UAS Evening at Egan lecture “Cultural Appropriation and Traditional Arts in a Contemporary World,” October 11 with Jacob Adams

The annual fall lecture series Evening at Egan continues October 11 at the University of Alaska Southeast Auke Lake campus with a presentation by attorney and cultural heritage researcher Jacob Adams.

Juneau, Alaska

Date of Press Release: October 8, 2019

The annual fall lecture series Evening at Egan continues October 11 at the University of Alaska Southeast Auke Lake campus with a presentation by attorney and cultural heritage researcher Jacob Adams. This presentations is sponsored by the Sealaska Heritage Institute, the PITAAS program (Preparing Indigenous Teachers & Administrators for Alaska’s Schools), and the Native Lecture Series.

Adams is a practicing attorney with law degrees from universities in both the United States and Australia. His field research centers on clans’ at.óow, which means “our property.” This includes crests, names, stories, and songs, often incorporated into arts and crafts traditions. He has served as a visiting scholar with the Sealaska Heritage institute in past years, through which he has been able to interview Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian leaders and artists.

Historically, traditional Tlingit law determined theft of at.óow as a capital offense, allowing clans to punish people who used at.óow without following the correct protocol, originally these sanctions were supported by the U.S. government. However, this changed over time, leaving clans without a means of protecting intellectual property.

Cultural heritage researcher Jacob Adams will summarize his experiences and new knowledge, put it into the context of his research framework, and articulate possible intellectual property solutions to the threats faced by Alaskan Native cultural heritage.

All Evening at Egan lectures are scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Egan Library and live-streamed on the UAS YouTube channel. View the full schedule for the lectures series. Presentations can be watched live or recorded at on the UAS Youtube channel.