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University of Lethbridge Research Repository OPUS http://opus.uleth.ca Theses Arts and Science, Faculty of 1995 Contested heritage : an analysis of the discourse on The spirit sings Archibald, Samantha L. Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science , 1995 http://hdl.handle.net/10133/27 Downloaded from University of Lethbridge Research Repository, OPUS CONTESTED HERITAGE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE DISCOURSE ON THE SPIRIT SINGS SAMANTHA L. ARCHIBALD Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Lethbridge, 1989 A Thesis Submitted to the Council of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS in Native American Studies LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA October, 1995 © SamanthaL. Archibald, 1995 Contested Heritage: an Analysis of the Discourse on The Spirit Sings ABSTRACT This thesis contributes to the knowledge of museology, anthropology and Native American studies. It is an analysis of the discourse that surrounded The Spirit Sings: Artistic Traditions of Canada's First Peoples, an exhibition prepared by the Glenbow in Calgary as the 'flagship* of the Olympic Arts Festival in 1988. After the Lubicon Indians of Northern Alberta called for a boycott of The Spirit Sings, in attempt to draw critical attention to their long outstanding lands claim, a large and heated debate ensued involving several disciplines, particularly anthropology and muscology. Much of this debate took place in the print media, therefore a large body of material remains to be reviewed and studied. The intent of this thesis is to illustrate that the issue of museological representation of First Nations was one of the most central themes discussed in the discourse, but to argue that the major players dealt with this issue on only the most concrete level and therefore largely neglected to recognize that the issue of First Nation's representation was not just a concern over museum interpretation but more importantly an issue of the contested authenticity of national and cultural claims. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first of all like to thank the Departments of Native American Studies, Anthropology and Art at the University of Lethbridge for their assistance, generosity and patience. I would then like to thank the Department of Native American Studies and The School of Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge for travel monies. I thank the Glenbow staff at their archives and library for their assistance, and especially Beth Carter from Ethnology who was assigned to be my liaison. I thank Fred Lennarson of the Mirmir Corporation for his time and for the large volume of documents he forwarded to myself. And I thank Shell Canada for the documents they forwarded from their archives in Calgary. I thank the staff at Interlibrary Loans at the University of Lethbridge, and I thank those many people at other universities and museums who generously answered questions and offered assistance in ways too numerous to mention. My sincere appreciation goes to the members of my supervisory committee: co-supervisor Norman L. Buchignani for his talent in organization, his vision and his persistence, but most importantly his belief in me; co-supervisor Tony Hall for his keen sense of justice; Jeffrey Spalding for his enthusiasm. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: CONCEPTS OF CULTURE 11 I INTRODUCTION . 11 II DEVELOPING A POPULAR CULTURE OF A PEOPLE 12 (A) Introduction 12 (B) Proto~Anthropotogical Views . IS (C) Anthropology Comes of Age 22 CHAPTER TWO: DEVELOPING THE CONCEPT OF A NATION 36 I INTRODUCTION 36 n THE CULTURAL ROOTS OF NATIONS 37 III THE RISE OF THE MODERN NATION STATE 4<> IV NATIONALISM AND SOCIAL ISSUES , 47 CHAPTER THREE: CULTURE, NATION, FIRST NATIONS AND POLITICS 53 I INTRODUCTION 53 II THE OBJECTIFICATION OF CULTURE 54 III IMAGINING A MULTICULTURAL CANADA 62 IV FROM 'INDIANS' TO FIRST NATIONS IN CANADA 66 CHAPTER FOUR: MUSEUM REPRESENTATIONS 73 I INTRODUCTION 73 II FROM COLLECTIONS TO MUSEUMS 74 III CLAIMING ETHNOGRAPHIC AUTHORITY... 77 IV EXHIBITING THE OTHER, «> V CURRENT MUSEOLOGICAL ISSUES REGARDING FIRST NATIONS V7 (A) Introduction #7 (B) Access 90 (Q Repatriation 92 (D) Interpretation 96 CHAPTER FIVE: THE GLENBOW, THE SPIRIT SINGS, AND THE LUBICON BOYCOTT—102 I THE GLENBOW MUSEUM 102 n THE SPIRIT SINGS 106 in THELUBICONCREE H2 IV THE LUBICON BOYCOTT 116 V SOME OBSERVATIONS 136 CHAPTER SIX: METHODOLOGY — 141 I INTRODUCTION 141 II THEORETICAL CONCEPTS: DISCOURSE AND EFFECTIVE HISTORY IDENTIFIED 141 m SELECTING THE DISCOURSE 149 IV COLLECTING THE DISCOURSE 150 v V DISCOURSE DATA: ESTABLISHING THE BOUNDARIES 156 VI THE DATA IN SUMMARY 158 VII DATA-DISCOVERY TECHNIQUES 162 CHAPTER SEVEN: CULTURE AND NATION 165 I INTRODUCTION 165 II THE OLYMPICS: CULTURES AND NATIO: IS 165 III ARTICULATIONS OF CULTURE AND NATION IN THE DISCOURSE 169 (A) Notions of Nation. 170 (B) Notions of Culture 186 IV FIRST NATIONS MATERIAL CULTURE IN THE DISCOURSE 220 (A) Material Culture: Significrs of Nation and National Culture 221 V SOME OBSERVATIONS 231 CHAPTER EIGHT: OWNING AND CONTROLLING HERITAGE 235 I INTRODUCTION 235 II ARTICULATION OF OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF HERITAGE IN THE DISCOURSE 238 (A) Whose Artifacts are They? 238 (B) Whose Culture Is It? 254 (C) Whose Nation Is It? 279 III SOME OBSERVATIONS 291 CONCLUSION: YOURS, MINE OR OURS? 295 REFERENCES CITED — 313 APPENDICES 328 VI INTRODUCTION Canadians think wrongly of this country as unformed and without history, but The Spirit Sings reflects the long history of the Native people. We're proud of the native history in Canada, and its very important that Canadians generally interested in the roots of this country come to see the exhibition. Rt Hon. Joe Clark, Secretary of State for External Affairs? The irony of using a display of North American Indian artifacts to attract people to the Winter Olympics being organized by interests who are still actively seeking to destroy Indian people seems painfully obvious. Chief Bernard Ominayak, Lubicon leader} I think Canadians will benefit, the native peoples will benefit, and our visitors from around the world wilt benefit from a greatly enhanced understanding of native people and their deeply rooted cultural traditions. Duncan Cameron, Director of the Glenbow Museum? I pointed out (to the Ambassador of Canada) the risk of such an exhibition to be regarded as a kind of cover-up, a nice facade hiding the real world of today's native peoples. Director, Museum Voor Volkenkimde, Rotterdam.* If anyone's going to exhibit our national treasures, we should be able to do that. Joseph Norton, Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council. * This outstanding exhibition of Canadian Indian and Inuit objects presents a unique opportunity for Canadian and foreign visitors to learn about and celebrate the richness of Canadian Native cultural traditions. Jack MacLeod, President and Chief Executive Officer, Shell Canada Ltd?' ' Joe Clark, remarks from his speech given at the official opening of The Spirit Sings. 14 January 19K8, Glenbow Archives. •Bernard Ominayak [cited in] "Glenbow Museum faces Lubicon Boycott threat" by Wendy Smith, |in| Calgary Herald. 17 May 1986. 3Duncan Cameron [cited in} "Glenbow Museum Faces Lubicon Boycott threat," by Wendy Smith, [in| Calgary Herald, 17 May 1986. 4 Director, Museum Voor Volkcnkundc, Rotterdam [cited in] "The Glenbow Affair," by Marybcllc Myers, [in] Inuit Art Quarterly (Winter 1988): 13. 5 Joseph Norton (cited in] "Glenbow faces Legal Action," by Mark Lowcy, [in] Calgary Herald, 15 January 1988. 6 Jack MacLeod, "Welcome to the Spirit Sings." Glenbow (Special Edition 1988): 4. 1 On the day of its official opening, The Spirit Sings, an exhibition of Indian and Inuit artistic materials created during Canada's early colonial period prepared by the Glenbow Museum, was greeted by both friend and foe. In their coverage of the day's events, the prominent Canadian news magazine, Maclean's, elected to draw their readership's attention to the Lubicon Indian band's boycott of the exhibition by printing a feature photo documenting the 120 demonstrators crowding the entrance to the museum's doors.7 Their feature article neglected to report that the opening ceremonies had been well attended by both Native and non-Native dignitaries and invited guests; neither did it comment on the fact that the exhibition had been viewed by over 3,500 visitors on that single first day. From the time that the Lubicon had announced their boycott of The Spirit Sings, almost five years earlier, media coverage of the transpiring events often favored one side of the dispute over the other. While it is not unusual for news papers and magazines to focus on the more dramatic (usually negative) side of an issue, Maclean's unbalanced coverage of the exhibition's opening day in certain respects characterizes the discourse that surrounded the boycotted exhibition. As anthropologists and museologists publicly debated the right of museums to display the material culture (artifacts) of Native peoples, the right of museums to re/present First Nations cultures became the central heated focus of the print media exchange. But upon conducting a critical analysis of the discourse, // is my thesis that the major contributors to the discussion dealt with the issue of 'representation' on a concrete level only. They largely neglected to recognize that their own and others' written assertions about Canada and First Nations—their cultures and nationhood—which informed the discourse were multi-layered, at times conflicting and at times overlapping. Thus contrary and interwoven conceptualizations of nation and culture represent the implicit context through which disagreements concerning the re/presentation of First Nations' heritages were expressed. It is my position that the issue of First Nations representations, typified by the controversy surrounding The Spirit Sings, was implicitly 7 Jack Howsc "Haunting Relics from the Native Land," Maclean's, 25 January 1988,54.