Beyond the politics of the whale hunt, lives a culture that saw its history dying and took steps to rebuild not only tradition, but a community. By recreating ancient practices, American and Canadian Indians who revive their culture are more than living history exhibits—to both themselves and the media. The whale hunt spoke to a much larger audience than the Makah Cultural and Research Center ever could. The Makah negotiated their relationship with the past without being reduced to quaint, sentimentalized novelties by recreating a tradition, not merely performing one. Through the whale hunt, the Makah defined themselves within the modern westernized and globalized world.

In his essay on Nuu-Chah-Nulth canoes, Eugene Arima writes: "Whether designed for sealing, fishing, whaling or war, the canoe is at the very heart of Nuu-Chah-Nulth culture (Arima, 2000: 306)." Yet, as discussed in Part V, an outsider views a Northwest Coast canoe as a museum object—and artifact of the past—rather than something that represents a living culture. This dichotomous perspective is at the heart of the misunderstandings and complicates the general acceptance of the Makah whale hunt. The use of a traditional style canoe sent a strong message to non-natives that this is a living culture, proud of its heritage, and with the right and resources to revive tradition. Without the canoe, the majority of non-natives might have seen the hunt as a savage killing of a beloved animal. With the canoe, outsiders saw the Makah as noble people, trying to revive a culture once almost completely destroyed and abandoned.

Traditional native culture walks a fine line in the eyes of outsiders who often see natives performing ancient rituals as a form of display. These perfomances are thought of as separate from modern reality. From the protestors and the media watching the Makah whale hunt, there was a feeling that this whole image of the Makah in their canoe was somehow a false reconstruction. The Makah were asked if they were "going Hollywood" and accused of a "Colonial Williamsburg-style hunt." The Makah themselves felt the pressure from outsiders and were told by the International Whaling Council, "You better do it right." Micah, one of the Makah whalers, said explicitly, "It’s like being on a stage." (Sullivan, 2000: 65)

Here we run into a major difference between Makah and outsiders—their differing approaches to the past and the present, their processes of remembering and reviving. Euro-American culture allows for remembering, but it is deemed absurd to revive lifeways of the past. To relive past activities is seen as a novelty or imitation of the past, not as a road to innovation. Objects and styles may make a comeback, festivals and parades temporarily transport Americans to a remembered past, and living history exhibits theatrically recreate history, but ultimately, America is about progress. It is a nation obsessed with the future that holds little regard for the lifeways of the past. It may respect them or find them quaint, (Lowenthal’s "collect" and "celebrate") but such lifeways of the past as, for example, cooking over a fireplace or traveling by horse and buggy, are reserved for rare occasions as novelties, not revived with the intention of spreading it anew throughout the community.

The Makah, on the other hand, want to take the past and reinvent it in the present. "They want us in the museum," commented Makah elder George Bowechop. "They'd rather we just said, ‘Oh, the Makah were great whalers,’ and leave it at that. They want us to have a dead culture. But it's been our way of life. (Sullivan, 1998)" The Makah did not care that it is more difficult to catch a whale in a canoe with a harpoon. It is not the efficiency, but the meaning that they are after. American culture displays the past, while the Makah reinvent it. In the exhibit at the Makah Cultural and Research Center, the past and present are mixed, moving in and out of time smoothly. This fluidity reflects a loosening in Makah mentality of the division between the past and the present, linking ancestors and moderns.

Heritage events, such as paddles, are obvious displays of pride in native culture. The whale hunt is more complicated. It is not just about using traditional objects, but about doing something both basic and symbolic to Makah culture. Killing the whale, traditionally, was more than a way of getting food. The process of whaling defined the spiritual core of the culture.

Paddle events are hints at culture and tradition. They symbolize it, yet are not destructive to anyone else’s way of thinking. These events are celebrations, involving objects and performance. The whale hunt is more than a performance—it is the creation of a new tradition inspired by the past. It is the revival of a lifeway, rather than of an art or object. The whale hunt revives a tradition that is both spiritual and physical.

During the whale hunt, the traditional canoe formed the focus and power of the hunt, for both native and non-native observers. For natives, the canoe represented the heart of their culture; for non-natives, the canoe invoked the past. The hunt made outsiders question the place of museum objects and the meaning of their use in the present day. For outsiders familiar with the icon of the noble savage, the canoe necessarily brought association with a romantic past. For the Makah, the hunt was more than an imitation of the past, it was a link to it, as well as a vehicle for passage to the future.

The canoe that sits across the street from the Makah Cultural and Research Center in Neah Bay, small and dark against the hundred or so modern fishing boats, is a poignant reminder of place. Visiting the MCRC and then seeing the canoe in the water, provides a powerful message of revival. The Makah have embraced the traditional western museum mode within the halls of their cultural center, but outside, the objects are instilled with new meaning.

During the whale hunt revival, the Makah skillfully negotiated their identity with equal awareness of their own traditions as well as the non-native vision of native culture. They embraced a vision of tradition that was satisfactory for both themselves and outsiders. I am not suggesting that the Makah used the canoe only as a public relations stunt. I am merely pointing out that the canoe made them "look Indian," thus creating greater sympathy for their cause because non-natives needed a whale hunt to look traditional, to look like is connected with the past. The Makah whalers in their canoe looked like the non-native’s image of a good Indian. By using and embracing this acceptable, if idealized image, the Makah gained the sympathy of non-natives and persuaded mass America that this sort of cultural revival may be a positive thing.

The whale hunt was a semi-staged enactment of Makah rights, but staged primarily for natives themselves. The fact that one of the whalers, Theron, walked away from killing the whale "feeling spiritual" implies that the hunt worked to revive culture in a way that objects alone can not. "We prepared for about a year," Theron says. "We prayed to our creator" (Sulllivan, 2000: 263). Spirituality and self-identification were reinforced through the hunt. Before the hunt, there was much talk among young men of leaving Neah Bay, but now they feel they have a purpose within their tribe. Whole families talk of organizing their own hunts (personal communication, 2001). The name Makah, a name given to this group by other tribes, means "generous with food" (Sullivan, 2000: 47). The Makah can, through the power of reinventing the past, express this identity once again.