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About the Book
The Curtain Within explores the management of social roles and symbols to achieve various goals by people living in a modern Haida community. Moiety and lineage, social rank, the rules of entitlement to inherited property, and the mode of thought encoded in mythology still have force in Haida society. Political action did not and does not take place within the context of formal political institutions; instead it exists through the management of the symbols of social relationships and of entitlement to tangible and intangible property.
Drawing on models of practice theory and discursive action, Marianne Boelscher presents sets of data to illustrate collective and individual strategies for the management of symbols for social and political ends. She shows that the intentional ambiguity in the rhetoric surrounding group memberships and boundaries -- rank, kinship categories, marital alliances, names, and crests -- permits these symbols to be continuously renegotiated in discourse to meet these goals.
The book is based on data collected by the author during extensive fieldwork with the Masset Haida during the late 1970s and early 1980s and on the evaluation of earlier ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources. The study shows that Haida cultural values and their expression in discourse have survived decades of oppression through white society. By providing the Haida perspective, the book enhances our understanding of important social issues, such as Haida land claims, that have vexed the Haida and Canadian nations for generations.
About the Author(s)
Marianne Boelscher is a researcher with the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council and visiting assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Simon Fraser University.
Table of Contents
Preface
Transcription of Haida Phonetics
Kin Term Abbreviations and Symbols
1. Introduction
2. The People and the Setting
3. Moieties, Lineages, and the Curtain Within
4. The Rhetoric of Rank and Reciprocity
5. Categories of Kinship and Marriage According to Rule
6. The Flux of Material and Symbolic Property
7. Powers and Their Transformation
8. Afterthoughts
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Reviews
Presents some interesting information about the relevance of cultural categories of the past for today's Haida people.
- Paula Rubel, American Anthropologist
The various tables of kin terms, calendars, and names are excellent and the conclusions intriguing. Readers, moreover, will never be able to read or listen to a Haida story without questioning its meaning or the message it conveys.
- Anna de Aguayo, BC Studies
Sample Chapter
A sample chapter of this title is not available at this time. For further information, please email info@ubcpress.ubc.ca.
Related Topics
Native Studies > Canada
Anthropology
Native Studies
BC Studies
BC Studies > Native Studies
BC Studies > Anthropology
Other Ways To Order
In Canada, order your copy of The Curtain Within from UTP Distribution at:
UTP Distribution
5201 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario
M3H 5T8
Phone orders: 1(800)565-9523 or (416)667-7791
Fax orders: 1(800)221-9985 or (416)667-7832
Email: utpbooks@utpress.utoronto.ca
Ordering information for customers outside Canada
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