Tales of Ghosts: First Nations Art in British Columbia, 1922-61

Ronald W. Hawker exposes and then considers the multiple ways in which meaning has been created and consumed around First Nations art objects by its viewing audiences. In so doing, he brings a new line to bear on the role Native art has played in the negotiation of social and geographical spaces in British Columbia. The book will interest scholars of Native studies, Canadian art history, anthropology, and cultural studies. (Andrea N. Walsh University of Toronto Quarterly, Winter 2004/05)

The years between 1922 and 1961, often referred to as the “Dark Ages of Northwest Coast art,” have largely been ignored by art historians, and dismissed as a period of artistic decline. Tales of Ghosts compellingly reclaims this era, arguing that it was instead a critical period during which the art played an important role in public discourses on the status of First Nations people in Canadian society.

Hawker’s insightful examination focuses on the complex functions that Northwest Coast objects, such as the ubiquitous totem pole, played during the period. He demonstrates how these objects asserted the integrity and meaningfulness of First Nations identities, while simultaneously resisting the intent and effects of assimilation enforced by the Canadian government’s denial of land claims, its ban of the potlatch, and its support of assimilationist education.

Those with an interest in First Nations and Canadian history and art history, anthropology, museology, and post-colonial studies will be delighted by the publication of this major contribution to their fields.

"Tales of Ghosts . . . addresses the almost entirely ignored work of First Nations artists from 1922 to 1961 . . . and demonstrates that the period heretofore considered one of decline was actually one of intense artistic productivity. The author situates this productivity into its social and political context. This has never been done, and represents a major shift in the focus on how Northwest Coast art history is treated. Tales of Ghosts will become a major and influential scholarly work."―Aldona Jonaitis, Director of the Alaska Museum and author of Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch