Month: October 2008

Categories
Module 3

imagineNATIVE Film Festival

The 2008 imagineNATIVE film and media arts festival has recently wrapped up in Toronto.   It was interesting to see the cover image they chose for the festival program this year.

What immediately struck me was the cover of the program, which is a mock-up of the original Indiana Jones movie poster.  The festival has replaced the image of Indiana Jones tipping his fedora with one of “Indian Jane”. The festival represents some good film media – intellectual property belonging to native authors, while at the same time, the cover image grew out of a western culture, and highly commercial product (the series of Indiana Jones films), and a character who makes his living as a relic hunter.  The imagery this site evoked for me at first glance cried out as the perfect poster child for our ETEC 521 Module 3:  Decolonization and Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights.

Categories
Module 3

Intellectual Property Watch

This is a Weblog aimed at providing original, open-access and subscriber-based news and analysis on international IP policy making.
The site includes a number of posts on various issues of Indigenous Intellectual property rights.  Some highlights from these include the following:

3 March 2008: Indigenous Groups Express Concerns On IP Protection Of Their Knowledge

This post discusses an informal meeting held by Indigenous groups in February, during the meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) in Geneva.  The informal meeting was to develop an approach on how the WIPO should proceed in protecting indigenous and traditional knowledge.  Discussion includes whether patents can protect Indigenous knowledge, and how to rationalize western concepts not found in indigenous cultures, for example, concepts such as ownership and stewardship.

7 March 2008:  Inside Views: Interview With Debra Harry, Indigenous People’s Council on Biocolonialism

This link includes a video interview with Debra Harry, a member of the Northern Paiute from Pyramid Lake, Nevada, and founder and executive director of the Indigenous People’s Council on Biocolonialism. The interview was recorded at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore in Geneva.  In the interview, the WIPO interviewer asks the questions: “What needs to be done to protect traditional knowledge and genetic resources in a way acceptable to the indigenous peoples who own them?   What rights are in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples?”

Harry argues that the indigenous peoples hold inherited prior rights to the knowledge and resources. She argues that traditional knowledge represents the cultural heritage of the indigenous peoples and is very specific to them.  As outsiders have begun to mine this knowledge for commercial benefits, regulations need to be developed to help protect rights of indigenous peoples. Regulations are currently aimed at protecting inventions and market commodities.  Cultural heritage is not a commodity rather is part of cultural people and cultural heritage.

6 December 2006: Inside Views: Indigenous Groups Tell WIPO, ‘Don’t Patent Our Traditional Knowledge’

This post presents the interesting argument by Indigenous groups that attempts to patent their Indigenous Knowledge will pose more threats rather than provide protection.

Categories
Module 3

Trademarks, permission, and ownership

Our ETEC 521 Vista discussion forum the last couple of weeks has raised issues around trademarks, permission, and ownership of native imagery.  In one of our readings, Rachel Grad (2002) provides a comparison of indigenous rights in intellectual property law in the US and in Australia.  Philip Bellfy (2005) presents a number of examples of appropriation of native imagery and symbols for corporate logos in the US.  One of those examples appeared in a trademark dispute that eventually found in favour of the use of the Redskins trademark by the Washington sports team franchise.  The dispute and the eventual ruling are discussed in the following articles:

Petition seeks to cancel ‘Redskins’ trademark, article by Sarah Moses  published on MSNBC Aug. 9, 2006.

The court ruling from July 13, 2008 is discussed in the article “Pro Football v. Harjo — Trademark Claim Against Redskins Dismissed”

Categories
Module 3 Uncategorized

Indigenous Peoples Issues Today

This blog claims to highlight contemporary issues facing indigenous peoples from around the world.  The site includes a discussion about intellectual property rights.  The author describes intellectual property not as knowledge gained by scientific means, but rather knowledge that is “earned”, through experience in time and place.

The blog also provides links to sites offering different perspectives on the intellectual property issue.  For example, the link to the Alaskan Native knowledge Network has its own links to a page entitled “Guidelines for Respecting Cultural Knowledge”,   and another entitled “Principles for the Conduct of Research in the Arctic“.  As another example, the site links to an Australian Government research paper entitled Indigenous Peoples Intellectual Property Rights.  This paper seeks to identify the issues, describe the impacts, and analyse international developments.

Categories
Module 2

Yolngu Boy

The film is reminiscent of Nanook in that it presents a similar but very current image of the collision of ancient indigenous, and modern westernized cultures. In this film the impact is felt by three Australian Aboriginal teens.  The boys are caught between their ancient culture and traditions, and the imposed cultural realities of their modern day-to-day lives. The boys search for their identities through the commodified world of peer pressure, football, and rap music.  And, through the Australian outback where they need to rely on their traditional knowledge of the bush.

The film website includes links to:

  • a film trailer
  • a synopsis of the story
  • a history of the Yolngu peoples
  • educational resources and a study guide

It is a striking reminder that things may not have changed much since the time of Nanook of the North. From the trailers one wonders if the movie reflects somewhat of a modernized version of the “Noble Savage”.  For those analytic research is in this area, finding a copy of this film could provide a modern perspective as counterpoint to the Nanook clip.

Categories
Module 2

Line in the Sand

This site was started by a group of natives who were concerned about misrepresentation of natives by non-natives.  It has evolved to become a place to debate over where to draw the “Line in the Sand” on the issues of Native American cultural property, sovereignty, identity, ethnic stereotypes, the commodification of Native American culture.

Line in the Sand provides first-hand insights into issues discussed in some of course readings for this module, including Chapter 4 in Indigenous Cultures – Cyberspace Smoke Signals (Zimmerman, Zimmerman & Bruguier, 2000).

The site includes discussion pages on stereotypes.  This area of the site includes discussion of stereotypes in sports team mascots, products, and the notion of looking “Indian enough” for Hollywood.  There is also a link for teachers which reviews what the site suggests as books to avoid (such as “Indian in the Cupboard”), as well as papers and discussion about the persistence and effects of damaging stereotypes.

Cultural property is approached from a number of perspectives including:

The site also includes a page linking to responses from Native Peoples in the form of papers, speeches, essays, books, poetry, and awards.

The site may provide interesting insights from a range of sources for analytic papers in any of these areas.

Categories
Module 2

Our Homes are Bleeding

This site was launched in 2005 by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.  The focus of this site is the connection of indigenous people to their land as inherent to culture, identity, and spirituality.  There are some very detailed transcriptions of the Agency Testimonies from the BC Royal Commission on Indian Affairs from 1913-1916. While the focus isn’t on educational technology, the site uses technology to support both education and research.  The site is relevant to the issues of identity and culture we are addressing in this module and in the course.

The site has a page for researchers that gives some information about First Nations lands, research tools and resources to help researchers begin their search.

There is a teacher page with a very interesting Lesson Plan (Grade 11, 2007 ) entitled Continuity and Change. The primary objectives are for students to review the historical data from the perspectives of both aboriginal and non-aboriginals, and to evaluate what has and hasn’t changed.  The lesson activities include reading about history of Reservations, land settlement issues, and role playing.  There are a variety of resources and link to timelines, terminology, and other resources including a background on Reserves in BC, and a podcast on Aboriginal rights, all in support of the lesson plan.

Spam prevention powered by Akismet