Indians playing Indian : multiculturalism and contemporary indigenous art in North America

Contemporary indigenous peoples in North America confront a unique predicament. While they are reclaiming their historic status as sovereign nations, mainstream popular culture continues to depict them as cultural minorities similar to other ethnic Americans. These depictions of indigenous peoples as “Native Americans” complete the broader narrative of America as a refuge to the world’s immigrants and a home to contemporary multicultural democracies, such as the United States and Canada. But they fundamentally misrepresent indigenous peoples, whose American history has been not of immigration but of colonization. Monika Siebert’s __Indians Playing Indian__ first identifies this phenomenon as multicultural misrecognition, explains its sources in North American colonial history and in the political mandates of multiculturalism, and describes its consequences for contemporary indigenous cultural production. It then explores the responses of indigenous artists who take advantage of the ongoing popular interest in Native American culture and art while offering narratives of the political histories of their nations in order to resist multicultural incorporation. Each chapter of __Indians Playing Indian__ showcases a different medium of contemporary indigenous art—museum exhibition, cinema, digital fine art, sculpture, multimedia installation, and literary fiction—and explores specific rhetorical strategies artists deploy to forestall multicultural misrecognition and recover political meanings of indigeneity. The sites and artists discussed include the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC; filmmakers at Inuit Isuma Productions; digital artists/photographers Dugan Aguilar, Pamela Shields, and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie; sculptor Jimmie Durham; and novelist LeAnne Howe. Explores how American Indian artists have responded to the pervasive misunderstanding of indigenous peoples as cultural minorities in the United States and Canada Contemporary indigenous peoples in North America confront a unique predicament. While they are reclaiming their historic status as sovereign nations, mainstream popular culture continues to depict them as cultural minorities similar to other ethnic Americans. These depictions of indigenous peoples as “Native Americans” complete the broader narrative of America as a refuge to the world's immigrants and a home to contemporary multicultural democracies, such as the United States and Canada. But they fundamentally misrepresent indigenous peoples, whose American history has been not of immigration but of colonization. Monika Siebert's Indians Playing Indian first identifies this phenomenon as multicultural misrecognition, explains its sources in North American colonial history and in the political mandates of multiculturalism, and describes its consequences for contemporary indigenous cultural production. It then explores the responses of indigenous artists who take advantage of the ongoing popular interest in Native American culture and art while offering narratives of the political histories of their nations in order to resist multicultural incorporation. Each chapter of Indians Playing Indian showcases a different medium of contemporary indigenous art—museum exhibition, cinema, digital fine art, sculpture, multimedia installation, and literary fiction—and explores specific rhetorical strategies artists deploy to forestall multicultural misrecognition and recover political meanings of indigeneity. The sites and artists discussed include the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC; filmmakers at Inuit Isuma Productions; digital artists/photographers Dugan Aguilar, Pamela Shields, and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie; sculptor Jimmie Durham; and novelist LeAnne Howe. "In Indians Playing Indian, Monika Siebert explores the appropriation, or misappropriation, of Native American cultural heritage for political and commercial ends, and the innovative ways in which indigenous artists in a range of media have responded to these developments. Contemporary indigenous people in North America confront a unique predicament. As legal and diplomatic practice in the early twenty first century returns to the recognition of their status as citizens of historic sovereign nations, popular culture continues to depict them as cultural minorities on the par with other ethnic Americans. This popular misperception of indigeneity as culture rather than as a historically developed political status sustains the myth of America as a refuge to the world's immigrants and a home to successful multicultural democracies. But it fundamentally misrepresents indigenous people who have experienced a history of colonization rather than a tradition of immigration on the continent. Contemporary indigenous cultural production is caught up in this phenomenon of multicultural misrecognition as well. The current flowering of indigenous literature, cinema, and visual arts is typically taken as evidence that Canada and the United States have successfully broken with their colonial pasts to become thriving nations of many cultures, where Native Americans, along other minorities, enjoy full freedom to represent their cultural difference"-- Provided by publisher "In Indians Playing Indian, Monika Siebert explores the appropriation, or misappropriation, of Native American cultural heritage for political and commercial ends, and the innovative ways in which indigenous artists in a range of media have responded to these developments. Contemporary indigenous people in North America confront a unique predicament. As legal and diplomatic practice in the early twenty first century returns to the recognition of their status as citizens of historic sovereign nations, popular culture continues to depict them as cultural minorities on the par with other ethnic Americans. This popular misperception of indigeneity as culture rather than as a historically developed political status sustains the myth of America as a refuge to the world's immigrants and a home to successful multicultural democracies. But it fundamentally misrepresents indigenous people who have experienced a history of colonization rather than a tradition of immigration on the continent. Contemporary indigenous cultural production is caught up in this phenomenon of multicultural misrecognition as well. The current flowering of indigenous literature, cinema, and visual arts is typically taken as evidence that Canada and the United States have successfully broken with their colonial pasts to become thriving nations of many cultures, where Native Americans, along other minorities, enjoy full freedom to represent their cultural difference"--Résumé de l'éditeur Contents 8 List of Figures 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction: Indigeneity and Multicultural Misrecognition 18 1. Indigeneity and the Dialectic of Recognition at the National Museum of the AmericanIndian 39 2. Atanarjuat and the Ideological Work of Indigenous Filmmaking 79 3. Palimpsestic Images: Contemporary American Indian Digital Fine Art and the Ethnographic Photo Archive 109 4. Of Turtles, Snakes, Bones, and Precious Stones: Jimmie Durham’s Indices of Indigeneity 143 5. Fictions of the Gruesome Authentic in LeAnne Howe’s Shell Shaker 175 Conclusion: Unsettling Misrecognition 196 Notes 202 Works Cited 224 Index 234 Content: Introduction: Indigeneity and Multicultural Misrecognition -- Indigeneity and the Dialectics of Recognition at the National Museum of the American Indian -- Atanarjuat and the Ideological Work of Indigenous Filmmaking -- Palimpsestic Images : Contemporary American Indian Digital Fine Art and the Ethnographic Photo Archive -- Of Turtles, Snakes, Bones, and Precious Stones : Jimmie Durham's Indices of Indigeneity -- Fictions of the Gruesome Authentic in LeAnne Howe's Shell Shaker -- Conclusion: Unsettling Misrecognition. Beginning with an explanation of the continuing appeal of Indian stereotypes in multicultural North America, Indians Playing Indian explores how American Indian artists have responded to the pervasive misunderstanding of indigenous peoples as cultural minorities in the United States and Canada.