The Art of Ceremony

Celebrates Indigenous renewal through ceremony, understanding the impact of the past and the possibilities for the future

Celebrates Indigenous renewal through ceremony, understanding the impact of the past and the possibilities for the future

The practice of ceremony offers ways to build relationships between the land and its beings, reflecting change while drawing upon deep relationships going back millennia. Ceremony may involve intricate and spectacular regalia but may also involve simple tools, such as a plastic bucket for harvesting huckleberries or a river rock that holds heat for sweat. The Art of Ceremony provides a contemporary and historical overview of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon, through rich conversations with tribal representatives who convey their commitments to ceremonial practices and the inseparable need to renew language, art, ecological systems, kinship relations, and political and legal sovereignty.

Vivid photographs illuminate the ties between land and people at the heart of such practice, and each chapter features specific ceremonies chosen by tribal co-collaborators, such as the Siletz Nee Dosh (Feather Dance), the huckleberry gathering of the Cow Creek Umpqua, and the Klamath Return of C'waam (sucker fish) Ceremony. Part of a larger global story of Indigenous rights and cultural resurgence in the twenty-first century, The Art of Ceremony celebrates the power of Indigenous renewal, sustainable connection to the land, and the ethics of responsibility and reciprocity between the earth and all its inhabitants.

Rebecca Dobkins is professor of Anthropology at Willamette University. She is the author of Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts at 25 (Salem, OR: Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Distributed by University of Washington Press, 2017).

Rebecca J. Dobkins is curator and professor of anthropology at Willamette University and coauthor of Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts at 25.

"The volume's approach challenges romanticizating or ahistorical perspectives on Indigenous cultures, demanding that contemporary works and practices be seen as living, adaptive, continuos expressions of ancient cultures. The volume is skillyfully done and would make an excellent contribution to courses in many fields, inlcuding Native Americans studies, religious studies, anthropology, art history or art appreciation, cultural studies, and history."

"The Art of Ceremony honors the sovereignty of Tribes in Oregon and embodies a sense of healing, renewal, and beauty, connecting land to people, people to land, and the relationships between."—April Campbell, (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) Oregon Department of Education, Indian Education Director

"A beautifully facilitated gathering of Tribes of Oregon in a book that is itself a kind of ceremony, honoring the regalia alongside many responsibilities, relationships, and rights that Tribes renew each year."—Brook Colley, (Wasco, Warm Springs, Eastern Cherokee; Enrolled: Eastern Band of Cherokee), Southern Oregon University

"This unique book weaves a strong argument about the historical and contemporary effects of unequal power relations on Oregonian tribes and the resulting push for Indigenous resurgence and self-governance."—Jennifer Kramer, University of British Columbia