Justifications and legal considerations for repatriation of First Nations material culture in Canada
Introduction: The topic of repatriation of cultural items creates some discomfort as it may generate polarized perspectives and bring into focus issues of intercultural understanding, ethics, law, politics, knowledge, power, values, and economics. Questions such as “Who owns culture? Whose property?...
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| Format: | Other/Unknown Material |
| Language: | English |
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2008
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| Online Access: | https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/dfc2eeb7-3d70-4a2b-aa66-6b5636898dfb https://doi.org/10.7939/R3PV6BN32 |
| Summary: | Introduction: The topic of repatriation of cultural items creates some discomfort as it may generate polarized perspectives and bring into focus issues of intercultural understanding, ethics, law, politics, knowledge, power, values, and economics. Questions such as “Who owns culture? Whose property? Whose laws, practices, concepts and values should prevail?” imply that universal answers to such questions can be determined. However, these are questions of ongoing debate and complexity that cannot be answered in the abstract without reference to a particular item, people, or institution. This is especially so in Canada when we consider Aboriginal material culture owned or controlled under Canadian law by the Crown, or purchased with public funds, and in the possession of government-funded museums or other public institutions, such as universities. |
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