Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cultural Revival in Bella Coola: Art, Appropriation, and National Identity

ABSTRACT OPP-9630019 Koester/Alland/Kramer The object of the dissertation project in anthropology is to investigate the role of native art in cultural identity and revival among the Bella Coola, or Nuxalk, people of British Columbia. For the Nuxalk, art is process and a culture-constructing event, as well as an end product. Contemporary Nuxalt art can be interpreted as a manifestation of the current struggles surrounding Nuxalt identity. Art will be studied from the perspective of its producers as well as its Native consumers. This study, which will employ participant-observation and open-ended interviews, relates to issues of object and knowledge appropriation and repatriation.