Ruth B. Phillips

Ruth B. Phillips is Canada Research Chair and Professor of Art History at Carleton University, Ottawa. Originally trained as an historian of African art, she has devoted most of her career to the study of historical and contemporary Native North American art. She has also undertaken curatorial work and served as Director of the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology from 1997-2002.

Her books include Representing Woman: Sande Masquerades of the Mende of Sierra Leone (1995); Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North American Art from the Northeast (1998); Native North American Art (co-authored with Janet Catherine Berlo, 1998); Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity in Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds (co-edited with Christopher B. Steiner, 1999); and Sensible Objects: Colonialism, Museums, and Material Culture (co-edited with Elizabeth Edwards and Chris Gosden, 2006).