Transformations of meaning: The life history of a Nuxalk mask

Abstract

As items of material culture are exchanged between two different cultures the cultural perception and meaning of those objects is transformed. During the 1800s collectors and ethnographers from around the world came to the Northwest Coast of British Columbia to collect items of material culture from what they believed to be the dying races of people who lived there. This process transformed the meaning of ceremonial objects, such as masks, for the people who lived there. Masks that were once sacred ceremonial items, kept hidden except during special ceremonies, became specimens of Native art to be put on display in museums. The life history of one Nuxalk mask caught up in this process is presented here. The paper is a biography of a mask of Alk'unta'm, one of the most important of Nuxalk supernaturals. It traces the life of Alk'unta'm as it moved from a small village in the Bella Coola Valley to New York, one of the largest cities in the world.