Sharing the private in public

Abstract

Cultural Intellectual Property is a difficult concept to define and even harder to protect. This brief exploration raises issues relating to: the existing protections of CIPs; the history of appropriation of cultural materials; the current expectations of accessibility by the dominant society; the conflicting attitudes regarding the capturing and posting of cultural events in online forums; and the strategies employed by Native communities to safeguard against appropriation of their cultural events. Case examples highlight the complex nature of these issues and will be provided from the Zuni and Hopi pueblos, and the Northwest coastal groups, the Ahousaht, and the Makah.