In Focus II: In the Footsteps of Franz Boas—Native Arts of the Northwest Coast and the Rise of Anthropology


This seminar surveys the Indigenous arts of North America’s Northwest Coast from historical and contemporary perspectives, and examines their role in the career of Franz Boas, founding figure of American anthropology. We will look at a full range of media and object types—quotidian, ceremonial, and commercial—within changing socio-cultural, disciplinary, and aesthetic contexts: colonialism as a factor in artistic transformation; the indigenization of foreign materials, motifs, and ideas, as well as the adaptation of Native forms to commercial markets; the rise of anthropology and the history of museum collection and exhibition; and the complex relationship of contemporary art with its material precursors. With a concentration on the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), our goal will be to understand Indigenous objects both within local histories of cultural production and use, and within global histories of changing anthropological interpretation. Students will participate in the final development and design of a spring 2019 Focus exhibit on Boas’s foundational ethnography and collecting in the region (prior enrollment in Focus 1 course is NOT required). Course work will include research for and preparation of a website/digital publication to accompany the exhibit. 3 credits. Satisfies the non-Western requirement.