Dwayne wrote:
>the evolution of American attutudes towards
>Native Americans; from vermin that must be exterminated (the 'Indian Wars'
>period) to "noble savages" who, sadly, had to be
>removed to make way for a great nation's rise.
What these have in common is the idea that American Indians were "always already" history. Now that they still haven't gone away, we get the Dances with Wolves attitude. James Luna has done some great stuff about this:
>James Luna often uses his body as a means to
>critique the objectification of Native American
>cultures in Western museum and cultural
>displays. He dramatically calls attention to
>the exhibition of Native American peoples and
>Native American cultural objects in his Artifact
>Piece, 1985-87. For the performance piece Luna
>donned a loincloth and lay motionless on a bed
>of sand in a glass museum exhibition case. Luna
>remained on exhibit for several days, among the
>Kumeyaay exhibits at the Museum of Man in San
>Diego. Labels surrounding the artist's body
>identified his name and commented on the scars
>on his body, attributing them to "excessive
>drinking." Two other cases in the exhibition
>contained Luna's personal documents and
>ceremonial items from the Luiseño reservation.
>
>Many museum visitors as they approached the
>"exhibit" were stunned to discover that the
>encased body was alive and even listening and
>watching the museum goers. In this way the
>voyeuristic gaze of the viewer was returned,
>redirecting the power relationship.
>
>Through the performance piece Luna also called
>attention to a tendency in Western museum
>displays to present Native American cultures as
>extinct cultural forms. Viewers who happened
>upon Luna's exhibition expecting a museum
>presentation of native American cultures as
>"dead," were shocked by the living, breathing,
>"undead" presence of the luiseño artist in the
>display. Luna in Artifact Piece places his body
>as the object of display in order to disrupt the
>modes of representation in museum exhibitions of
>native others and to claim subjectivity for the
>silenced voices eclipsed in these displays.
>
>Artifact Piece was first staged in 1987 at the
>Museum and Man, San Diego. Luna also performed
>the piece for The Decade Show, 1990, in New York
>
>Quote from Luna:
>The Artifact Piece, 1987, was a
>performance/installation that questioned
>American Indian presentation in
>museums-presentation that furthered stereotype,
>denied contemporary society and one that did not
>enable an Indian viewpoint. The exhibit,
>through 'contemporary artifacts' of a Luiseño
>man, showed the similarities and differences in
>the cultures we live, and putting myself on view
>brought new meaning to 'artifact.' (Durland 37)
http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/ArtifactPiece.html