Indigenous artists frequently voice concerns over the commodification of their cultures, a process acutely felt by those living with the consequences of colonialism. This timely book, which features color illustrations throughout, examines the ways in which contemporary indigenous peoples in different parts of the Americas have harnessed performance practices to resist imposed stereotypes and shape their own complex identities. Essays by leading academics and practitioners show the vibrancy of a wide array of indigenous arts and cultural events in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Canada, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Belize. As well as analyzing performance idioms, the authors trace the circulation of creative products and practices as commodities, as cultural capital, and/or as heritage. Making reference to aesthetic forms, intellectual property, and political empowerment, these essays weigh the impact of music, festivities, film, photography, theater, and museum installations among diverse audiences and discuss ways in which spectacles of cultural difference are remodeled in the hands of indigenous practitioners.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Recasting commodity and spectacle in the indigenous Americas - Helen Gilbert and Charlotte Gleghorn

1. ‘Will making movies do the sheep any good?’ The afterlife of Native American images - Michelle H. Raheja

2. Modernity and the indigenous in centennial celebrations of independence in Mexico City, 1910 and 1921 - Michael J. Gonzales

3. Indigeneity in the Oruro Carnival: official memory, Bolivian identity and the politics of recognition - Ximena Córdova Oviedo

4. Crafting contemporary indigeneity through audiovisual media in Bolivia - Gabriela Zamorano Villarreal

5. Nora Naranjo-Morse’s ‘Always Becoming’: enacting indigenous identity on a museum stage - Andrea Zittlau

6. Performance, gestures and poses in postcards of Ho-Chunk in Wisconsin Dells - Sarah Anne Stolte

7. Rethinking spectacle and indigenous consumption: commercial huayno music in Peru - James Butterworth

8. Everyday work as spectacle: celebrating Maya embodied culture in Belize - Genner Llanes-Ortiz

9. Spectacle and discourse of decommoditisation in the construction of subaltern public spheres:the P’urhépecha New Year and P’urhéecherio - Andrew Roth-Seneff

10. Performing and disputing indigeneity in the Fiesta del Coraza in Otavalo, Ecuador - Sergio Miguel Huarcaya

11. Indigeneity, law and performance on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua - Isabel Altamirano-Jiménez

12. What we talk about when we talk about Indian - Yvette Nolan

13. Indigenous interventions at Klahowya Village, χwayχw əy Vancouver/ unceded Coast Salish Territory - Selena Couture