On contemporary lastings: Kerry Hawk Lessard, Gregg Deal, ‘Real Indians, Last Indians: Art, Anthropology, and the Museumization of Indigenous Lives’, Practicing Anthropology, 2015, 37, 3, pp. 47-48 | settler colonial studies blog

On contemporary lastings: Kerry Hawk Lessard, Gregg Deal, ‘Real Indians, Last Indians: Art, Anthropology, and the Museumization of Indigenous Lives’, Practicing Anthropology, 2015, 37, 3, pp. 47-48

08Jul15

Abstract: Historical trauma is a term used to reflect the intergenerational losses experienced by American Indians and whose effects serve to depreciate the health, wellness, and resilience of a contemporary people. One of the lesser explored of these losses is that of identity, specifically the ways in which it is constructed and communicated. Using an image from the performance art piece The Last American Indian on Earth, authors consider the role of anthropology in creating a narrative of indigenous lives that while often at odds with a people’s understanding of themselves, is privileged as being far more authoritative. Exploring this contested imagery, authors engage a decolonized viewing practice to deconstruct and critique the problematic nature of museumization and its impacts on Indians and non-Indians alike.

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