"Almost lost but not forgotten" : contemporary social uses of Central Coast Salish spindle whorls

• Main Author: Keighley, Diane Elizabeth
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Spindle-whorls; Coast Salish > Material culture; Art and social conflict; Imperialism; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/10270

In this thesis I investigate social processes that motivate the contemporary reproduction and public dissemination of older Central Coast Salish spindle whorls. In a case study, I develop a cultural biography of spindle whorls to examine how material culture produced by past generations informs contemporary activity. Visual materials, first- and third-person accounts and writings in three areas—material culture, the social nature of art and colonialism—are drawn together to demonstrate that spindle whorl production and circulation is grounded in social and historical contingencies specific to Central Coast Salish First Nations. I propose that in using spindle whorls, Central Coast Salish people are drawing on the past to strengthen their position within current circumstances. Arts, Faculty of Anthropology, Department of Graduate