The curtain within [electronic resource] : Haida social and mythical discourse / Marianne Boelscher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boelscher, Marianne.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Haida Indians--Kinship.

Haida Indians.

Haida Indians--Social life and customs.

Haida Gwaii (B.C.)--Social life and customs.

Haida Gwaii (B.C.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Press, 1988.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Curtain Within explores the management of social roles and symbols to achieve various goals by people living in a modern Haida community. Moiety and lineage, social rank, the rules of entitlement to inherited property, and the mode of thought encoded in mythology still have force in Haida society. Political action did not and does not take place within the context of formal political institutions; instead it exists through the management of the symbols of social relationships and of entitlement to tangible and intangible property. Drawing on models of practice theory and discursive action, Marianne Boelscher presents sets of data to illustrate collective and individual strategies for the management of symbols for social and political ends. She shows that the intentional ambiguity in the rhetoric surrounding group memberships and boundaries -- rank, kinship categories, marital alliances, names, and crests -- permits these symbols to be continuously renegotiated in discourse to meet these goals. The book is based on data collected by the author during extensive fieldwork with the Masset Haida during the late 1970s and early 1980s and on the evaluation of earlier ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources. The study shows that Haida cultural values and their expression in discourse have survived decades of oppression through white society. By providing the Haida perspective, the book enhances our understanding of important social issues, such as Haida land claims, that have vexed the Haida and Canadian nations for generations.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Preface

Transcription of Haida Phonetics

Kin Term Abbreviations and Symbols

Introduction

The People and the Setting

Moieties, Lineages, and the Curtain Within

The Rhetoric of Rank and Reciprocity

Categories of Kinship and Marriage According to Rule

The Flux of Symbolic and Material Property

Powers and Their Transformations

Afterthoughts

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-228) and index.

ISBN:

1-283-22613-8

9786613226136

0-7748-5676-9

OCLC:

243616437