The tsimshian crest system : a study based on museum specimens and the Marius Barbeau and William Beynon field notes ...
This thesis is about the relationship of art and society. Specifically, it investigates Tsimshian crest art and its relationship to social organization. The analytical framework is structural, with explanatory formulations derived in part from the writings of Claude Levi-Strauss and Victor Turner. T...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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University of British Columbia
2011
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0101054 https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0101054 |
| Summary: | This thesis is about the relationship of art and society. Specifically, it investigates Tsimshian crest art and its relationship to social organization. The analytical framework is structural, with explanatory formulations derived in part from the writings of Claude Levi-Strauss and Victor Turner. The study is unusual in that it is based upon museum specimens and records, data not often perceived as amenable to treatment within the context of contemporary social anthropology. It is also the most systematic examination of Northwest Coast iconography yet undertaken. The data include the field notes of Marius Barbeau and William Beynon, collected from the Tsimshian between 1914 and 1957, and preserved in the National Museum of Man. These data were used to construct an iconographic framework or grid within which Tsimshian objects in museums can be identified as crests. The crest system was analyzed as a series of statements about Tsimshian social structure. There are several hundred distinct named crests in the ... |
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