Thawing the Frozen Indian: From Tobacco to ‘Top Model’

May 9, 2012
6:00 pm until 7:30 pm

In this exhibit, curated by Native American Studies students at Brown University, students attempt to raise awareness around the complicated history of misrepresentation of Native Americans both inside museums and beyond their walls. They take cues from a larger movement that is actively confronting the complex, and often painful, history of cultural conquest in order to foster conversation around three categories of objects and images: racist stereotypes, mass produced cultural appropriations, and contemporary Native art. 

In this last and final section they provide examples of the “unfrozen Indian,” art that combines the traditional and the modern in Native American life today. There are no easy answers to the question raised here. But we believe that the conversation itself matters. Students and staff encourage you to respond in your own way and participate in our public forum.

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
21 Prospect St.
Manning Hall, Brown University
Providence, RI
View map »

For more information:

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology

Telephone: 401-253-8388
Contact name: Geralyn Ducady
Contact email: Geralyn_Ducady@brown.edu
Website: http://brown.edu/Facilities/Haffenreffer/index.html