Playing Ourselves: Interpreting Native Histories at Historic Reconstructions (Paperback or Softback)

Peers, Laura

ISBN 10: 075911062X / ISBN 13: 9780759110625

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 3/15/2007, 2007

About this Item

Playing Ourselves: Interpreting Native Histories at Historic Reconstructions.

Seller Inventory # BBS-9780759110625

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Playing Ourselves: Interpreting Native Histories at Historic Reconstructions (Paperback or Softback)
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 3/15/2007
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 075911062X
• ISBN 13: 9780759110625
• Binding: Paperback or Softback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 0.86 pounds
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

Across North America, hundreds of reconstructed “living history” sites, which traditionally presented history from a primarily European perspective, have hired Native staff in an attempt to communicate a broader view of the past. Playing Ourselves explores this major shift in representation, using detailed observations of five historic sites in the U.S. and Canada to both discuss the theoretical aspects of Native cultural performance and advise interpreters and their managers on how to more effectively present an inclusive history.

Drawing on anthropology, history, cultural performance, cross-cultural encounters, material culture theory, and public history, author Laura Peers examines “living history” sites as locations of cultural performance where core beliefs about society, cross-cultural relationships, and history are performed. In the process, she emphasizes how choices made in the communication of history can both challenge these core beliefs about the past and improve cross-cultural relations in the present.

About the Author

Laura Peers is lecturer in anthropology, curator of the Americas Collections at the Pitt River Museum, and fellow at Linacre College, University of Oxford.