“I think I’ve been deeply influenced by Gerald Vizenor too much” is what’s in my mind when reading chapters in _In Search of Authenticity_. While some folklorists aim to save the loss, Vizenor condemns the nostalgic and romanticizing representation of culture. While artifacts are displayed in museums, Vizenor applies Ishi as an example to show how a living person could also be treated as a non-living one, a portrayed relic. In his _Manifest Manners_ (1994) Vizenor points out the ambiguity in the representation of Native American Indians. He suggests that as if the authentic Indian exist only in museums and are situated in the past. Take Ishi for example, when he was “discovered,” he was invited to stay in Berkeley to be observed. After Ishi passed away, a museum is named after him and he is remembered forever as “the last Yahi man.” Vizenor defies the idea that a culture is reduced to an object, passively waiting to be dissected. People may argue that how do public know the “other” culture if certain cultural objects are not collected, preserved and demonstrated? Well, I think John Berger’s _Ways of Seeing_ probably could point out how scholars and public treat “the other” culture or cultural objects.
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