This thesis explores the dialectical relationship between aboriginal and anthropological
discourses of tradition and cultural performance. Specifically, I examine some ways in which
concepts of tradition and culture are invoked in British Columbia's First Nations communities in
order to negotiate, validate, and contest contemporary transformations to cultural practice. Two case
studies of recent controversies within Kwakwaka'wakw communities are presented, one
surrounding the bestowal of the Hamat'sa Dance on the pan-tribal American Indian Dance Theater
for use in public presentations, the other involving the performance of the Hamat'sa— customarily a
male prerogative— by women. This study addresses both local Kwakwaka'wakw dialogues about
history and contemporary values, and the larger public, academic, and political environments in
which those dialogues occur. This thesis takes as its broadest context these dialogues and shifts in
the scale of identity and representation: between different native communities and different voices
within them; between contests for local privilege and global control over "national" heritage;
between indigenous peoples and the discipline of anthropology. I argue that tradition is best
approached as a critical value emerging from these discourses, a concept which is intentionally used
as a marker of present identity through strategic appeal to the past.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/9209 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Glass, Aaron J. |
| 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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