Visiting with the ancestors : Blackfoot shirts in museum spaces / [edited by] Laura Peers and Alison K. Brown.

Author
Peers, Laura L. (Laura Lynn) [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • Edmonton, Alberta : AU Press, [2015]
  • ©2015
Description
viii, 218 pages : colour illustrations, map ; 25 x 26 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Marquand Library - Remote Storage: Marquand Use OnlyE99.S54 P44 2015 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Author
    Editor
    Summary note
    "In 2010, five magnificent Blackfoot shirts, now owned by the University of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum, were brought to Alberta to be exhibited at the Glenbow Museum, in Calgary, and the Galt Museum, in Lethbridge. The shirts had not returned to Blackfoot territory since 1841, when officers of the Hudson's Bay Company acquired them. The shirts were later transported to England, where they had remained ever since. Exhibiting the shirts at the museums was, however, only one part of the project undertaken by Laura Peers and Alison Brown. Prior to the installation of the exhibits, groups of Blackfoot people--hundreds altogether--participated in special "handling sessions," in which they were able to touch the shirts and examine them up close. The shirts, some painted with mineral pigments and adorned with porcupine quillwork, others decorated with locks of human and horse hair, took the breath away of those who saw, smelled, and touched them. Long-dormant memories were awakened, and many of the participants described a powerful sense of connection and familiarity with the shirts, which still house the spirit of the ancestors who wore them. In the pages of this beautifully illustrated volume is the story of an effort to build a bridge between museums and source communities, in hopes of establishing stronger, more sustaining relationships between the two and spurring change in prevailing museum policies. Negotiating the tension between a museum's institutional protocol and Blackfoot cultural protocol was challenging, but the experience described both by the authors and by Blackfoot contributors to the volume was transformative. Museums seek to preserve objects for posterity. This volume demonstrates that the emotional and spiritual power of objects does not vanish with the death of those who created them. For Blackfoot people today, these shirts are a living presence, one that evokes a sense of continuity and inspires pride in Blackfoot cultural heritage."-- Provided by publisher.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references: pages 215-218.
    Contents
    • Blackfoot sacred protocol
    • Gifts from the sun
    • Introducing the Blackfoot Nations
    • The Blackfoot and the fur trade
    • Making relations in the past
    • Making relations in the present. The importance of the Blackfoot shirts today ; Connecting with community / Wendy Aitkens
    • Planning the project and raising the funds. Preparing to travel ; Lending a helping hand / Heather Richardson
    • Visiting the shirts. "Our people still believe" / Herman Yellow Old Woman ; Visiting the Blackfoot shirts / Alison Frank-Tailfeathers ; Questions about the shirts
    • Community effects. Preparing for our ancestors to come home / Ramona Big Head ; A conversation about Blackfoot quillwork / Debbie Magee Sherer and Alison K. Brown
    • Why were the shirts not repatriated? Continuing the relationship ; "They will matter to us forever."
    Other format(s)
    Issued also in electronic format.
    ISBN
    • 9781771990370 ((paperback))
    • 1771990376 ((paperback))
    LCCN
    2017415377
    OCLC
    931152004
    Statement on language in description
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