The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum

For twenty years, from 1912-1932, Louis Shotridge (Stoowukáa V), a Tlingit nobleman of the Chilkat Kaagwaantaan clan, was employed by the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia as field collector, curator, and exhibit preparator. In this position, Shotridge was given full responsibility f...

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Main Author: Milburn, Maureen Elizabeth
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 1997
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7374
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spelling ftunivbritcolcir:oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/7374 2023-05-15T18:33:17+02:00 The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum Milburn, Maureen Elizabeth 1997 50990740 bytes application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7374 eng eng For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. Text Thesis/Dissertation 1997 ftunivbritcolcir 2019-10-15T17:46:56Z For twenty years, from 1912-1932, Louis Shotridge (Stoowukáa V), a Tlingit nobleman of the Chilkat Kaagwaantaan clan, was employed by the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia as field collector, curator, and exhibit preparator. In this position, Shotridge was given full responsibility for the selection and acquisition of a collection of Northwest Coast objects. During this time, Shotridge grew to perceive his collections and their attendant documentation as a testament to Tlingit social structures and ancestral histories as well as the moral and ethical values of the Tlingit clans and the legitimating identities of clan leaders. While trained by Franz Boas in ethnographic method, Shotridge remained grounded in existing Tlingit social systems, combined with then-current Native American idealism and political objectives. Thus while he traveled through Tlingit territory collecting objects and recording their clan histories, he was also active in the Alaska Native Brotherhood. In his lifetime, Shotridge was respected both by Tlingit peoples and by the anthropological community. Yet more recently, anthropological and popular writers have vilified Shotridge as a traitor, making him emblematic of a continuing colonial discourse constructed to preserve boundaries which recognize only the "pure products" of the "primitive" Native American. Instead of continuing such dichotomous constructions, this thesis more carefully evaluates the circumstances under which objects were acquired and recontextualized within a Western institutional museum setting in the early part of this century. Rather than glossing over questions of hybridity, this thesis is particularly concerned with the ways certain individuals penetrate societal boundaries, under what circumstances, to what purposes and within what contexts such associations are initiated, sanctioned, legitimated or contested. By discussing and contextualizing Shotridge's life and ethnographic activity, this thesis argues for a broader understanding of Native American political circumstances, values, and struggles within a framework of post-colonial relations. Consideration of these various perspectives provides a clearer view of historical representation and ownership of objects, issues which continue to inform contemporary concerns regarding possession and the meaning of objects within both anthropology museum and tribal contexts. Arts, Faculty of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of Graduate Thesis tlingit Alaska University of British Columbia: cIRcle - UBC's Information Repository
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collection University of British Columbia: cIRcle - UBC's Information Repository
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language English
description For twenty years, from 1912-1932, Louis Shotridge (Stoowukáa V), a Tlingit nobleman of the Chilkat Kaagwaantaan clan, was employed by the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia as field collector, curator, and exhibit preparator. In this position, Shotridge was given full responsibility for the selection and acquisition of a collection of Northwest Coast objects. During this time, Shotridge grew to perceive his collections and their attendant documentation as a testament to Tlingit social structures and ancestral histories as well as the moral and ethical values of the Tlingit clans and the legitimating identities of clan leaders. While trained by Franz Boas in ethnographic method, Shotridge remained grounded in existing Tlingit social systems, combined with then-current Native American idealism and political objectives. Thus while he traveled through Tlingit territory collecting objects and recording their clan histories, he was also active in the Alaska Native Brotherhood. In his lifetime, Shotridge was respected both by Tlingit peoples and by the anthropological community. Yet more recently, anthropological and popular writers have vilified Shotridge as a traitor, making him emblematic of a continuing colonial discourse constructed to preserve boundaries which recognize only the "pure products" of the "primitive" Native American. Instead of continuing such dichotomous constructions, this thesis more carefully evaluates the circumstances under which objects were acquired and recontextualized within a Western institutional museum setting in the early part of this century. Rather than glossing over questions of hybridity, this thesis is particularly concerned with the ways certain individuals penetrate societal boundaries, under what circumstances, to what purposes and within what contexts such associations are initiated, sanctioned, legitimated or contested. By discussing and contextualizing Shotridge's life and ethnographic activity, this thesis argues for a broader understanding of Native American political circumstances, values, and struggles within a framework of post-colonial relations. Consideration of these various perspectives provides a clearer view of historical representation and ownership of objects, issues which continue to inform contemporary concerns regarding possession and the meaning of objects within both anthropology museum and tribal contexts. Arts, Faculty of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of Graduate
format Thesis
author Milburn, Maureen Elizabeth
spellingShingle Milburn, Maureen Elizabeth
The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
author_facet Milburn, Maureen Elizabeth
author_sort Milburn, Maureen Elizabeth
title The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
title_short The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
title_full The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
title_fullStr The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
title_full_unstemmed The politics of possession: Louis Shotridge and the Tlingit collections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum
title_sort politics of possession: louis shotridge and the tlingit collections of the university of pennsylvania museum
publishDate 1997
url http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7374
genre tlingit
Alaska
genre_facet tlingit
Alaska
op_rights For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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