(Mis)representations and Appropriation of Indigenous Cultures in Popular Narratives: Winter Olympics Vancouver 2010

Graduate student conference held December 4-5, 2009 at the University of British Columbia. Panel 1: Score and Peace? - Revisiting the Olympic Myth moderated by Ursula Baer. Abstract: "Images of Indigenous peoples and their cultures have been commodified, packaged and appropriated to suit the needs of various consumers, while simultaneously taking away control over their own identities. This is cultural imperialism. Meyer & Royer (2001) in their work, Selling the Indian, describe this process: “In short, they will no longer own their own identity in the same way that Indians no longer own most of the land that was theirs when whites began to settle in the New World” (p.7). Images of the “Indian” are constructed and exoticized to be logos for corporations, mascots for sporting teams, and to give what Koichi Iwabuchi (2002) would describe as “fragrance” to Canada for the Olympics stage in 2010. I will be analyzing commercialized images of Indigenous peoples and cultures such as the controversial choice to use an Inuksuk as the logo and the mascots, Miga, Sumi, and Quatchi for Vancouver 2010. This paper will examine the interaction between Canada and its Indigenous peoples and the manner in which the continued appropriation and consumption of Indigenous cultures has shaped that relationship." This presentation can be found at 00:37:38 - 00:57:03 in the recording.Arts, Faculty ofCentral, Eastern, and Northern European Studies, Department ofCreative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)UnreviewedGraduat