Inseparable from its communities, Northwest Coast art functions aesthetically and performatively beyond the scope of non-Indigenous scholarship, from demonstrating kinship connections to manifesting spiritual power. Contributors to this volume foreground Indigenous understandings in recognition of this rich context and its historical erasure within the discipline of art history.

By centering voices that uphold Indigenous priorities, integrating the expertise of Indigenous knowledge holders about their artistic heritage, and questioning current institutional practices, these new essays "unsettle" Northwest Coast art studies. Key themes include discussions of cultural heritage protections and Native sovereignty; re-centering women and their critical role in transmitting cultural knowledge; reflecting on decolonization work in museums; and examining how artworks function as living documents. The volume exemplifies respectful and relational engagement with Indigenous art and advocates for more accountable scholarship and practices.

New essays acknowledge Native authority, Indigenize cultural narratives, and disrupt the colonialist legacy

About the Author

Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse is director of the Bill Holm Center for the Study of Northwest Native Art, curator of northwest Native art at the Burke Museum, assistant professor of art history at the University of Washington, and coeditor of In the Spirit of the Ancestors: Contemporary Northwest Coast Art at the Burke Museum. Aldona Jonaitis is former director of the University of Alaska Museum of the North, professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and author of Art of the Northwest Coast andThe Yuquot Whalers' Shrine. The other contributors are Karen Benbassat Ali, Janet Catherine Berlo, Iljuuwaas Tyson Brown (Haida Nation), Jisgang Nika Collison (Haida Nation), Karen Duffek, Sharon Fortney (Klahoose), Christopher Green, Denise Nicole Green, Ishmael Hope (Inupiaq and Tlingit), Lily Hope (Tlingit), Kaitlin McCormick, Emily L. Moore, Peter Morin (Tahltan Nation), Lou-ann Ika'wega Neel (Kwakwa ka 'wakw), Duane Niatum (Jamestown S'Klallam), Megan A. Smetzer, Robert Starbard (Xunaa Tlingit), Evelyn Vanderhoop (Haida Nation), and Lucy Fowler Williams.

Reviews

"The volume exemplifies respectful and relational engagement with Indigenous art and advocates for more accountable scholarship and practices."

* New Books Network *

"The many stories and essays in Unsettling Native Art Histories provided me with valuable new teachings and perspectives. I recommend it highly to people of diverse interests in the fields of art, anthropology, history, ethnology, and contemporary Indigenous issues."

* The Ormsby Review *

"[A]n enjoyable source to learn about emerging research and writers in its field... For humanities scholars attuned to material culture, museum practitioners, and Indigenous art enthusiasts more broadly, the book is generous in ideas and exemplars to better understand ancestral and current arts holistically and to set new directions for engagement at museums and galleries."

* Journal of Folklore Research *

"Exemplifying the Indigenous methodologies of respect, reciprocity, and relationality, this book is a model for art historians, curators, and other scholars who want to develop more ethical relationships with the communities whose belongings they store, care for, and study, and is highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn from stories of Indigenous lives enriched by renewed relationships with their ancestral belongings."

* Western Historical Quarterly *

"[A] valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship working to center Indigenous voices in Northwest Coast art studies... This volume will certainly become a classic and is an excellent learning tool and essential library addition for anyone interested in Indigenous studies, museum practice, or Northwest Coast art history."

* First American Art Magazine *

"Given that the apprehension of Northwest Coast Native art is an ever-evolving process, these essays provide readers with an urgently required snapshot of dynamiccontemporary strategies."

* American Indian Culture & Research Journal *

"Unsettling Native Art Histories on the Northwest Coast questions the very notion of art and problematizes colonial approaches to Indigenous art. Editors Bunn-Marcuse and Jonaitis are particularly interested in how overturning Western ideals can unsettle colonial museum practices."

* Transforming Anthropology *

"An incredible volume of Northwest Coast scholarship, art-historical analysis, Indigenous knowledge, and a confluence of literary power linked together through intergenerational visioning, Unsettling Native Art Histories on the Northwest Coast signals a change in how Indigenous art is contextualized both academically and institutionally."

* Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9780295750705
Author Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint University of Washington Press
Publisher University of Washington Press
Weight(grams) 816g