This thesis describes the aboriginal and contemporary social organization of the Coast Salish people of southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington State, with a focus on the Squamish Nation whose Reserves are situated in North Vancouver and the Howe Sound area. It is based on field research undertaken over a 30-year period and on published and unpublished sources. The thesis explores the construction of kinship and social groups among the Coast Salish, and the transformation of these relationships over time and in various historical circumstances, from the mid-19th century to the present day. Drawing upon the theoretical approaches of William Davenport (1959), Raymond Firth (1963) and Anthony Cohen (1985), among others, the thesis discusses key components of Coast Salish social organization and identity, including a group's contrasting identity and relation to the groups within its ambit of comparison, the association of specific social units with territory, and the expression of status in both traditional and contemporary society. Specific findings document a shift to nuclear family households, the adoption of English kinship terms, the development of hereditary and elected leadership, and the emergence of the Tribe and the First Nation as primary symbols of identity in the 20th century. Some current issues resulting from the impact of change are examined in the context of naming ceremonies and disputes over inherited property, including ancestral names. The thesis argues that the diversity and complexity of neither the traditional nor transformed expressions of Coast Salish social organization find congruence with models of aboriginal society being deployed by contemporary Courts and Treaty negotiators. Issues of territorial "overlap" presently impeding treaty negotiation among BC's Coast Salish peoples were nevertheless predictable, for like some of the world's other cognatic societies, the Coast Salish could hold discrete notions of identity simultaneously. In conclusion, the thesis examines briefly the application to the Coast Salish of Lévi-Strauss' "House-society" as a specific form of social organization.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1985. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [507]-538.

This study is based on analysis of ethnographic literature; personal observation of contemporary spirit dance and healing ceremonies in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia; individual interviews with Coast Salish Indian leaders, ritualists, and other spirit ceremonial participants; and on five years of close contact with the Upper Stalo Indians as physician and regional mental health officer. In the Coast Salish area, the North American Indian guardian spirit complex combined the spirit quest of the Plateau tribes with secret society features of Northwest Coast culture. The suppression of the traditional ceremonial by church and government authorities in the decades following the White intrusion is briefly illustrated, and the history of the recent revival of spirit dancing in the Fraser Valley is reported. Ethnographic evidence is cited to demonstrate that the achievement of altered states of consciousness was an essential aspect of the traditional ceremonial: the spirit encounter took place in such a psychophysiologic state, and the traditional spirit quest and spirit dance initiation involved conditions and techniques identical with, or analogous to, those commonly found in the production of altered states of consciousness elsewhere. The seasonal spirit illness of future spirit dancers in traditional Coast Salish culture was a stereotyped pathomorphic, but not pathologic, prelude to the public exhibition of spirit powers in the dance ceremonial. Today it is often fused with psychic and psychophysiologic symptom formation in the context of cultural and social deprivation, a syndrome which the author describes under the heading of anomic depression. Diagnosis of this condition as spirit illness permits re-identification of an estranged Indian person with the aboriginal culture via initiation into spirit dancing. The author presents contemporary spirit dance initiation as a healing process based on the therapeutic myth of death and rebirth of the neophyte who is made to regress to a state of infantile dependency in order to obtain his spirit power and to grow with it into a more rewarding and healthier existence. Personality depatterning and reorientation towards the ideal norms of Salish culture is achieved through shock treatments and various types of sensory deprivation and stimulation, followed by physical exercise and indoctrination. In contemporary Salish theory and practice, persons suffering from depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints unresponsive to Western methods of treatment, as well as persons with behaviour problems, are candidates for the initiation procedure which implies considerable expenses and some risks. The revived ceremonial provides the local native population with an annual winter treatment programme integrating several types of therapy which are identified and discussed. Preliminary data suggest that, as far as the Indian clientele is concerned, the therapeutic effectiveness of this indigenous Salish treatment compares favourably with Western medical approaches, in conditions of ill health in which psychophysiologic mechanisms are prominent, and with Western correctional management of behaviour disorders associated with alcohol or drug abuse. Analysis of the changes occurring in the traditional ceremonial since the revival of spirit dancing, shows that what in the past was a ritual with psychohygienic aspects is now an organized Indian effort at culture-congenial psychotherapy. In an attempt to define and localize modern Salish spirit dancing as a social phenomenon within proposed classificatory schemata, it is characterized as a redemptive movement aiming at total personality change, with nativistic tendencies towards a collective Indian renaissance. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Slahal is a gambling game played by North American natives on the North Pacific coast. This activity is of particular interest to the ethnomusicologist because of the large body of songs which not only accompanies but also is intimately linked with it. The thesis which follows is a résumé of research done over the past two and one-half years and deals with the slahal songs of the Coast Salish. I begin with a description of the game itself the object of which is to guess the location of two tokens concealed in the hands of the opponents. We soon learn that gambling music, as one may say about music in general, has a certain power -- the ability to elevate the entire game experience into a different and more exciting realm than that of an ordinary game. The main bulk of the thesis is in the second part where I have presented 77 representative songs out of 194, transcribed from over twelve hours of music. Along with the songs are analyses and comments which are found in summary form in Part III. The concluding section touches upon the significance of slahal in present-day Indian culture. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

In the past, the Ministry of Social Services and Housing has placed many native children from the Seabird Island Band, a Salish band in the Sta’lo Nation, in permanent placement or adoption off the reserve. Government agencies imposed a system of child welfare that superseded Seabird Island adoption practices. The Seabird Island Band members would prefer to see these children placed within the band through ‘custom’ adoption. In apprehension and placement court cases, the band social worker has needed documented information defining ‘custom’ adoption, and data regarding the benefits of this Seabird Island process. This thesis investigates and documents the process and results of adoption on the Seabird Island Indian Reserve. This thesis begins with a brief history of Canadian adoption policy as it applies to First Nations people. The thesis is based on detailed taped interviews with Seabird Island Band members who had experienced foster care and/or adoption. This fieldwork was the result of negotiation with the Seabird Island Band to discover the type of research that they needed. The thesis documents four kinds of adoption experience of the Seabird Island members: foster care, closed legal adoption, open adoption, and ‘custom’ adoption. In my analysis of these adoption experiences, three main themes occur: (1) issues of ethnic identity, (2) power and the child welfare system, and (3) the definition and functions of ‘custom’ adoption. The thesis concludes that the imposed system of child welfare based on Euro-western ideas of appropriate child care may have destroyed or seriously damaged some Seabird Island Band members’ sense of ethnic identity. As well, it may be a factor in the break-up of the extended family. ‘Custom’ adoption, as defined by Seabird Island Band members, offers an alternate model for keeping apprehended Seabird Island children within the band. Open adoption, as defined by the pilot project documented, is an alternative for those children who cannot be returned to the band. I have made several recommendations in the conclusion for the Seabird Island Band’s consideration. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis documents the employment history of Sne-nay-muxw women. The Sne nay-muxw, a Coast Salish peoples, live on the southeast coast ofVancouver Island close to the city ofNanaimo. Nanaimo was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852 as coal mining town. Coal dominated the economy until the early 20th century when forestry related production became important. Today a service economy has eclipsed both the primary and secondary industries. Within these economies a distinct gender, race and class segregation structured Sne-nay-muxw women’s employment opportunities. This study examines the nature of this segregation, the Sne-nay-muxw domestic economy and the gender ideology that promoted both women’s inclusion and exclusion in. wage labour. A central question posed in this thesis is why Sne-nay-muxw women today perceive their traditional roles to be within the home despite their historical participation in the labour force. Feminist anthropology provides the theoretical and methodological approach used for this study. It is accepted that women’s experiences in the labour force are different not only from men but also from other women based upon relational inequalities ofrace and class. Historical data was collected from a variety of sources; published and unpublished government reports, missionary accounts, letters and journals. Nineteen women and eight men were interviewed in the community for both historic and contemporary accounts of employment experiences. History reveals that during the mining economy Sne-nay-muxw women were excluded from working in the mines and limited to employment as domestic servants. The introduction of Chinese labour, decreasing coal demands and increased technology forced many women to migrate with their families to the canneries on the Fraser river and the hop fields in Washington state. In the forestry related production economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities were limited despite the expansion of employment for women in the service sector. State policies and inferior education were significant factors in this exclusion. At this time Sne-nay-muxw women continued to migrate with their families to the fish camps on Rivers Inlet and the berry fields in Washington state. In the last two decades the service economy has dominated in Nanaimo. Sne-nay-muxw women have found increasing job opportunities on and off reserve in administration, management and professional service delivery programs. While this employment is part of the wider trend for women in the service economy, Sne-nay-muxw women’s opportunities remain segregated by gender, race and class. Women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be linked to the organization of their domestic economy. Before 1920 this economy incorporated both subsistence production and farming with seasonal wage labour. After this time the Sne-nay-muxw became increasingly dependent upon wage labour. However, extended family and kinship networks have remained important for support and cooperation. This form ofhousehold organization did not constrain women’s participation in the labour force. Today extended families remain the central organizing principle in Sne-nay-muxw lives. Sne-nay-muxw women’s identity and opportunities for education and employment remain linked to their membership in these families. Shifts in women’s participation in the labour force is shown to be accompanied by acceptance of a domestic ideology. During the mining economy when women actively sought wage labour, they acquired domestic skills needed for wage labour but did not accept an ideology that promoted their dependency upon men. Historical evidence indicates that they retained a significant degree of autonomy in their lives. With men’s increased security of employment in the forestry economy, the idealized role ofwomen as housewives was promoted. Families that were able to realize women’s exclusion from the labour force gained status and prestige in the community. Finally, in the service economy, the Sne-nay-muxw gender ideology includes women’s participation in the labour force to occupations linked to their domestic and nurturing roles. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

This dissertation historicizes and explains the tensions that arose between localized and regionally dispersed expressions of group affiliation and political authority among the indigenous people of the Lower Fraser River watershed after European contact. It accomplishes this by directly engaging indigenous historiography and epistemology. The period examined covers the late eighteenth century, just prior to the first smallpox epidemic, through to 1906 when a delegation of Salish men met with King Edward in London on behalf of all the Native people of British Columbia. I argue that Aboriginal collective identity and political authority are and were situationally constructed products of complicated negotiations among indigenous people and between Natives and newcomers. Multiple options were always available and the various expressions that shared identity assumed never were the only ones possible. Consequently, among the local indigenous population, history has always been regarded as an important arbitrator of identity and disagreements over competing historical interpretations highly contentious. To a greater extent than has been appreciated, changes in the way Native collective affiliations have been constituted have been informed by reference to ancient sacred stories and an ongoing process of interpreting past precedence. They are also intimately linked to migrations. Over time and across geography, different indigenous people have used these stories to different ends. Gendered and class-based distinctions in the way these narratives have been applied to either the creation of innovative collective identities or to the defense of older expressions reveal the tensions within Aboriginal society and between Natives and newcomers that arose as indigenous people struggled to make sense of a rapidly changing colonial world. The uncertainty following pivotal historical events allowed these submerged tensions to assume more public forms. Examined here are the important identity shaping historical events and migrations that indigenous historiography has emphasized: Creation, the Great Flood, the 1780 smallpox epidemic, the establishment of local Hudson's Bay trading posts in 1827 and 1846, the 1858 goldrush, the imposition of colonial reserves, the banning of the potlatch, the 1884 hostile incursions into Canadian Native communities of an American lynch mob, and the government policy to transform Salish fishermen into western-style farmers. Ultimately, Western ideologies, colonial authority and global economic forces are considered as forces acting within indigenous society, and not merely as exogenous powers acting upon

This dissertation historicizes and explains the tensions that arose between localized and regionally dispersed expressions of group affiliation and political authority among the indigenous people of the Lower Fraser River watershed after European contact. It accomplishes this by directly engaging indigenous historiography and epistemology. The period examined covers the late eighteenth century, just prior to the first smallpox epidemic, through to 1906 when a delegation of Salish men met with King Edward in London on behalf of all the Native people of British Columbia. I argue that Aboriginal collective identity and political authority are and were situationally constructed products of complicated negotiations among indigenous people and between Natives and newcomers. Multiple options were always available and the various expressions that shared identity assumed never were the only ones possible. Consequently, among the local indigenous population, history has always been regarded as an important arbitrator of identity and disagreements over competing historical interpretations highly contentious. To a greater extent than has been appreciated, changes in the way Native collective affiliations have been constituted have been informed by reference to ancient sacred stories and an ongoing process of interpreting past precedence. They are also intimately linked to migrations. Over time and across geography, different indigenous people have used these stories to different ends. Gendered and class-based distinctions in the way these narratives have been applied to either the creation of innovative collective identities or to the defense of older expressions reveal the tensions within Aboriginal society and between Natives and newcomers that arose as indigenous people struggled to make sense of a rapidly changing colonial world. The uncertainty following pivotal historical events allowed these submerged tensions to assume more public forms. Examined here are the important identity shaping historical events and migrations that indigenous historiography has emphasized: Creation, the Great Flood, the 1780 smallpox epidemic, the establishment of local Hudson's Bay trading posts in 1827 and 1846, the 1858 goldrush, the imposition of colonial reserves, the banning of the potlatch, the 1884 hostile incursions into Canadian Native communities of an American lynch mob, and the government policy to transform Salish fishermen into western-style farmers. Ultimately, Western ideologies, colonial authority and global economic forces are considered as forces acting within indigenous society, and not merely as exogenous powers acting upon / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of the 10-week filial therapy model as an intervention for Native American parents and their children residing on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. Filial therapy is an approach used by play therapists to train parents to be therapeutic agents with their own children. Parents are taught basic child-centered play therapy skills and practice those skills during weekly play sessions with their children. The purpose of this study was to determine if filial therapy is effective in: 1) increasing parental acceptance of Native Americans residing on the Flathead Reservation of their children; 2) reducing the stress level of those parents; 3) improving empathic behaviors of those parents toward their children; 4) changing the play behaviors of children with their parents who participated in the training; and, 5) enhancing the self-concept of those children. The experimental group parents (N=11) received 10 weekly 2-hour filial therapy training sessions and participated in weekly 30-minute play sessions with one of their children. The control group (N=10) received no treatment during the 10 weeks. All adult participants completed the Porter Parental Acceptance Scale and the Parenting Stress Index. Child participants completed the Joseph Pre-school and Primary Self Concept Screening Test. Parent and child participants were videotaped playing together in 20-minute videotaped play sessions before and after the training to measure empathic behavior in parent-child interactions and desirable play behaviors in children. Analyses of Covariance revealed that the Native American parents in the experimental group significantly increased their level of empathy in their interactions with their children. Experimental group children significantly increased their level of desirable play behaviors with their parents. Although parental acceptance, parental stress, and children's self concept did not improve significantly, all measures indicated positive trends. In addition, this study gives rise to questions regarding the suitability of current self concept measurement instruments for Native American children and possible cultural differences in parent stress and parental acceptance.

In addressing the necessity of cultural transmission from one generation to the next, this ethnographic study examines ways that Indigenous canoe journeys enable communication of ancestral teachings and traditions, particularly to Kw‟umut Lelum youth. The objective is to identify how experiences and interactions within Indigenous canoe journeys, specifically Tribal Journeys, can connect youth to traditions, environments, Elders, other individuals, and each other. Drawing on interviews with adults and participant observation, I consider relational themes of self and identity to explore the cultural impact on the young people as they participate in Tribal Journeys 2010 and symbolic ceremonies within it. Through qualitative inquiry and inductive reasoning, this interpretive epistemological approach includes concepts specific to the Indigenous research paradigm and uses a performative narrative to present results. Kw‟umut Lelum Child and Family Services is a society committed to the well-being of Indigenous children residing within nine Coast Salish communities on Vancouver Island. The agency focuses on family, community, and sacredness of culture as guided by the Snuw‟uy‟ulh model, which uses the teachings of the present to unite the past and future. Tribal Journeys is a significant cultural event that upholds the Snuw‟uy‟ulh principles while facilitating the communication of ancestral teachings and traditions. Keywords: Indigenous, canoe, youth, culture, tradition, Coast Salish, narrative, perform