This thesis explores the changing meaning of wind dried salmon in
contemporary constructions of the culture of the Stó:lō First Nation. Wind drying has
been a method of preserving salmon for the Aboriginal peoples of the lower mainland
of British Columbia since time immemorial, providing significant winter provisions.
However, over the course of the last one hundred years, participation in this fishing
activity has been drastically decreased and currently only a handful of Stó:lō families
maintain dry racks in the Fraser canyon. As a result, wind dried salmon has gone from
being a staple to a delicacy, and is now valued as a cultural tradition, rather than merely
as a food product. This change in culturally inscribed meaning is a product of the
relationship between Stó:lō fishing activities and fishery regulations imposed by the
settler state. Increasing restrictions of Aboriginal fishing rights have resulted in
decreased participation and success in the Stó:lō fisheries. Furthermore, regulation has
artificially categorized and segregated Stó:lō fishing activities, dislocating the
commercialized fresh catch from the "subsistence" dried fish harvest. The response to
this regulatory pressure has been the traditionalization of the wind dry fishery, situating
the activity as a cultural symbol and a point of resistance to external control. Wind
dryers currently refuse to commercialize the wind dry fishery, thus resisting outside
control of the management of the fishery and the distribution of the harvest. This
situation is discussed in light of anthropological understandings of the construction of
traditions, and the issues of Aboriginal rights surrounding contemporary Stó:lōfishing
activities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8016 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Butler, Caroline F. |
| 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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