Chiefs, scribes, and ethnographers : Kuna culture from inside and out / James Howe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Howe, James, 1944-

Series:

William & Bettye Nowlin series in art, history, and culture of the Western Hemisphere.

The William and Bettye Nowlin Series in Art, History, and Culture of the Western Hemisphere

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cuna Indians--Historiography.

Cuna Indians.

Cuna Indians--Public opinion.

Cuna Indians--Social life and customs.

Ethnology--Panama--Authorship.

Ethnology.

Indians in literature.

Indian anthropologists--Panama.

Indian anthropologists.

Participant observation--Panama.

Participant observation.

Public opinion--Panama.

Public opinion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (361 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Kuna of Panama, today one of the best known indigenous peoples of Latin America, moved over the course of the twentieth century from orality and isolation towards literacy and an active engagement with the nation and the world. Recognizing the fascination their culture has held for many outsiders, Kuna intellectuals and villagers have collaborated actively with foreign anthropologists to counter anti-Indian prejudice with positive accounts of their people, thus becoming the agents as well as subjects of ethnography. One team of chiefs and secretaries, in particular, independently produced a series of historical and cultural texts, later published in Sweden, that today still constitute the foundation of Kuna ethnography. As a study of the political uses of literacy, of western representation and indigenous counter-representation, and of the ambivalent inter-cultural dialogue at the heart of ethnography, Chiefs, Scribes, and Ethnographers addresses key issues in contemporary anthropology. It is the story of an extended ethnographic encounter, one involving hundreds of active participants on both sides and continuing today.

Contents:

Introduction: Literacy, representation, and ethnography

A flock of birds : the coming of schools and literacy

Letters of complaint

Representation and reply

North American friends

The Swedish partnership

Collaborative ethnography

Post-rebellion ethnography, 1925-1950

The ethnographic boom, 1950-

Native ethnography

Chapin's lament.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-292-79347-2

OCLC:

501014401