Illustrations Preface Author's Note Introduction 1. The Missionary's Photographs 2. Cultures and Copyrights 3. Sign Wars 4. Ethnobotany Blues 5. Negotiating Mutual Respect 6. At the Edge of the Indigenous 7. Native Heritage in the Iron Cage 8. Finding Justice in the Global Commons Notes Sources on Indigenous Cultural Rights Acknowledgments Index
Michael Brown brings a discerning anthropological eye and ear to the passionate questions raised by efforts to protect native heritage from use by outsiders. Who Owns Native Culture? is a major and vital work, opening up to view a tournament of values central to contemporary thinking about culture. -- Fred Myers, New York University The genius of the book is both to bring together a vast amount of disparate material... and to add to this the author's own touch: his ability to present embattled people and conflicting logics with hopes for provisional, practical, empirically wise and humane solutions. -- Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge An outstanding book on a subject of vital importance. Michael Brown has emerged as a commanding figure in debate about this subject, and here we see why. Not only does he cover a tremendous range of issues but unlike other books on the subject, his offers guidelines for how such complex issues should be politically negotiated. Must reading! -- Katherine Verdery, University of Michigan Everyone whose research involves indigenous cultures, indigenous property rights, or intellectual property issues should have a closely read and well-highlighted copy of Brown's book. -- Joe Watkins, University of New Mexico
Michael F. Brown is President of the School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe.
Michael Brown brings a discerning anthropological eye and ear to
the passionate questions raised by efforts to protect native
heritage from use by outsiders. Who Owns Native Culture? is a major
and vital work, opening up to view a tournament of values central
to contemporary thinking about culture.
*Fred Myers, New York University*
The genius of the book is both to bring together a vast amount of
disparate material... and to add to this the author's own touch:
his ability to present embattled people and conflicting logics with
hopes for provisional, practical, empirically wise and humane
solutions.
*Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge*
An outstanding book on a subject of vital importance. Michael Brown
has emerged as a commanding figure in debate about this subject,
and here we see why. Not only does he cover a tremendous range of
issues but unlike other books on the subject, his offers guidelines
for how such complex issues should be politically negotiated. Must
reading!
*Katherine Verdery, University of Michigan*
Everyone whose research involves indigenous cultures, indigenous
property rights, or intellectual property issues should have a
closely read and well-highlighted copy of Brown's book.
*Joe Watkins, University of New Mexico*
Every once in a while critical reason triumphs over political
correctness and identity politics, and the result can be
exhilarating. Michael F. Brown, who is the Lambert professor of
anthropology and Latin American studies at Williams College and
knows more about intellectual property law than most legal
scholars, has written a brave, logical and even witty book about
some of the hazards and challenges of cultural heritage
protection.
*New York Times Book Review*
This is an excellent guide to conflicting logics and to what occurs
when 'culture' is transformed from an abstraction into something
apparently tangible and immutable as 'heritage.' This outstanding
book is also a plea for flexibility in civil society and social
justice for First Nations.
*Choice*
This is one of the most important books in cultural economics
published in the last fifteen years.
*Journal of Cultural Economics*
In a series of case studies of battles concerning the ownership
rights to native or indigenous (interchangeable terms) artifacts,
places, and practices, the reader is lead through layers of
political, religious, bureaucratic, and moral entanglements. When
one finally emerges on the other side, one is left with a useful
picture of the contemporary muddle. Notable for the tone and
temperament Brown brings to the discussion, he is decidedly
unsentimental in his evaluation of claims to culture brought by
natives and other bodies, like the United Nations. At the same time
he is conscientious of and sympathetic to the histories of colonial
oppression that contextualize current conflicts between
governments, commercial interests, and indigenous peoples
worldwide. He questions the practical ability of native peoples to
lay exclusive, restrictive claim to their "culture," while
acknowledging that "heritage" can and should be
respectedÂ…Acknowledging that it is difficult to square the
"emotivism of heritage claims with the factual demands of the law,"
Brown addresses important epistemological and philosophical
discontinuities that exist between heritage, law, and morality.
*American Journal of Sociology*
For the uninitiated, Michael Brown's thoughtful book, Who Owns
Native Culture?, can serve as a welcome point of entry into current
debates on cultural property. Written for a general audience in an
engaging style, the book offers a virtual fieldtrip in which
readers are introduced to the issues through consideration of
recent court cases, public debates, and policy developments...Who
Owns Native Culture? is a rich introduction to discussions that
will occupy us for the foreseeable future and that will surely lead
in unexpected directions.
*Journal of American Folklore*
Michael Brown brings a discerning anthropological eye and ear to
the passionate questions raised by efforts to protect native
heritage from use by outsiders. Who Owns Native Culture? is
a major and vital work, opening up to view a tournament of values
central to contemporary thinking about culture. -- Fred Myers, New
York University
The genius of the book is both to bring together a vast amount of
disparate material... and to add to this the author's own touch:
his ability to present embattled people and conflicting logics with
hopes for provisional, practical, empirically wise and humane
solutions. -- Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge
An outstanding book on a subject of vital importance. Michael Brown
has emerged as a commanding figure in debate about this subject,
and here we see why. Not only does he cover a tremendous range of
issues but unlike other books on the subject, his offers guidelines
for how such complex issues should be politically negotiated. Must
reading! -- Katherine Verdery, University of Michigan
Everyone whose research involves indigenous cultures, indigenous
property rights, or intellectual property issues should have a
closely read and well-highlighted copy of Brown's book. -- Joe
Watkins, University of New Mexico
Every once in a while critical reason triumphs over political
correctness and identity politics, and the result can be
exhilarating. Michael F. Brown, who is the Lambert professor of
anthropology and Latin American studies at Williams College and
knows more about intellectual property law than most legal
scholars, has written a brave, logical and even witty book about
some of the hazards and challenges of cultural heritage protection.
-- Richard A. Shweder * New York Times Book Review *
This is an excellent guide to conflicting logics and to what occurs
when 'culture' is transformed from an abstraction into something
apparently tangible and immutable as 'heritage.' This outstanding
book is also a plea for flexibility in civil society and social
justice for First Nations. -- O. Pi-Sunyer * Choice *
This is one of the most important books in cultural economics
published in the last fifteen years. -- Tyler Cowen * Journal of
Cultural Economics *
In a series of case studies of battles concerning the ownership
rights to native or indigenous (interchangeable terms) artifacts,
places, and practices, the reader is lead through layers of
political, religious, bureaucratic, and moral entanglements. When
one finally emerges on the other side, one is left with a useful
picture of the contemporary muddle. Notable for the tone and
temperament Brown brings to the discussion, he is decidedly
unsentimental in his evaluation of claims to culture brought by
natives and other bodies, like the United Nations. At the same time
he is conscientious of and sympathetic to the histories of colonial
oppression that contextualize current conflicts between
governments, commercial interests, and indigenous peoples
worldwide. He questions the practical ability of native peoples to
lay exclusive, restrictive claim to their "culture," while
acknowledging that "heritage" can and should be respected
Acknowledging that it is difficult to square the "emotivism of
heritage claims with the factual demands of the law," Brown
addresses important epistemological and philosophical
discontinuities that exist between heritage, law, and morality. --
Daniel Thomas Cook * American Journal of Sociology *
For the uninitiated, Michael Brown's thoughtful book, Who Owns
Native Culture?, can serve as a welcome point of entry into
current debates on cultural property. Written for a general
audience in an engaging style, the book offers a virtual fieldtrip
in which readers are introduced to the issues through consideration
of recent court cases, public debates, and policy
developments...Who Owns Native Culture? is a rich
introduction to discussions that will occupy us for the foreseeable
future and that will surely lead in unexpected directions. -- Jason
Baird Jackson * Journal of American Folklore *
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