Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920
The radical transformations attendant upon the imposition of colonial rule on the Siksikaitsitapi or Blackfoot of northern Alberta and southern Montana are examined in this dissertation in order to emphasise the threads of continuity within a tapestry of cultural change c.1870-1920. The dissertation...
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UNSW Sydney
2007
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Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 |
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ftdatacite:10.26190/unsworks/17805 2023-05-15T16:16:27+02:00 Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 Tovías de Plaisted, Blanca 2007 https://dx.doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 unknown UNSW Sydney https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ cc by-nc-nd 3.0 CC-BY-NC-ND Siksika Indians. Indians of North America -- Foreign influences. Indians of North America -- Cultural assimilation. Dissertation thesis Thesis doctoral thesis 2007 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 2022-04-01T18:57:04Z The radical transformations attendant upon the imposition of colonial rule on the Siksikaitsitapi or Blackfoot of northern Alberta and southern Montana are examined in this dissertation in order to emphasise the threads of continuity within a tapestry of cultural change c.1870-1920. The dissertation traces cultural persistence through the analysis of texts of history and literature that constructed Blackfoot subjectivity in the half-century following the end of traditional lifeways and settlement on three reserves in Canada and one reservation in the United States of America. This interdisciplinary thesis has been undertaken jointly in the School of History and Philosophy, and the School of English, Media and Performance Studies. It combines the tools of historical research and literary criticism to analyse the discourses and counter-discourses that served to construct Blackfoot subjectivity in colonial texts. It engages with the ways in which the Blackfoot navigated colonisation and resisted forced acculturation while adopting strategies of accommodation to ensure social reproduction and even physical survival in this period. To this end, it presents four case studies, each focusing on a discrete process of Blackfoot cultural transformation: a) the resistance to acculturation and cultural revitalisation as it relates to the practice of Ookaan (Sun Dance); b) the power shifts ushered in by European contact and the intersection between power and Blackfoot dress practices; c) the participation of Blackfoot "organic intellectuals" in the construction of Blackfoot history through the transformation of oral stories into text via the ethnographic encounter; and d) the continuing links between Blackfoot history and literature, and contemporary fictional representations of Blackfoot subjectivity by First Nations authors. This thesis acknowledges that Blackfoot history and literature have been constructed through a complex matrix of textual representations from their earliest contacts with Europeans. This dissertation is a study of the intersection between textual representations of the Blackfoot, and resistance, persistence and cultural revitalisation 1870-1920. It seeks to contribute to debates on the capacity of the colonised Other to exercise agency. It engages with views articulated by organic intellectuals, and Blackfoot and other First Nations scholars, in order to foster a dialogue between Blackfoot and non-Blackfoot scholarship. Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis First Nations DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Canada |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Siksika Indians. Indians of North America -- Foreign influences. Indians of North America -- Cultural assimilation. |
spellingShingle |
Siksika Indians. Indians of North America -- Foreign influences. Indians of North America -- Cultural assimilation. Tovías de Plaisted, Blanca Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 |
topic_facet |
Siksika Indians. Indians of North America -- Foreign influences. Indians of North America -- Cultural assimilation. |
description |
The radical transformations attendant upon the imposition of colonial rule on the Siksikaitsitapi or Blackfoot of northern Alberta and southern Montana are examined in this dissertation in order to emphasise the threads of continuity within a tapestry of cultural change c.1870-1920. The dissertation traces cultural persistence through the analysis of texts of history and literature that constructed Blackfoot subjectivity in the half-century following the end of traditional lifeways and settlement on three reserves in Canada and one reservation in the United States of America. This interdisciplinary thesis has been undertaken jointly in the School of History and Philosophy, and the School of English, Media and Performance Studies. It combines the tools of historical research and literary criticism to analyse the discourses and counter-discourses that served to construct Blackfoot subjectivity in colonial texts. It engages with the ways in which the Blackfoot navigated colonisation and resisted forced acculturation while adopting strategies of accommodation to ensure social reproduction and even physical survival in this period. To this end, it presents four case studies, each focusing on a discrete process of Blackfoot cultural transformation: a) the resistance to acculturation and cultural revitalisation as it relates to the practice of Ookaan (Sun Dance); b) the power shifts ushered in by European contact and the intersection between power and Blackfoot dress practices; c) the participation of Blackfoot "organic intellectuals" in the construction of Blackfoot history through the transformation of oral stories into text via the ethnographic encounter; and d) the continuing links between Blackfoot history and literature, and contemporary fictional representations of Blackfoot subjectivity by First Nations authors. This thesis acknowledges that Blackfoot history and literature have been constructed through a complex matrix of textual representations from their earliest contacts with Europeans. This dissertation is a study of the intersection between textual representations of the Blackfoot, and resistance, persistence and cultural revitalisation 1870-1920. It seeks to contribute to debates on the capacity of the colonised Other to exercise agency. It engages with views articulated by organic intellectuals, and Blackfoot and other First Nations scholars, in order to foster a dialogue between Blackfoot and non-Blackfoot scholarship. |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Tovías de Plaisted, Blanca |
author_facet |
Tovías de Plaisted, Blanca |
author_sort |
Tovías de Plaisted, Blanca |
title |
Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 |
title_short |
Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 |
title_full |
Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 |
title_fullStr |
Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 |
title_sort |
resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 |
publisher |
UNSW Sydney |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ cc by-nc-nd 3.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 |
_version_ |
1766002309118033920 |