Cultural Property and Culture Theory

Abstract

Recent work in culture theory has mounted a decisive critique of the reifying tendencies that have been inherent in anthropologists' use of the culture concept. At the same time, cultural-property legislation has proliferated around the globe, leading, ironically, to a bureaucratic celebration of precisely those aspects of culture theory that many anthropologists now mistrust. This article reviews some of the reifying assumptions built in to the notion of cultural property, and examines two historical cases, one at the dawn of the nationalist era, the other at the end of the twentieth century.

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