Return to the Land of the Head Hunters
Edward S. Curtis, the Kwakwaka'wakw, and the Making of Modern Cinema
Published on 10. December 2013
Book
Hardback
392 pages
978-0-295-99344-7 (ISBN)
Description
Photographer Edward Curtis's 1914 orchestrally scored melodrama In the Land of the Head Hunters was one of the first US films to feature an Indigenous cast. This landmark of early silent cinema was an intercultural product of Curtis's collaboration with the Kwakwa?ka?'wakw of British Columbia-meant, like Curtis's photographs, to document a supposedly vanishing race. But as this collection shows, the epic film is not simply an artifact of colonialist nostalgia.
In recognition of the film's centennial, and the release of a restored version, Return to the Land of the Head Hunters brings together leading anthropologists, Native American authorities, artists, musicians, literary scholars, and film historians to reassess the film and its legacy. The volume offers unique Kwakwa?ka?'wakw perspectives on the film, accounts of its production and subsequent circulation, and evaluations of its depictions of cultural practice. Resituated within film history and informed by a legacy of Kwakwa?ka?'wakw participation and response, the movie offers dynamic evidence of ongoing cultural survival and transformation under shared conditions of modernity.
In recognition of the film's centennial, and the release of a restored version, Return to the Land of the Head Hunters brings together leading anthropologists, Native American authorities, artists, musicians, literary scholars, and film historians to reassess the film and its legacy. The volume offers unique Kwakwa?ka?'wakw perspectives on the film, accounts of its production and subsequent circulation, and evaluations of its depictions of cultural practice. Resituated within film history and informed by a legacy of Kwakwa?ka?'wakw participation and response, the movie offers dynamic evidence of ongoing cultural survival and transformation under shared conditions of modernity.
Reviews / Votes
"Richly illustrated, multivocal, and altogether remarkable. . . . This book does us all a service by ushering Curtis's In the Land of the Head Hunters into the 21st century." * American Ethnologist * "Offers a stunning range of perspectives and visual materials drawing from the original production to the present. . . . Ambitious not only in its scope but in its commitment to understanding and presenting the film in its multiple indigenous contexts." * American Literary History * "A detailed and thoughtful book that brings together scholars, artists, and Kwakwaka'wakw community members in a wide-ranging discourse on the film." * American Indian Culture and Research Journal * "The essays provide a rare look at both the tremendous amount of planning, negotiation, and artistic work that goes into this kind of production, but also the diversity of reactions it necessarily inspires-from sturdy appreciation to charges of romanticism and exploitation." * Pacific Historical Review * "[An] accomplished critical engagement with the complicated and tumultuous nature of the place of the film in academia and in First Nations communities. . . . The volume is also testimony to the fact that 100 years after the original production, the film can still capture the imaginations and minds of scholars and the broad public." * BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly * "[This] generously illustrated anthology of essays-some decidedly academic, others more personal and anecdotal-address the film from every angle while also placing Curtis (1868-1952) and his First Nations collaborators on the film in their historical context." * Seattle Times *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Target group
College/higher education
US School Grade: College Graduate Student
Illustrations
13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 13 Illustrations, color; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white; 97 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Weight
1043 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-295-99344-7 (9780295993447)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Brad Evans is associate professor of English at Rutgers University. Aaron Glass is associate professor of anthropology at the Bard Graduate Center.
Content
U'mista Cultural Society Statement of Participation / William T. CranmerForeword / Bill HolmPreface / Brad Evans and Aaron GlassAcknowledgmentsIntroduction PART ONE. Mediating Indians / Complicating Curtis1. Edward Curtis and In the Land of the Head Hunters: Four Contexts / Micky Gidley2. Images of Time: Portraiture in The North American Indian / Shamoon Zamir3. Indian Landscapes: Pauline Johnson and Edward Curtis / Kate Flint4. A Chamber of Echoing Songs: Edward Curtis as a Musical Ethnographer / Ira JacknisPhoto Essay 1. "At the Kitchen Table with Edward Curtis"/ Jeff Thomas PART TWO. Head Hunters Across Two Centuries5. Consuming the Head Hunters: A Century of Film REception / Aaron Glass and Brad Evans6. Unmasking the Documentary: Notes on the Anxiety of Edward Curtis / Colin Browne7. Indian Movies and the Vernacular of Modernism / Brad Evans8. Musical Intertextuality in Indigenous Film: Making and Remaking In the Land of the Head Hunters / Klisala Harrison9. Reflections on Working with Edward Curtis / Barbara Cranmer (Tlakwagila'ogwa)Photo Essay 2. "Old Images / New Views: Indigenous Perspectives on Edward Curtis" / Dr. E. Richard Atleo, Pam Brown, Marie Clements, Karrmen Crey, Mique'l Icesis Dangeli, Andy Everson, Linc Kesler, David Neel, Evelyn Vanderhoop, and William Wasden Jr. PART THREE. Reimaging Curtis Today10. In the Land of the Head Hunters: Reconstruction, not Restoration . Jere Guldin11. In the Land of the Head Hunters and the History of Silent Film Music / David Gilbert12. Performing Braham, Interpreting Curtis: A Conversation on Conducting / Neal Stulberg, Owen Underhill, Timothy Long, and Laura Ortman13. "What the Creator Gave to Us": An Interview with William Wasden Jr. (Waxawidi)14. Cultural Interpretation / Dave Hunsaker15. The Kwakwakka'wakw Business of Showing: Tradition Meets Modernity on the Silver Screen and the World Stage / Aaron Glass Afterword. Twentieth Century Fox / Paul Chaat SmithAppendix 1. Promotional Images for In the Land of the Head HuntersAppendix 2. The Kwakwaka'wakw Cast and Crew of In the Land of the Head HuntersAppendix 3. Curtis Film Props in the Collection of the Burke Musem of Natural History and CultureAppendix 4. Title Cards from the 2008 Reconstruction of In the Land of the Head HuntersReferencesContributorsIndex