Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) Project
The Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage research project is an international collaboration of archaeologists, Indigenous organizations, lawyers, anthropologists, ethicists, policy makers, and others working to explore and facilitate fair and equitable exchanges of knowledge relating to archaeology. We are concerned with the theoretical, ethical, and practical implications of commodification, appropriation, and other flows of knowledge about the past, and how these may affect communities, researchers, and other stakeholders.
Address: Department of Archaeology
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
Address: Department of Archaeology
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
less
InterestsView All (14)
Uploads
About IPinCH
Our Logo
--lessLIE
Born in 1973 in Duncan, BC, lessLIE's "colonized, Catholic, Canadian name" is Leslie Robert Sam. His "decolonized artist's name" is lessLIE. Picasso once said that "art is a lie that tells the truth." lessLIE is living this perspective in the spirit of trickster traditions. lessLIE has a Bachelor of Arts degree in First Nations Studies from Malaspina University-College. While working on this undergraduate degree, lessLIE began to study Coast Salish art in 1995. lessLIE is currently working on a Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Coast Salish art at the University of Victoria."
Our Team
--lessLIE
Born in 1973 in Duncan, BC, lessLIE's "colonized, Catholic, Canadian name" is Leslie Robert Sam. His "decolonized artist's name" is lessLIE. Picasso once said that "art is a lie that tells the truth." lessLIE is living this perspective in the spirit of trickster traditions. lessLIE has a Bachelor of Arts degree in First Nations Studies from Malaspina University-College. While working on this undergraduate degree, lessLIE began to study Coast Salish art in 1995. lessLIE is currently working on a Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Coast Salish art at the University of Victoria."
of Natural History in Washington, DC. Sharing and disseminating this knowledge in Inuvialuit communities, through anthropological networks, and to a broader public was an integral part of this project.
Final Report prepared by: Charles Arnold for the “A Case of Access” project team
management and protection and resource management.
Principal Investigator: Dr.H. Martin Wobst
Final Report prepared by Bonnie Newsom, with contributions from the Penobscot Nation Intellectual Property Working Group and Julie Woods.
with support from partners at the University
of Massachusetts-Amherst, developed tribal
protocols, tools, and organizational structures to
address intellectual property (IP) issues related
to archaeology and heritage-based places.
of how the cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples would be treated by Settlers and by the governments they established.
Final report prepared by: Siku Allooloo, Michael Asch, Aimée Craft, Rob Hancock, Marc Pinkoski, Neil Vallance, Allyshia West, and Kelsey Wrightson
through historical treaties as a possible framework within which to consider issues associated with the appropriation or the taking of something without the consent of the owner. More specifically, the central focus of this study was on whether the treaty relationship included, either directly or indirectly, a shared understanding of how the cultural heritage of Indigenous
peoples would be treated by Settlers and by the governments they established.
Final Report prepared by: Amy Roberts, Isobelle Campbell, and the Mannum Aboriginal Community Association Inc.
Their initial excavation is considered by some to be the first thorough work done on the Mimbres people and their pottery, the production of which the Cosgroves dated to between A.D. 1000 and 1150 (LeBlanc 2004a).
While international discourse around “climate smart agriculture” and the “second Green Revolution” appears uncontroversial, in fact these unfolding movements obscure the marginalization of small-scale subsistence food producers and the ways in which their knowledge, practices, and even lands are appropriated.
The plaque assumes a natural progression of Euro-Canadian settlement, without acknowledging the inherent violence of colonialism.
Along with host and supermodel RuPaul Charles himself, it is perhaps the most mainstream example of drag performance and culture today. Most drag queens are gay men (though there are performers of all genders and orientations) who adopt a female persona for the purpose of performance, rather than identifying as a woman all the time. However, the history of drag as a haven for marginalized gay men, often of lower economic class and ethnic minorities, has led to a distinct and fully formed culture of performers with their own developed lexicon and unique traditions.
My travel from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth to IPinCH headquarters at Simon Fraser University was made possible through a Fay Gale Fellowship that I was fortunate to receive. Fay Gale was UWA’s first female Vice-Chancellor and a passionate advocate for Aboriginal people.
The fourth and final panel of the conference focused on intellectual property, bringing together Paula Yost of Dentons Law Firm, Dr. Stephanie Fryberg, a leading social psychologist who researches Native representations and stereotypes, and me—a postdoctoral researcher and blogger who writes about cultural appropriation in fashion, sports, and popular culture.
However, Indigenous peoples usually disappear during the development stage of an innovation, and they are seldom associated with the patent registration and claims.
On your way to work on Tuesday, the person sitting next to you in the bus is wearing eagle-design reading glasses. On Wednesday, you go to the library to pick up books for your children and pass by the Northwest Coast art section. At your weekly Thursday appointment, the earrings dangling from your physiotherapist’s ears are cedar and abalone frogs. Coming back from the restaurant in Gastown on Friday evening, you pass by the windows of several stores that sell Northwest Coast artware. Saturday, you fall asleep in front of a movie wrapped in a Salish blanket. During your run on Sunday along the seawall in Stanley Park, you cross paths with a cyclist wearing a thunderbird hoodie.
I began with the intention of conducting a community-based research project with the tribe, which has resulted in analyzing the macrobotanical remains from the Yukisma Cemetery Site (CA-SCL-38) excavated by the Muwekma Tribe from 1993-94. My initial interest in interacting with the tribal community has also allowed me to have the opportunity to assist in some of Muwekma’s tribal archaeology.
There were critical conversations about our practice in the Indigenous arts, and critical deconstructions about state funding and the exhibiting/performing structures the Indigenous arts sector was working within. The word “leadership” came up often for the group, and for me, as we worked together.
In March last year I worked with my relative and Ngati Torehina kaumatua (elder) Hugh Rihari to help realise the repatriation of a medal belonging to my ancestor Te Pahi (?-1810). The medal was struck in Sydney, Australia, to commemorate the 1805-6 visit of Te Pahi to the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, and was formally presented to him just before the chief returned to the Bay of Islands.
In addition to private collections, his work is held by such major public collections as the National Gallery of Canada, the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Monkman is best known for his depictions of 19th-century landscape paintings set in North America, in which he plays on — or appropriates — the work of celebrated painters such as George Catlin (1796–1872) and Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), while asserting Indigenous sovereignty.
We are now halfway through our final year, and the end of the project is in sight. Although we have been granted a one-year extension by SSHRC, this is a wrap-up year only, to give us time to tie up any loose ends. At this stage, our thoughts have turned to assessing the project. What have we done well? What didn’t work so well? What are the lessons we’ve learned along the way? And, especially, how can we make a difference?
Traditional owners have used this area for generations, engraving the limestone walls of the rock shelter with ancient knowledge.
The San encompass members of many ethnic groups who speak click-consonant languages of the Khoisan linguistic family and who traditionally relied on hunting and gathering for subsistence. Widely considered the Indigenous peoples of southern Africa, the San are extremely marginalized throughout the region.
Bonnie holds a B.A. in Anthropology and an M.Sc. in Quaternary Studies from the University of Maine. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is also Chair of the Repatriation Review Committee for the Smithsonian Institution and is the first Wabanaki woman to serve as a Trustee for the University of Maine System. Bonnie previously served for ten years as Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Penobscot Nation.
Bonnie led the Penobscot Nation IP Working Group team in the IPinCH-supported project, Developing Policies and Protocols for the Culturally Sensitive Intellectual Properties of the Penobscot Nation of Maine, which has now published its final report. The project developed tribal protocols, tools, and organizational structures to address IP issues related to archaeology and heritage-based places.
his family’s history.” A MOA is an agreement for parties to work together to meet an objective, without necessarily exchanging
anything – “John and Jane agree to work together on such and such terms in a collaborative project to document family
histories.”
benefits and how also to avoid the pitfalls of misappropriation. While these issues are faced by all cultural groups, there is a
long history of Indigenous cultural heritage being used by non-Indigenous people for commercial and other purposes.
have accepted as gifts from those who came before us. Heritage is our inheritance of land, language, ecosystems, knowledge,
and culture.
At the same time, it is important to be aware of considerations regarding the sharing of knowledge and intellectual property represented in video & film.
This fact sheet offers suggestions, guidelines, and resources for using video in research and documentation.
Panel participants: Margaret Conkey, Larry Zimmerman, Alexis Bunten, George Nicholas, and Anne Pyburn.
Over the past five years, Dr Amy Roberts and MACAI have developed a set of cultural tourism materials to explain the archaeological record as well as a range of other important cultural heritage values at Ngaut Ngaut, a rock shelter site on the Murray River in South Australia that is significant to the local Aboriginal community."
IPinCH promotes a model of collaborative research that empowers and protects indigenous communities while enriching scholarly inquiry."
This has been an extraordinary year for IPinCH, with many accomplishments in our work on intellectual property and cultural heritage issues. For the December Digest, we decided to look back on the past year and highlight, through photographs, some of the memorable events that made this year such a success, as well as the team members, partners, and community representatives that we are privileged to work with. Thank you for your continued support of IPinCH - we are so grateful for all the contributions of our wonderful community.
Wishing you a safe and happy (and appropriation-free!) holiday season, and the very best for 2014!
Dr. George Nicholas is a Professor of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, and serves as the Director of the Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) Project.
Victor Guerin is a member of the Musqueam First Nation and speaker of the Musqueam dialect of the Central Coast Salish language.
Copyright 2015 by Victor Guerin. The song by Victor Guerin was shared for the purpose of a territorial welcome in accordance with Musqueam traditions and is protected by Musqueam law. All rights reserved under Canadian law. This song or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, shared, transmitted or used in any manner whatsoever without the prior express written permission of Victor Guerin. Any unauthorised reproduction, sharing or transmission in any manner whatsoever will constitute an infringement of copyright and a breach of Musqueam legal traditions.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Kimberly TallBear is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta in the Faculty of Native Studies. She is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate in South Dakota, descended from the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, and raised on the Flandreau Santee Sioux reservation in South Dakota and in St. Paul.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dorothy Lippert is Repatriation Office of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and an IPinCH research team member.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Cressida Fforde is Deputy Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at Australian National University.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Ripan Malhi is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Deborah Bolnick is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Rosalina James is Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Daryl Pullman is Professor of Medical Ethics at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and an IPinCH research team member.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Dr. Alan Goodman is Professor of Biological Anthropology at Hampshire College, and an IPinCH research team member.
This talk was presented at the DNA and Indigeneity Public Symposium, held on Oct 22, 2015, at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Event: DNA & Indigeneity Public Symposium
Date: October 22, 2015
The final resting place of Kennewick Man, or the Ancient One, remains a highly debated question. This presentation will tell the story of Kennewick Man from the perspective of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla and make the case for his repatriation.
Armand Minthorn is a Religious Leader and member on the Board of Trustees for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
The answer may seem obvious: Native people own Native culture. However, dig a little deeper and the answer is more complex, shaped by questions over what constitutes cultural and intellectual property, and whether it is appropriate to talk about owning cultural heritage.
These questions are at the heart of the IPinCH project and are explored in the new IPinCH introductory video, created by Aynur Kadir (IPinCH RA, PhD student in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, SFU Surrey) and Alexa Walker (IPinCH RA, MA student in the Department of Archaeology, SFU).
When it comes to research in this area, Indigenous peoples have typically had little say in how studies related to their heritage are managed. Increasingly though, efforts are being made to decolonize research practices by fostering more equitable relationships between researchers and Indigenous peoples, based on mutual trust and collaboration.
In this presentation George Nicholas reviews debates over the "ownership" of Indigenous heritage and provides examples of new research practices that are both more ethical and more effective. These collaborative research models, in which the community leads the research, highlight important new directions in protecting Indigenous heritage.
Victor Guerin is an artist and cultural representative of the Musqueam Indian Band, and he graciously offered a few words of welcome, as well as closed off, the IPinCH public symposium held at the University of British Columbia last May.
This presentation examines the strategies that the group of traditional hunter-gatherers known collectively by outsiders as the San, deploy in cultural tourism to re-articulate their identities both locally and globally.
This presentation compares Native-owned and operated tourism initiatives in Alaska (U.S.) with Maori-owned and operated tourism ventures in New Zealand, exploring the similarities and differences in the experiences of Indigenous peoples across the Pacific.
This presentation focuses on tourism protocols, an increasingly influential mediator of the tourism experience, that guide tourist behaviour. Through tourism protocols, host communities shape the terms by which the tourist exchange takes place.
This presentation explores the Stó:lō Cultural Experience Series (CES), an initiative spearheaded by the Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre at Stó:lō Nation. The CES brings in Stó:lō artists as well as experts in Stó:lō culture, history and the land, who share their knowledge with both Stó:lō people and their neighbours.
However, Indigenous peoples usually disappear during the development stage of an innovation, and they are seldom associated with the patent registration and claims.
A recent case highlights this situation. In the 1990s, French researchers from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) began a project in New Caledonia and Vanuatu focused on identifying traditional medicines used by Indigenous and local communities for the treatment of ciguatera , a type of food poisoning resulting from the ingestion of contaminated fish by ciguatoxins.
The study guide is designed to help teachers and students develop an understanding of Indigenous history, heritage and contemporary artistic tradition. Discussion points, classroom activities and assignments, and additional resources are provided to assist in delving deeper into some of the issues raised in “Tracing Roots,” including: the links between heritage and the perpetuation of culture; the concepts of stewardship and caretaking; the protection of and control over artistic works as intellectual property; and the role of Elders in teaching and learning traditional cultural practices.