In Search of the Hamat’sa: A Tale of Headhunting

Directed by Aaron Glass, In Search of the Hamat’sa: A Tale of Headhunting considers the way the Kwakiutl and the Hamat’sa, also known as the “Cannibal Dance,” have been portrayed by anthropologists throughout history, and investigates the ways in which the attitudes toward this contentious history change the way the dance is performed by First Nations communities today.

Post-screening discussion moderated by Aaron Glass.

About the Speaker

Aaron Glass is an Assistant Professor at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City. An anthropologist, visual artist, filmmaker and curator, his research focuses on Indigenous art, media, and performance on the North Pacific Coast, as well as the history of anthropology and museums. His books include The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History (co-authored with Aldona Jonaitis), Objects of Exchange: Social and Material Transformation on the Late Nineteenth-Century Northwest Coast, and Return to the Land of the Head Hunters: Edward S. Curtis, the Kwakwaka’wakw, and the Making of Modern Cinema (co-edited with Brad Evans).