Kwakiutl (people)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Traditional territory of the Kwakiutl and today's main reserves (orange).

The Kwakiutl designated from around 1849 a group of Indian tribes in the north of Canada's Vancouver Iceland , which include the Walas Kwakiutl (Lakwilala) Kwakiutl (Kwágu7lh) Komkiutis and Kweeha (Komoyoi) belonged. They were also known as Fort Rupert Indians .

Today's Kwakiutl First Nation belongs to the northern Kwakwaka'wakw . The name means "smoke of the world". They speak Kwak'wala, a branch of the Wakash language family. However, only 200 tribe members speak this language, i.e. around 4%.

history

Figure of a famous Kwakiutl chief with a ceremonial copper plate, the symbol of wealth, 1881, Ethnological Museum

The name Kwakwaka'wakw comprised 23 to 27 tribal groups linked by language and culture, each with a chief . They were closely related, but they spoke five dialects. Their number is estimated at over 19,000, but by 1924 it had fallen to 1,039. The name "Kwakiutl" has long been transferred to all 12 surviving Kwakwaka'wakw groups.

The Kwakiutl trace their ancestors back to the sun, grizzly bears , seagulls and thunderbirds , even if this myth competes with the creator stories of the neighboring tribes that have left narrative traces among the Kwakiutl.

Not far from the tribal area of ​​the Kwakiutl is Bear Cove , where the oldest archaeological finds on Vancouver Island were made. Shell mounds, meanwhile important remains from early history, were reused for other purposes without hesitation until the 1950s, such as B. during World War II . The shell midden at Fort Rupert was used to expand Port Hardy airport , a mountain 3000 m long, 600 m wide and 15 to 20 m high. Remains of houses and some petroglyphs are among the few archaeological artifacts that are still awaiting documentation.

The tribe was divided into 'na'mima , which means something like of a species . Her relatives were called 'na'mimut . Within these groups there was a hierarchy of chief chiefs who traced themselves back to the ancestors, subordinate chiefs, simple tribesmen and their families. Each 'na'mima in turn had a certain rank within the tribe.

Under the Kwakiutl four tribes were again summarized, the Kwakiutl, the K'umk'utis, the Kwixa and the Walas Kwakiutl. This split can be traced back to a power struggle, therefore the Kwaixa were regarded as "murderers", their opponents, the Kwixamut, were the supporters of the Kwixa. The Kwakiutl were the Gweetala, or northern people, and the Kwixa were the "rich people". The K'umk'utis came from Robson Bight and were called Tlitlekit. They mingled with the Walas Kwakiutl, the former Lakwi'lala, in 1885.

Before 1849 the Kwakiutl lived in Kalugwis. They informed employees of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1835 about coal deposits at Suquash , 14 km southeast of what would later become Fort Rupert. In 1836 the ship Beaver headed for the region, but the "Quaquills", i.e. the Kwagu'l, wanted to mine the coal themselves. The Kwagu'l therefore provided society with coal for several years. But the demand for this raw material increased rapidly due to the growing population and above all due to motorized seafaring, so that the US company Howland & Aspinall entered into negotiations with the Hudson's Bay Company for coal deliveries from Vancouver Island .

Hudson's Bay Company and British Colonial Times

Kwakiutl on a canoe, Edward Curtis 1914

The company, which had long since made the transition from a fur trading company to a comprehensive production and trading company, was ready to invest. In 1849 the Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Rupert next to Tsa x is, an old village, to protect a coal mine . The Kwakiutl mostly moved there and the Lawit'sis lived in their old village. The fort was the first permanent establishment in the Kwakwaka'wakw area, but the Kwakiutl claimed the coal themselves and recaptured the village. So they forced a contract with the company on February 8, 1851. This makes the Kwixa and Kwakiutl the only Kwakwaka'wakw tribes to have signed one of the so-called Douglas Treaties . This refers to contracts that were concluded with the Governor James Douglas . They were given eight reservations around Beaver Harbor and at the mouths of the Keogh River and the Cluxewe River. A larger area of ​​forest on Malcolm Island was also included.

But in December 1865 the HMS Clio appeared in front of the village and had it completely destroyed. Although the Kwakiutl suffered heavy losses, 70 canoes were destroyed and in a short time they rebuilt 26 houses in front of Fort Rupert. This village was to become the central place of worship, famous for its potlatches , until 1900 , when it was ousted by 'Yalis ( Alert Bay ) in the ' Namgis area .

Canada

Epidemics, especially the smallpox epidemic of 1862 , decimated the number of Kwakiutl to 175 (1881), in 1906 only 104 were counted. As early as 1850 and 1851, the British naval power had destroyed the villages of the Nahwitti, a neighboring tribe.

In 1881 Canada established the Kwawkewlth Indian Agency . In the same year the first ethnologists came to the Kwakiutl and their neighbors. In 1886 Franz Boas came to the Kwakiutl, also visited the Nahwitti, whose few remaining relatives later joined the Kwakiutl.

With the Fishing Act of 1888 , the government drastically restricted the fishing rights of the Indians. In stark contrast to the public enthusiasm for culture that became apparent, for example, at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, the government continued its anti-cultural policy. At the same time, the museums drew huge amounts of handicrafts, especially countless masks. The intermediary was George Hunt (1854–1933), son of a fur trader from Fort Rupert, who understood the language and was married to a Tlingit woman. He was followed by middlemen from the tribes themselves, such as Charles James Nowell (1870–1956) of the 'Namgis . After the death of his first wife Lucy Homikanis of Hope Island in 1908, he married a woman from the 'Nakwaxda'xw tribe named Tsukwani (Francine). It is unclear whether they were aware of how much they contributed to the destruction of their cultures.

In 1914 Edward Curtis made numerous photos and films of the Kwakiutl and their neighbors, which he published ( In the Land of the Head Hunters , 1915). With his romantic view of the Indians , whom he viewed as relics of Stone Age life, he helped shape the attitude of the white surroundings for decades.

In 1881 the Church Missionary Society of London transferred its mission from Fort Rupert to 'Yalis and the Kwawkewlth Indian Agency followed in 1896. Tsa x is lost more and more importance, especially as a fire in 1900 destroyed numerous houses.

Residential Schools

A boy holds a large kwakiutl mask, Museum of the American Indian , circa 1920

The politics of Canada were increasingly directed against all cultural expressions of the indigenous people. Not only was the practice of potlatch prohibited, but all children had to go to the residential schools , which for the Kwakiutl was St. Michael's Residential School in Alert Bay . There, in the event of severe sentences, it was insisted that the children not use their language but speak English. So not only should their cultural ties be destroyed, but they should merge into the mass of Canadians. This also created the situation that the Kwak'wala speakers often could not write, but the English speakers no longer knew their mother tongue.

Mungo Martin

Wawadit'la, also known as Mungo Martin House, built by Chief Mungo Martin in 1953 (Thunderbird Park in Victoria )

But Tsa x is one of the most influential artists who contributed significantly to the renaissance of the art of carving as well as the entire Northwest Pacific culture: Mungo Martin (1879–1962), who was known as the Carver of the Century . He was the hereditary chief of the Kwakiutl. He worked in his home village until 1947, then moved to Vancouver , finally to Victoria in 1952 , where he left the famous stakes in front of the Royal British Columbia Museum . But he was not only of enormous influence as a visual artist. He also left 400 songs from the vast inventory of his tribe and family, as well as numerous stories. His father was Kwicksutaineuk , his wife came from the Hunt family from Tsa x is. His second wife, Abayah (Sarah Smith), was photographed by Curtis.

After the ban on the potlatch was lifted in 1951, he held the first public festival of this kind in Victoria. At the same time, however, the timber industry had left no trees that were old and tall enough for totem poles .

Struggle for natural and cultural resources

On Wazilus ( Deer Island ), blockades were carried out for the first time in 1986 by the Kwakiutl against the timber company MacMillan Bloedel . The resistance was led by Coreen Wilson and Dave Jacobson, both Kwakiutl from Tsa x is, with success. A similar conflict has been going on for years with Pan Fish , a fish farmer whom the Kwakiutl accuse of depriving them of a share of the yield and damaging the ecological environment, especially the wild salmon.

Also, the Kwakiutl could not prevent a ferry dock from being built on Hardy Bay directly at Bear Cove, where the oldest artifacts were found.

But the revitalization efforts continued. In 1988 construction began on a large meeting house, the Gukwdzi , followed in 1991 by a band office , called U'gwamalis , and in 1999 a so-called day care center , which opened its doors in 2000. Cultural events are held there and hot meals are served. The language has been taught again for several years, and there are even language courses on the Internet.

Rupert Wilson is now the chief of the Kwakiutl. In June 2006 he brought charges against the exploitation of nature and the deception of the Indians.

The tribe has been actively trying to restore the natural environment for years and completed the Cluxewe Riparian Project on the Cluxewe River in 2007 . After three years it was also possible to restore the water quality in Beaver Harbor to such an extent that fishing was allowed again. Nevertheless, some of the marine animals have to undergo an elaborate cleaning process before they can be released for consumption.

Contract negotiations with Canada and British Columbia

At the beginning of 1997 the Kwakiutl entered the so-called British Columbia Treaty Process , a six-stage treaty process. This began with the delivery of a map of the traditional areas and a letter of intent. In the second stage, negotiation teams are determined and the disputed points formulated. In stage 3, a schedule is set and the exact content is fixed. In the next stage there should be a kind of basic contract, on the basis of which the contract should be concluded in the last and sixth stage. It then only has to be ratified and implemented.

At the end of 2003, however, the Kwakiutl withdrew from negotiations with British Columbia and Canada in phase 4. You temporarily left the Winalagalis Treaty Group . Apparently there are disputes about the role of the Kwakiutl, who prefer to forego state subsidies in order to enforce the provisions of the Douglas Treaty. The neighboring tribes are so far without any contractual agreement.

religion

In principle, the Kwakiutl belief was animistic , as many natural phenomena were seen as being animated by spirits. The term Náwalak was central : it stood for both spiritual beings and a supernatural force. In addition, he was the epitome of a world soul and expression for everything wonderful just like Manitu the Algonquin and Wakan the Sioux; however, in contrast, it stood only for the good and holy; the evil and profane was báxwes . In addition, Náwalak could be acquired by humans like the Orenda of the Iroquois. However, only certain beings or objects - such as salmon, lark, cedar, ceremonial flute, deformed creatures or soil from otter slides - contained náwalak . Only twins were people who were naturally endowed with this power. Through prayers and various rituals one tried to acquire the power or to influence it positively. In contrast to many other tribes, however, the life of the Kwakiutl was less spiritual and more pragmatic and secular. The spirit world was not considered to have a great influence on everyday human life and contact with the spirit beings was a matter for the Numayms (clan societies) and special dance groups. Winter was the most important time for these religious dance societies: new members were recruited and contact with the protective spirits was renewed . Secular Potlach shenanigans accompanied the performances of the dance companies, which were dramatic stagings of events from mythology. Closely connected with this was art - carvings, paintings, theater and rhetoric - which mostly had a reference to animal-shaped spirits. The dance costumes and the oversized, mechanically functioning masks were particularly impressive. Various cyclical rituals - naming, marriage, awarding of titles, commemoration of the dead - took place in this context. The dead were placed in richly decorated bentwood coffins in trees, a wooden burial house, crevices or caves. The soul of a dead continued to live in the house of his lifetime and was considered dangerous for a year. The afterlife was considered a paradise. There were different categories of necromancers who acted as spiritual healers (for some diseases that were thought to be caused by spirits), fortune tellers, and pastors, among others . The first choice for patient care, however, were healers who used herbal, animal and mineral substances as well as baths, sweat baths and burns.

Rapid assimilation into Euro-American culture began around 1880 . Although Catholic missionaries worked with the Kwakiutl before, it was only after the Anglican Christianization that it was successful. It was not until 1970 that the arts, dances and some rituals were revitalized - but more in folkloristic and commercial than religious ones. Today - according to the ongoing surveys of the evangelical-fundamentalist conversion network Joshua Project - up to four percent of all Kwakiutl Christians.

Destructive society

The social psychologist Erich Fromm analyzed the willingness of 30 pre-state peoples, including the Kwakiutl, to use ethnographic records to analyze the anatomy of human destructiveness . In conclusion, he assigned them to the “destructive societies” whose cultures are characterized by a lack of community spirit with pronounced individuality (egoism, possession, rivalry, envy) and by a hostile and tense mood (insidiousness, mistrust, fear of the future). Their social structure was strictly hierarchical, offenses were punished with harsh punishments, the ideological worldview determined the upbringing of children and led to destructiveness, blind aggression and cruelty within the people and towards others. Imperialist aspirations and wars of aggression are common phenomena in destructive societies. (see also: "War and Peace" in pre-state societies )

Reservations

Today the Kwakiutl own - on the basis of the Douglas Treaty - eight or ten reserves with almost 468 hectares in the Rupert District . By far the largest is Malcolm Island 8 (196 ha) which is located on the island of the same name between Queen Charlotte Strait and Broughton . 38 km east of Sointula is Walden 9 (101.9 ha), the next largest are Wazulis 14 (67.9 ha) and Klickseewy 7 (54 ha). Fort Rupert 1 (4.1 ha) is located on the south side of Beaver Harbor , where Kippase 2 (13.8 ha), the tiny Shell Island 3 (0.3 ha) and Thomas Point 5 and 5a (17th , 8 and 9.4 ha), which are located at the east entrance of the port. Keogh 6 (1.8 ha) is located at the mouth of the Keogh River . Most of the Kwakiutl live in Kippase 2 .

In December 2007, of the 669 tribesmen, exactly 290 lived on their own reservations, and another 23 on other reservations, plus 355 members who lived outside of reservations and one who did not live on any band of Crown Land . In September 2011, 714 people were recognized as Kwakiutl, 300 of whom lived in their own, 26 in other and 387 outside the reserves.

literature

  • Franz Boas : Ethnology of the Kwakiutl. In: Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 35, 1913/14, ZDB -ID 2081945 , pp. 43-749.
  • Johan Adrian Jacobsen : Alaskan Voyage, 1881-1883: An Expedition to the Northwest Coast of America , University of Chicago Press; Edition: Reprint (April 1983), ISBN 978-0226390338
  • Johan Adrian Jacobsen : Capitain Jacobsen's journey on the Northwest coast of America 1881-1883. For the purpose of ethnological collections and inquiries, including a description of personal experiences. Edited for the German readership by A. Woldt. Spohr, Leipzig 1884.
  • Erich Kasten: Mask dances of the Kwakiutl. Tradition and change in a modern Indian village . Reimer, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-496-00391-X ( Publications of the Museum für Völkerkunde - Berlin. American primitive peoples 8).
  • Pamela Whitaker (Ed.): Legends of the Kwakiutl. As told to Pamela Whitaker by Chief James Wallas. Hancock House Publishers, North Vancouver 1981, ISBN 0-88839-094-7 .
  • Harry F. Wolcott: A Kwakiutl village and school. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York NY et al. 1967 ( Case studies in education and culture ).

Web links

See also

Remarks

  1. ↑ Galois, 1994
  2. ↑ Based on a report by the Daily Colonist on January 6, 1866.
  3. ↑ Some film sequences can be found here: In the Land of the Head Hunters .
  4. ↑ Cf. Nunalalahl - Qagyuhl
  5. ↑ On the debate about the revival of indigenous languages, cf. Stan J. Anonby: Reversing Language Shift: Can Kwak'wala Be Revived? .
  6. ↑ See Minutes of the Special Committee on sustainable aquaculture
  7. ^ Page of the BC Treaty net .
  8. ↑ Christian F. Feest : Animated Worlds - The religions of the Indians of North America. In: Small Library of Religions , Vol. 9, Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-451-23849-7 . Pp. 82-83.
  9. ↑ Kwakiutl - Religion and Expressive Culture . In: everyculture.com, accessed December 31, 2015.
  10. ↑ a b Barry M. Pritzker: A Native American Encyclopedia. History, Culture and Peoples. Oxford University Press, New York 2000, ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1 . P. 179.
  11. ↑ Joshua Project: Canada ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Kwakiutl), accessed December 31, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / legacy.unreachedresources.org
  12. ↑ Erich Fromm: Anatomy of human destructiveness . From the American by Liselotte et al. Ernst Mickel, 86th - 100th thousand edition, Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1977, ISBN 3-499-17052-3 , pp. 191, 193.
  13. ↑ According to the information provided by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development , First Nation Profiles: Kwakiutl ( Memento of the original from May 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pse5-esd5.ainc-inac.gc.ca