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.

Ronald W. Hawker was formerly Associate Chair of the School of Critical and Creative Studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design and an associate professor in the Department of Art and Design at Zayed University. He now lives in Prince Edward Island.

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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.

University of Toronto Quarterly, Winter 2004/05