The effects of culture contact on the Tsimshian system of land tenure during the nineteenth century ...

• Main Author: Darling, John Davidson
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2011
• Subjects: Tsimshian; Tsimshian*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0105860; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0105860

To understand the system under which land rights are held in any pre—literate society, one must refer to the cultural background since primitive tenure is usually tied in with other aspects of culture. Thus, because a person may hold rights in land according to his social, political and economic status, it is necessary to obtain a clear picture of the social, political, and economic structure, Because a person may obtain or lose his rights according to a change in status, one must be familiar with the rules of succession and inheritance, marriage customs and lineage ties. Public ceremony and tribal mythology are often instruments for the validation of claims, while the means of guaranteeing rights in land are related to the system of social control. Moreover, the reasons for desiring land can only be fully explained by referring to cultural values. It follows that because of this relationship between land tenure and the rest of culture, a system of tenure will be affected by change occurring in cultural ...