POLES, POTLATCHING, AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS : The Use of Aboriginal Culture in Development
In the summer of 1987 the Tsimshians of the village of Kitsumkalum in northwestern British Columbia raised three totem poles, a massive undertaking that enabled them to demonstrate the strength of their community and the political potency of their leaders to mobilize support for their goals. Today,...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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Canadian Anthropology Society / Société Canadienne d’Anthropologie (CASCA), formerly/anciennement Canadian Ethnology Society / Société Canadienne d’Ethnologie
1990
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| Online Access: | http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1081343ar https://doi.org/10.7202/1081343ar |
| Summary: | In the summer of 1987 the Tsimshians of the village of Kitsumkalum in northwestern British Columbia raised three totem poles, a massive undertaking that enabled them to demonstrate the strength of their community and the political potency of their leaders to mobilize support for their goals. Today, aboriginal culture is being used as a resource to devise creative strategies for asserting or negotiating a social and political status quo. The pole raising was a means for these Tsimshians to restructure their mode of political expression and important aspects of their social organization along tradition lines. This paper examines how aboriginal culture was used to contextualize and negotiate policy issues critical to the community: land claims, self-government, and economic development. Pendant l’été 1987, les Tsimshians du village de Kitsumkalum, dans le nord-ouest de la Colombie-Britannique, ont érigé trois totems. Cette entreprise colossale a pleinement révélé la vigueur de leur communauté et l’influence qu’exercent les chefs pour mobiliser l’appui nécessaire à la réalisation de buts collectifs. A l’heure actuelle, la culture autochtone est utilisée comme un moyen permettant d’établir des stratégies visant à consolider ou à négocier un statu quo socio-politique. L’élévation des mâts totémiques a donc fourni aux Tsimshians l’occasion de restructurer leur mode d’expression politique et d’importants aspects de leur organisation sociale, conformément à leurs traditions. Cette étude explore comment la culture des autochtones a été employée pour négocier, dans le contexte approprié, des questions d’une importance vitale pour la communauté, telles que les revendications territoriales, l’autonomie gouvernementale et le développement économique. |
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