Reclaiming symbols and history in multiple zones : experiencing Coast Salish culture and identity through performance at Hiwus Feasthouse ...

• Main Author: Scarangella, Linda
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0090273; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0090273

This ethnographic research project examines the re-creation, performance and dissemination of identity through performance (storytelling, song, and dance) at a tourist site, Hiwus Feasthouse. In general, this thesis examines how the Salish negotiate meaning and significance through performance. The overall objective is to explore what Hiwus, as a site for creating and performing identity, means to the Coast Salish people who work there. This thesis demonstrates how the Salish at Hiwus have a great deal of agency in terms of the content of performances, unlike many other tourist sites where the corporation often controls the program. I suggest that the Salish employees express layers of a "meshed identity" - local, ethnic-tribal, Canadian, and pan-Indian - at different times throughout the performances. I also suggest that the First Nations people at Hiwus deconstruct the "imaginary Indian" via performance and valorize their own re-imagination of history and identity. I propose that they do this by drawing on ...