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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Format: | Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
Language: | English |
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UNSW, Sydney
2007
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/d83ed51b-e097-420c-8aab-d598fd3cf3e5/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 |
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ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/43907 2023-05-15T16:17:05+02:00 Resistance and cultural revitalisation : reading Blackfoot agency in the texts of cultural transformation 1870–1920 Tovías de Plaisted, Blanca 2007 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/d83ed51b-e097-420c-8aab-d598fd3cf3e5/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 EN eng UNSW, Sydney http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/d83ed51b-e097-420c-8aab-d598fd3cf3e5/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ free_to_read CC-BY-NC-ND Siksika Indians Indians of North America -- Foreign influences Indians of North America -- Cultural assimilation doctoral thesis http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06 2007 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 2022-08-09T07:37:36Z 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 ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis First Nations UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks Canada |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
English |
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 ... |
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 |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/d83ed51b-e097-420c-8aab-d598fd3cf3e5/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/43907 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/d83ed51b-e097-420c-8aab-d598fd3cf3e5/download https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 |
op_rights |
open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ free_to_read |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/17805 |
_version_ |
1766002926618148864 |