Who owns native culture / Michael F. Brown.
"Who Owns Native Culture? documents the efforts of indigenous peoples to redefine heritage as a protected resource. Michael Brown takes readers into settings where native people defend what they consider to be their cultural property: a courtroom in Darwin, Australia, where an Aboriginal artist...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge, Mass. :
Harvard University Press,
2003.
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| Summary: | "Who Owns Native Culture? documents the efforts of indigenous peoples to redefine heritage as a protected resource. Michael Brown takes readers into settings where native people defend what they consider to be their cultural property: a courtroom in Darwin, Australia, where an Aboriginal artist and a clan leader bring suit against a textile firm that infringes sacred art; archives and museums in the United States, where Indian tribes seek control over early photographs and sound recordings collected in their communities; and the Mexican state of Chiapas, site of a bioprospecting venture whose legitimacy is questioned by native-rights activists." "By focusing on the complexity of actual cases, Brown casts light on indigenous grievances in diverse fields - religion, art, sacred places, and botanical knowledge. He finds both genuine injustice and, among advocates for native peoples, a troubling tendency to mimic the privatizing logic of major corporations." "Brown proposes alternative strategies for defending the heritage of vulnerable native communities without blocking the open communication essential to the life of pluralistic democracies. Who Owns Native Culture? is an introduction to questions of cultural ownership, group privacy, intellectual property, and the recovery of indigenous identities."--BOOK JACKET. |
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| Physical Description: | xii, 315 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-301) and index. |
| ISBN: | 0674011716 9780674011717 |