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Types And Markets: Photography And Masks Among The Nuxalk In The Twentieth Century, Joanne P. Carrubba

Art & Art History ETDs

Nuxalk mask making styles changed throughout the twentieth century for various reasons. The ideas of transition, transformation, and the market are central to the establishment of these alterations. Mask making is one response to acculturation and one means of cultural survival; masks are an outward form of cultural pride.

The nineteenth century brought increased contact and trade between Native groups and Euro-Americans. Missionaries, more settlers, and tourists came to the Northwest Coast, all of whom wanted to see and experience the authentic Natives of the region before they disappeared. These groups were quickly followed by anthropologists who wanted to study …