Dancing sovereignty : protocol and politics in northwest coast First Nations dance ...

• Main Author: Dangeli, Mique'l
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2015
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0166268; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0166268

Scholars in anthropology, art history, and related disciplines are critiquing the ways in which the classification Northwest Coast art excludes an array of Indigenous visual and performing arts and how its rigid parameters continue to be constructed and reified by academic, national, and popular discourses. The practices of Northwest Coast First Nation dance artists—such as dance group performances, song-composition, choreography, and collaborations— are among those that continue to be marginalized. The objective of this thesis is to bring critical attention to the work of these artists through an in-depth study of how they assert, negotiate, and enact protocol through their artistic processes and performances and the ways in which their work engages with local, provincial, and national politics. Protocol is an umbrella term used by Northwest Coast First Nations people to refer to the laws of their Nations. Its fundamental connection to dance is that protocol governs not only the right to perform songs and ...