Book
The potlatch papers : a colonial case history / Christopher Bracken.
Variously described as an exchange of gifts, a destruction of property, a system of banking, and a struggle for prestige, the potlatch is one of the founding concepts of anthropology. Some researchers even claim to have discovered traces of the potlatch in all the economies of the world. However, as Christopher Bracken shows in this elegantly argued work, the potlatch was in fact invented by the nineteenth-century Canadian law that sought to destroy it. In addition to giving the world its own potlatch, the law also generated a random collection of "potlatch papers" dating from the 1860s to the 1930s. Bracken meticulously analyzes these documents - some canonical, like Franz Boas's ethnographies, others unpublished and little known - to catch a colonialist discourse in the act of constructing fictions about First Nations and then deploying those fictions against them. Rather than referring to objects that already exist, the "potlatch papers" instead gave themselves something to refer to, a mirror in which to observe not "the Indian," but "the European."
Record details
- ISBN: 0226069877
- ISBN: 9780226069869 (cloth : alk. paper)
- ISBN: 0226069877 (paper : alk. paper)
- ISBN: 9780226069876 (paper : alk. paper)
- Physical Description: 276 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.
- Publisher: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Content descriptions
- Bibliography, etc. Note:
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [251]-265) and index.
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Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Northwest Indian College.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lummi Library | E 78 .C2 B73 1997 | 265987 | Stacks | Available | - |
Electronic resources
- Related Resource: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/uchi052/97009829.html
- Publisher description
- Version of Resource: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0608/97009829-t.html
- Table of contents only
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| 100 | 1 | . | ‡aBracken, Christopher. |
| 245 | 1 | 4. | ‡aThe potlatch papers : ‡ba colonial case history / ‡cChristopher Bracken. |
| 260 | . | ‡aChicago : ‡bUniversity of Chicago Press, ‡c1997. | |
| 300 | . | ‡a276 pages : ‡billustrations, maps ; ‡c23 cm. | |
| 336 | . | ‡atext ‡btxt ‡2rdacontent | |
| 337 | . | ‡aunmediated ‡bn ‡2rdamedia | |
| 338 | . | ‡avolume ‡bnc ‡2rdacarrier | |
| 504 | . | ‡aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [251]-265) and index. | |
| 520 | . | ‡aVariously described as an exchange of gifts, a destruction of property, a system of banking, and a struggle for prestige, the potlatch is one of the founding concepts of anthropology. Some researchers even claim to have discovered traces of the potlatch in all the economies of the world. However, as Christopher Bracken shows in this elegantly argued work, the potlatch was in fact invented by the nineteenth-century Canadian law that sought to destroy it. In addition to giving the world its own potlatch, the law also generated a random collection of "potlatch papers" dating from the 1860s to the 1930s. Bracken meticulously analyzes these documents - some canonical, like Franz Boas's ethnographies, others unpublished and little known - to catch a colonialist discourse in the act of constructing fictions about First Nations and then deploying those fictions against them. Rather than referring to objects that already exist, the "potlatch papers" instead gave themselves something to refer to, a mirror in which to observe not "the Indian," but "the European." | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aPotlatch ‡zCanada ‡xHistory ‡xSources. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aIndians of North America ‡zCanada ‡xSocial life and customs. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aIndians of North America ‡zCanada ‡xGovernment relations. | |
| 650 | 0. | ‡aIndians of North America ‡xLegal status, laws, etc. ‡zCanada. | |
| 651 | 0. | ‡aCanada ‡xPolitics and government. | |
| 651 | 0. | ‡aCanada ‡xRace relations. | |
| 852 | . | ‡kE ‡h78 .C2 B78 1997 ‡p265987 ‡6PB ‡820080117 | |
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