Knowing Native Arts

Nancy Marie Mithlo (Chiricahua Apache) is a professor of gender studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a senior curator and lecturer on Indigenous arts. She has curated Native arts exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. She is the editor of Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism and For a Love of His People: The Photography of Horace Poolaw.

"Knowing Native Arts offers a necessary perspective not only for undergraduate and graduate courses on Indigenous art, art history across the Americas, and so on, but also for introduction to ethics, advanced classes on the philosophy of art and value theory, and graduate seminars on aesthetics."-Benjamin P. Davis, American Indian Quarterly "Mithlo proves her own argument for the need for supporting new generations of Native arts scholars as vital to the understanding, promotion and preservation of Native arts and cultures."-Gerald Clarke, American Indian Culture and Research Journal "Knowing Native Arts is necessary reading for those in the fields of museum studies and the arts as well as Indigenous studies and anthropology. Understanding the Native arts world through a Native worldview is crucial, and this book is a highly recommended addition to all art library collections."-Shoshana Vegh-Gaynor, Art Libraries Society of North America “This is a deeply personal book that blends Mithlo’s personal, family, and tribal experiences with significant scholarship and meditation on the field of Native American art.”-Ryan Wheeler, coeditor of Glory, Trouble, and Renaissance at the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology “Mithlo provides a rare opportunity to expose the truth and lay bare the great challenges and divides in contemporary Native arts. Her essays uncover, articulate, and open the discussion to illuminate the disenfranchisement of Native arts today.”-Patsy Phillips (Cherokee), director of the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Dangerous for the Heart1. “The Manner in Which Knowledge Grows”2. Native Arts’ Visual Remix3. Indigenous Arts Movements at Home and Abroad4. On the Other Side of the Ocean5. Postidentity Claims, Realism, and Radical Restructuring6. The Encyclopedic Gaze7. Decentering Durham8. American Indians and Museums: The Love/Hate RelationshipConclusion: The Good FightNotes