Contesting Culture as Property: Introductory Comments to the Symposium

Abstract

The following comments were offered as an introduction to Contesting Culture as Property: A Symposium, held at the Indiana Memorial Union, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, December 9, 2004. The symposium was presented by students in the Fall 2004 graduate seminar Contesting Culture as Property (Folklore F804). The seminar participants presented original work exploring the intersections of intellectual and cultural property policy and local customary practices around the world. Issues of property in the contexts of heritage tourism, cultural diffusion and appropriation, scholarly representation, and corporate enclosure of traditional culture figured prominently in the work discussed.