The Potlatch Papers

Variously described as an exchange of gifts, a destruction of property, a system of banking, and a struggle for prestige, the potlatch is considered one of the founding concepts of anthropology. However, the author here dismisses such a theory, arguing the concept was invented by 19th-century Canadian law for the purpose of control. 9 halftones.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the visual arts were considered central to the formation of a distinct national identity, and the Group of Seven's landscapes became part of a larger program to unify the nation and assert its uniqueness. This book traces the development of this program and illuminates its conflicted history. Leslie Dawn problematizes conventional perceptions of the Group as a national school and underscores the contradictions inherent in international exhibitions showing unpeopled landscapes alongside Northwest Coast Native arts and the "Indian" paintings of Langdon Kihn and Emily Carr. Dawn examines how this dichotomy forced a re-evaluation of the place of First Nations in both Canadian art and nationalism.

The Kwakwaka'wakw people and their culture have been the subject of more anthropological writings than any other ethnic group on the Northwest Coast. Until now, however, no biography had been written by or about a Kwakwaka'wakw woman. Paddling to Where I Stand presents the memoirs of Agnes Alfred (c. 1890-1992), a non-literate noble Qwiqwasutinuxw woman of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation and one of the last great storytellers among her peers in the classic oral tradition. Agnes Alfred documents through myths, historical accounts, and personal reminiscences the foundations and the enduring pulse of her culture. She shows how a First Nations woman managed to quietly fulfil her role as a noble matriarch in her ever-changing society, thus providing a role model for those who came after her. She also contributes significant light and understanding to several traditional practices including prearranged marriages and traditional potlatches. Paddling to Where I stand is more than another anthropological interpretation of Kwakwaka'wakw culture. It is the first-hand account, by a woman, of the greatest period of change she and her people experienced since first contact with Europeans, and her memoirs flow from her urgently felt desire to pass on her knowledge to younger generations..

During the Enlightenment, Western scholars racialized ideas, deeming knowledge based on reality superior to that based on ideality. Scholars labeled inquiries into ideality, such as animism and soul-migration, “savage philosophy,” a clear indicator of the racism motivating the distinction between the real and the ideal. In their view, the savage philosopher mistakes connections between signs for connections between real objects and believes that discourse can have physical effects—in other words, they believe in magic. Christopher Bracken’s Magical Criticism brings the unacknowledged history of this racialization to light and shows how, even as we have rejected ethnocentric notions of “the savage,” they remain active today in everything from attacks on postmodernism to Native American land disputes. Here Bracken reveals that many of the most influential Western thinkers dabbled in savage philosophy, from Marx, Nietzsche, and Proust, to Freud, C. S. Peirce, and Walter Benjamin. For Bracken, this recourse to savage philosophy presents an opportunity to reclaim a magical criticism that can explain the very real effects created by the discourse of historians, anthropologists, philosophers, the media, and governments.

"The Great Depression of the 1930s was a golden age for advertising, as corporate America sought to retain its customer base in the wake of the Crash of '29. For a struggling paper manufacturer in Cloquet, Minnesota, the times were all the more difficult because it had recently invested in costly new machinery. In desperation, the executives of Northwest Paper called in an ad agent from Chicago to boost sales and save the company. Together, they created an ad campaign that would be one of the longest-running and best-known in American commercial history. The name of the firm and its location in the north woods of Minnesota provided the inspiration for a series of story-ads featuring the adventures of the North West Mounted Police of Canada." "The sixteen artists who worked on the Mountie series between 1931 and 1970 were among the most famous commercial illustrators of their day. The first of these was Hal Foster, who later created the Prince Valiant comic strip. Another, the most prolific "Mountie" artist, was Arnold Friberg, who stayed with the project for thirty-three years. Friberg's Mounted Police pictures are much sought-after by collectors and are still in circulation in the form of calendars, pamphlets, and other printed materials."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved