PUBLIC LECTURE: No Deal! Indigenous Arts and the Politics of Possession

Cultural and intellectual property rights have been increasingly invoked to address the problems of appropriation, but no single volume to date has focused exclusively on art forms from these interdisciplinary points of view.

Abstract:

An upcoming collection No Deal! Indigenous Arts and the Politics of Possession explores art practices and cultural appropriations of Indigenous art forms and imagery in Native North America and Aboriginal Australia from anthropological, artistic and legal perspectives. Contributors consider these various perspectives in relation to art practices, representation, property and cultural rights. As tangible creative results, art objects and designs are now the subject of international copyright debates, while nations meet under international banners to hammer out new approaches to western laws that inadequately address the appropriation of Indigenous creative expressions.

Biographical note

Tressa Berman is a cultural anthropologist (PhD UCLA), curator and arts policy consultant. Former faculty of Arizona State University, she has held various teaching and research positions in the US. Her research interests include contemporary art and globilisation, Indigenous intellectual property rights and cultural heritage policy. In addition to numerous articles, her books include Circle of Goods: Women, Work and Welfare in a Reservation Community (SUNY Press, 2003); and No Deal! Indigenous Arts and the Politics of Possession (in preparation for UNSW Press). She is a Visiting Research Fellow, Trans/ forming Cultures at the Key University Centre in Communication and Culture, UTS, and Arts Conference Director, Common Ground Conferences, Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2006.

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