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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/14908 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Carlson, Keith Thor |
| 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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