Fragments of culture often become commodities when the tourism and heritage business showcases local artistic and cultural practice. Frequently, this industry is developed without the consent of those whose culture is being commercialized.

Solen Roth asks what does this say about appropriation, social responsibility, and intercultural relationships? And what happens when local communities become more involved in this cultural marketplace? 

We’re excited to hear Solen speak to learnings from her eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork examining how Northwest Coast Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs are cultivating more equitable relationships with the companies that reproduce their designs on everyday objects.