Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds

441 Pages·1999·25.571 MB·English

by  Ruth B. Phillips (ed.), Christopher B. Steiner (ed.)

Unpacking Culture
Woodrow (Woody) Crumbo (Potowatomi, 1912-89), Land ofE nchantment, c. 1946,
watercolor on board (17.5 x 23 inches). Gift of Clark Field. The Philbrook
Museum of Art. Reproduced by permission.
Unpacking Culture
Art and Commodity
in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds
EDITED BY
Ruth B. Phillips and
Christopher B. Steiner
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 1999 by
The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Unpacking culture: art and commodity in colonial and postcolonial worlds / edited
by Ruth B. Phillips and Christopher B. Steiner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-520-20797-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Tourist trade and art. 2. Art and society. 3. Art-Economic aspects.
I. Phillips, Ruth B. (Ruth Bliss), 1945- II. Steiner, Christopher Burghard.
N72.T68U57 1999
306-4'7-dc21 98-38035
CIP
Printed in the United States of America
10 09 08
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39-48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). S
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS / ZX
PREFACE / xiii
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
1. Art, Authenticity, and the Baggage of Cultural Encounter
Ruth B. Phillips and Christopher B. Steiner / 3
2. My Father's Business
FrankEttawageshik /
20
PART ONE· CONSTRUCTING THE OTHER:
PRODUCTION AS NEGOTIATION
3. Nuns, Ladies, and the "Queen of the Huron":
Appropriating the Savage in Nineteenth-Century Huron Tourist Art
Ruth B. Phillips / 33
4. Tourist Art as the Crafting of Identity in the Sepik River (Papua New Guinea)
Eric Kline Silverman / 5
I
5. Samburu Souvenirs: Representations of a Land in Amber
Sidney Littlefield Knsfir / 67
PART TWO· AUTHENTICITY: THE PROBLEM
OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION
6. Authenticity, Repetition, and the Aesthetics of Seriality:
The Work of Tourist Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Christopher B. Steiner / 87
vi Contents
7. Northwest Coast Totem Poles
AldonaJonaitis / I04
8. Master, Machine, and Meaning:
Printed Images in Twentieth-Century India
Stephen R Inglis / I22
PART THREE· ARTISTIC INNOVATION
AND THE DISCOURSES OF IDENTITY
9. Elizabeth Hickox and Karuk Basketry:
A Case Study in Debates on Innovation and Paradigms of Authenticity
Marvin Cohodas / I43
10. Threads of Tradition, Threads ofInvention:
Unraveling Toba Batak Women's Expressions of Social Change
Sandra Niessen / I62
Drawing (upon) the Past:
11.
Negotiating Identities in Inuit Graphic Arts Production
Janet Catherine Berlo / I78
PART FOUR· (RE)FASHIONING GENDER
AND STEREOTYPE IN TOURISTIC PRODUCTION
12. Gender and Sexuality in Mangbetu Art
Enid Schildkrout / I97
13. Defining Lakota Tourist Art, 1880-1915
Marsha C. Bol / 2I4
14. Studio and Soiree:
Chinese Textiles in Europe and America, 1850 to the Present
Verity Wilson / 229
15. The Indian Fashion Show
Nancy]. Parezo / 243
PART FIVE· COLLECTING CULTURE
AND CULTURES OF COLLECTING
16. Tourism and Taste Cultures:
Collecting Native Art in Alaska at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Molly Lee / 267
17. Tourism Is Overrated:
Pueblo Pottery and the Early Curio Trade, 1880-1910
Jonathan Batkin / 282
Contents vii
PART SIX· STAGING TOURIST ART:
CONTEXTS FOR CULTURAL CONSERVATION
18. Indian Villages and Entertainments:
Setting the Stage for Tourist Souvenir Sales
Trudy Nicks / 30I
19. Art, Tourism, and Cultural Revival in the Marquesas Islands
Carol S. Ivory / p6
EPILOGUE: Ethnic and Tourist Arts Revisited
Nelson H. H. Graburn / 335
NOTES / 355
REFERENCES / 373
CONTRIBUTORS / 407
INDEX / 4I I

ILLUSTRATIONS
2.1 Odawa men in front of Joseph Ettawageshik's store in Harbor Springs,
Michigan, c. 1938 / 2I
2.2 Joseph Ettawageshik in his store, c. 1920 / 22
2.3 The fifth Ettawageshik shop in Harbor Springs, c. 1940 / 23
2.4 Frank and Marianne Ettawageshik in front of their store in
Karlin, Michigan, c. 1990 / 27
3.1 Lady's reticule, attributable to French-Canadian nuns,
late eighteenth century / 39
3.2 Embroidered bark base for a lady's reticule, attributable to
French-Canadian nuns, late eighteenth century / 40
3.3 English or Euro-Canadian workbox formerly belonging to
Mrs. Benedict Arnold, 1791 / 42
3-4 English or Euro-Canadian tea caddy, late eighteenth century / 43
3·5 Huron-Wendat cigar or cigarette case, 1847 / 47
4.1 Tourists looking at art for sale in Tambunum village,
Papua New Guinea / 58
4.2 Stylized variations of the national emblem and mask with
emergent crocodiles in Tambunum village / 60
4.3 Multiple faces: masks in Tambunum village / 6I
4.4 Mask with crocodile motif in Tambunum village / 63
4.5 The body emerging, devouring, and birthing:
masks in Tambunum village / 64
ix