This ethnographic research project examines the re-creation, performance and
dissemination of identity through performance (storytelling, song, and dance) at a tourist site,
Hiwus Feasthouse. In general, this thesis examines how the Salish negotiate meaning and
significance through performance. The overall objective is to explore what Hiwus, as a site
for creating and performing identity, means to the Coast Salish people who work there.
This thesis demonstrates how the Salish at Hiwus have a great deal of agency in terms
of the content of performances, unlike many other tourist sites where the corporation often
controls the program. I suggest that the Salish employees express layers of a "meshed
identity" - local, ethnic-tribal, Canadian, and pan-Indian - at different times throughout the
performances. I also suggest that the First Nations people at Hiwus deconstruct the
"imaginary Indian" via performance and valorize their own re-imagination of history and
identity. I propose that they do this by drawing on Salish epistemology and world-views. In
particular, I demonstrate how Salish understandings of "place" and the use of a "ceremonial
framework" at Hiwus provide the Salish a way of sorting through multiple zones of contact.
This thesis contributes to the anthropological literature on tourism in that it focuses
on First Nations people's agency, views, and perspectives. I also challenge problematic
terms such as authenticity, "staged authenticity," and tradition. The current literature on
tourism lacks a workable theoretical framework for examining the dialogical interactions at
tourist sites. I attempt to deal with this dilemma by drawing on my own ethnographic data,
complemented by the existing ethnographic literature, to examine how the Salish perform
identity and culture at Hiwus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/12216 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Scarangella, Linda |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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