Michael F. Brown visits Indiana University, March 4 & 5, 2009
Michael F. Brown, the Lambert Professor of Anthropology and the director of the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, visited Indiana University on March 4 & 5, 2009. While in Bloomington, Dr. Brown participated in two interesting events:
"Is Indigenous Heritage a Form of Property?: Lessons Learned after a Decade of Debate and Creative Policy-Making."
Followed by panel discussion with Jason Jackson, Javier León, Anne Pyburn, and Anya Peterson Royce.
Michael F. Brown, professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies and director of the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Williams College, presented an overview of his work on issues of cultural heritage politics. Dr. Brown is the author of numerous articles and books including Tsewa's Gift: Magic and Meaning in an Amazonian Society and Who Owns Native Culture?
During his talk, Dr. Brown presented examples of cultural appropriation gathered over his years of research and discussed the implications of applying intellectual property law or policies such as the UN's Total Heritage Protection to such cases. Dr. Brown also addressed some of the criticisms of Who Owns Native Culture?, especially that of its insufficient attention to questions of sovereignty for indigenous groups. Dr. Brown insisted, however, that power is not an answer in and of itself to problems of cultural appropriation. Successful solutions to such problems, he argued, will be cognizant of the varied powers at play in relationships between indigenous groups and mainstream society and will recognize the dynamic nature of such relationships and situations. Dr. Brown concluded his talk by mentioning a forthcoming paper by law professors Kristen Carpenter, Sonia Katyal and Angela R. Riley entitled "In Defense of Property" which argues favorably for the applicability of intellectual property law to issues of cultural heritage appropriation. Dr. Brown's concluding thought, however, reflected the difficulty of successfully implementing such policies as he questioned how such laws can be practically enforced in everyday life.
Following Dr. Brown's talk, Indiana University faculty Jason Jackson (Folklore), Javier León (Folklore), Anne Pyburn (Anthropology) and Anya Peterson Royce
(Anthropology) joined in the discussion adding insight from their own work related to heritage policy and politics. Anya Peterson Royce highlighted her work with
the Isthmus Zapotec of Mexico and discussed issues surrounding the control over the (re)presentation with indigenous populations. Javier León discussed the implementation and
realities of heritage policies on the ground in Peru and how such policies directly affect the definition of what makes an individual indigenous. Anne Pyburn
expressed concern over her role in bringing to light issues of cultural heritage protection with a Kyrgyz population. Finally, Jason Jasckson began the public discussion
by asking Dr. Brown his opinion on the role of the anthropologist in, for example, proposing a solution to such problems as well as the anthropologist's obligation to
write and disseminate what he or she learns.
In preparation for this discussion, Dr. Brown provided some resources and reading materials which are available here.
"The Changing Prospects and Ethical Dilemmas of Fieldwork in Amazonian Peru: Reflections on the Aguaruna Case."
On Thursday, March 5th, Dr. Brown joined MLCP faculty and students to share images and thoughts relating to his experience as an ethnographer among the Aguaruna of Peru. His presentation featured a lively account of his previous fieldwork with the Aguaruna, embellished by images showing people, places, and events from that time. Then, switching to more recent images from the area, Dr. Brown spoke about the emergence of a new ethnicity among the Aguaruna, as branches of the community have gained prosperity through rice production and now employ other Aguaruna and some mestizos to assist in this business. Traditional forms of culture such as the ceremonial greeting are still practiced, but the new-found prosperity is creating an awareness of class differences within the Aguaruna community. Dr. Brown contrasted the fieldwork conditions he experienced in the 1970s to today's arena of more self-conscious Aguaruna ethnicity.
