Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Navajo want their stuff back!

A Puebloan Chakwaina mask, a Kachina Buffalo mask and a Zuni Kachina Shalako appeared in Paris, France, on 14 December 2014

I ran across an article about Navajo masks being sold at auction in France. Initially, Native activist groups tried to stop the auction but they failed. Several Navajo member traveled to France to buy THEIR own masks back. Some believe that purchasing the masks set a bad precedent for future exchanges of this sort.

Here is a link to the whole article from the BBC
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30484533

2 comments:

  1. William, I think this is interesting. How did the people in France get these masks? I could see why the Native people wanted them back because they were theirs, but I don't think it was bad they want to buy them back. Maybe the people in France should have stopped the auction.

    Sam Janosi

    ReplyDelete
  2. I read this editorial today....its an interesting (but blunt) opinion:
    http://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/it-is-disappointing-to-have-to-redeem-things-that-belong-to-american-indians-with-money/

    ReplyDelete