Threads of Resistance: Unraveling the Meanings of 19th Century Tlingit Beaded Regalia

• Main Author: Smetzer, Megan A.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2002
• Subjects: Art and Design; Erna; tlingit; Alaska
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/416; https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/tsaconf/article/1415/viewcontent/smetzer.pdf

Although not the first to make the connection, Ensign Albert Niblack of the U.S. Navy wrote most succinctly in 1888: “There seems nothing unreasonable in tracing the origin of much of the dance and ceremonial paraphernalia to customs originating in war.†Since that time, numerous scholars have suggested and disputed links between Tlingit carved and painted armor and ceremonial regalia. Beaded regalia, on the other hand has been almost entirely neglected in Northwest Coast ethnographic literature due to notions of authenticity and cultural degeneration. In 1945, anthropologist Erna Gunther for example, explained beaded dance collars as a mere disguise for western-style shirts. By examining the changes wrought by colonial processes in the contact zone of Southeast Alaska throughout the 19th century, I shall consider in more detail the possible links between 18th century wooden armor, specifically neck armor and wood and hide breastplates, and 19th and early 20th century beaded dance collars and tunics. I will suggest that the layers of meaning are richer and more complex than previously believed. The impact of colonialism, both Russian and American, spiritual and secular, changed the object of physical protection to one of cultural continuation. While recognizing the complex interactions within Tlingit communities, and with other Native groups on the Northwest Coast and interior, for the purposes of this paper I shall focus primarily on the relationship between colonizers and colonized. Mary Louise Pratt’s notion of the contact zone is central to my argument. She defines it as “the space of colonial encounters, the space in which peoples geographically and historically separated come into contact with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually involving conditions of coercion, radical inequality and intractable conflict.†Early interactions within the contact zone led to the incorporation of new materials into armor, and later, the development of new forms of regalia such as the beaded dance ...