Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., October 8, 2003 – When the need to protect cultural traditions clashes with the free flow of information in a liberal democracy, which side should prevail? Michael F. Brown, professor of anthropology at Williams College, explores the challenges of defending cultural heritage in his new book, “Who Owns Native Culture?” Brown illuminates the influence of indigenous culture on modern society and focuses on recent efforts by native peoples to claim their customs as communal property.
The book presents examples in which native communities have tried to lift cultural traditions out of public ownership and declare them as off-limits for use by outsiders. These include an archived collection of early photographs and recordings from Hopi Indian communities in Arizona, which tribe members seek to claim as their own; and the Zia Pueblo community in New Mexico, whose representatives allege that the sun symbol on the state flag was stolen from a design on an ancient ceramic pot. Brown also discusses contemporary disputes over access to indigenous sacred sites on public lands in the United States and Australia.
Brown, an expert in the areas of intellectual property law and cultural rights, examines the source of these ardent demands and highlights the conflicts that arise with such fierce defenses of native culture. He writes: “The crux of this problem does not lie in irreconcilable views of ownership, even where these exist. It is instead a fundamental matter of dignity.”
He argues that by privatizing music, art, literature, religious rituals, and sacred places, many native groups are censoring invaluable public resources. “The readiness of some social critics to champion new forms of silencing and surveillance in the name of cultural protection should trouble anyone committed to the free exchange of ideas,” he concludes.
“All of us – native and non-native alike – have a stake in decisions about the control of culture, for those decisions determine the future health of our imperial intellectual and artistic commons.” In the end, Brown writes, readers should not ask “Who owns native culture?” but “‘How can we promote respectful treatment of native cultures and indigenous forms of self-expression in mass societies?'”
In the New York Times Book Review, Richard Shweder calls “Who Owns Native Culture?” a “brave, logical, and even witty book” and a “challenge to both multiculturalists and liberal individuals. Brown’s writing is gorgeous, often funny. He has a near perfect sense of the absurd.”
Michael F. Brown is the James N. Lambert Professor of Anthropology and Latin American studies, and director of the Center for Technology in the Arts and Humanities at Williams College. He received his A.B. from Princeton University and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. A former Smithsonian fellow and the recipient of several major research grants, he has written three books on Amazonian Indians and is the author of “The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious Age.”
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Williams College is consistently ranked one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their undergraduate teaching. The achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in research. Admission decisions are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted. Founded in 1793, it is the second oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college is located in Williamstown, Mass. To visit the college on the Internet: www.williams.edu
News: Kim Fassler
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Published October 8, 2003
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