One of the complexities of content licensing and reusable media is the status of culturally significant and indigenous works. As this article states, "Existing copyright law, steeped in Western concepts and values, does not adequately protect Indigenous traditional cultural expressions, nor does it sufficiently reflect or account for Indigenous cultural values." It's easy to be of two minds on the subject (especially for me, sitting comfortably as I do within the western culture and traditions). But as a way of getting at the thinking about this, consider the case of the stolen ceremonial shields from the Pueblo of Acoma. "They were considered living beings rather than works of art. Cultural patrimony, unlike possessions, is an aspect of a tribe's identity as a people." The Pueblo were able to prevent the movement of one of the shields by having an arrest warrant issued, freezing it in place (for now) in a Paris auction house, but the traffic in artifacts continues, and questions persist about what things count as cultural expressions and who has the right to manage them.
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