Hi everyone,

On Friday, I was watching the news and this annoucement caught my attention.  Since we talked about the Hopi language and culture in class I thought that you might find this interesting.

 Despite  the Hopi tribes’s demands and the U.S ambassdor to France efforts to discontinue the process, several Hopi masks were sold to a collector; the incident caused quite a stir.  They raised about 752,000 Euros by selling these sacred Hopi  objects collection.  I first saw the news on tv5 Monde, and then I made some resaech and found one interesting article on Reuters.  Apparently, even Robert Redford protested against the sales of these objects.

One of the most  interesting things in this article is the collector’s comment :  “One day I might give some back,” said the collector, who declined to be identified. “But if it had not been for collectors in the 19th century who contributed to the field of ethnology, there would be very little knowledge of the Hopi.

I would like to know what would an anthropologist make  of that comment.  on one part, we have the Hopi tribes perspective; they think that selling these object is abominable. On the other end, the collector’s perspective; he/she think that their efforts to collect such objects help with the study of the culture.  What would be an anthropologist’s viewpoint. What do you guys think ?  

 There are many other interesting stuff that have been said in regards to the situation. I invite you all to read the article.  

This is the link for the article.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/12/entertainment-us-france-masks-idUSBRE93B0AH20130412

 Thank you

Stephanie Joseph