens the Nuxalk’s shifting responses to ownership, appropriation, and repatriation to “switchbacks” on a mountain road, highlighting how these ongoing negotiations shape and reaffirm contemporary Nuxalk identity.
Switchbacks offers valuable insights for scholars and students interested in cultural ownership, identity, and Indigenous rights, particularly within the Nuxalk context.
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Details:
- Author: Jennifer Kramer
- UBC Press, 2007
- Paperback, 168 pages
- 6"W x 9"L
Jennifer Kramer holds a joint position at the University of British Columbia, serving as both a Curator of Northwest Coast Ethnology at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) and an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology. As a cultural anthropologist and museum curator, she integrates collaboration and critical analysis in her work, positioning herself as both a practitioner and a theorist.
Her approach to museology emphasizes partnerships with Indigenous communities to develop ethnographic writing, exhibitions, and digital resources that strive for authentic representation while remaining critically aware of historical contexts, structural inequalities, and contemporary political dynamics. Kramer's research focuses on the significance and political implications of representation, particularly in the ways visual culture is interpreted and utilized across various settings, including museums, art galleries, market economies, world expos, legal systems, Indigenous cultural centers, and tourism sites. She examines how material culture can be mobilized to assert or contest claims to identity, status, land, and resource extraction, shedding light on the intricate social relationships between individuals and cultural communities.
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