This thesis concerns the process and outcomes of my research involving a
group of Southern Yukon beadwork objects, a project carried out on behalf of the
MacBride Museum in Whitehorse, Yukon, in 1993. I studied the objects
themselves, researched museum documentation of them, and subsequently
interviewed several women elders/beadworkers.
In the thesis I examine several ways of studying and researching material
culture and provide an analysis of these methods. Looking at objects in different
ways tells us something about the nature of them but raises new questions which I
address here. Reviewing museum collections records tells us more about the
institution and the institutional lives of the objects than about their original context
and meaning. Asking elders about the objects inspires them to speak about many
seemingly unconnected topics: history, personal and mythical stories, and long ago
life and times. An underlying theme which emerged in interviews with elders
was their commentary on cultural and societal change within the First Nations
community and how this has affected the process of learning for younger
generations.
I argue that beadwork objects can be best understood as learning and
teaching tools for First Nations people of every generation, that their creation and
essence are linked to every aspect of the culture, and their reclamation cannot
properly happen without observance of all of these connections. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/4382 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Johnson, Ingrid |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 2039799 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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