21A.100 Prof. howe Potlatch and Kula The ethnographic reality behind these concepts Potlatch 1. The Culture a. North West coast cultural area is mostly in Canada b. Whole series of related groups all the way up to Alaska c. Fascinating area i. Agricultural is not possible under primitive conditions ii. Rely on hunting and gathering, very abundant Salmon 2. Olachen -oily fish 3. Sea mammals: whales seals 4. Shell fish iii. Unusual that these hunter-gatherers are sedentary d. Many of the groups are famous in anthropology e. The names we use are not necessarily the names the people use fo themselve f. Most famous is the Kwakiut g. Had an unusual amount of art i. Many decorated columns that have come to be called totem poles blankets iiL. Ca iv. Painted elaborate murals on their homes Homes designed for rituals 2. Wooden A-frame houses v. People started collecting their art, but not always legitimately vi. Some would be stolen, or tribe members would sell them, even though they had no individual rights to sell the art
21A.100 Prof. Howe Potlatch and Kula The ethnographic reality behind these concepts Potlatch 1. The Culture a. North West coast cultural area is mostly in Canada b. Whole series of related groups all the way up to Alaska c. Fascinating area i. Agricultural is not possible under primitive conditions ii. Rely on hunting and gathering, very abundant 1. Salmon 2. Olachen – oily fish 3. Sea mammals: whales, seals 4. Shell fish iii. Unusual that these hunter-gatherers are sedentary. d. Many of the groups are famous in anthropology. e. The names we use are not necessarily the names the people use for themselves f. Most famous is the Kwakiutl g. Had an unusual amount of art i. Many decorated columns that have come to be called totem poles ii. Woven blankets iii. Canoes iv. Painted elaborate murals on their homes 1. Homes designed for rituals 2. Wooden A-frame houses v. People started collecting their art, but not always legitimately. vi. Some would be stolen, or tribe members would sell them, even though they had no individual rights to sell the art
vii. Many collections are now giving the art back in recent years, elled by law h. Environmentally rich area 1. They were not egalitarian 1. Had a whole social hierarchy 2. Gradations of aristocrats 4. Slave j. Many different colonial powers came through this area meeting ground of colonial powers 2. Lewis and Clark 3. Russians from Bering Straits 4. Spanis 5. Later Americans and Canadians k. Heavily involved in the fur trade Sea otter 2. The practice a. Extensively observed in the late 19century i. Native blankets lil. Coppers- natively mined copper hammered into specific shapes The Canadian govt tried to stop this project Law stated: You could not have exchange of gifts with 5 or more Groups got around the law
vii. Many collections are now giving the art back in recent years, compelled by law h. Environmentally rich area i. They were not egalitarian i. Had a whole social hierarchy 1. Chiefs 2. Gradations of aristocrats 3. Commoners 4. Slaves j. Many different colonial powers came through this area i. Meeting ground of colonial powers 1. Capt. Cook visited the NW Coast. 2. Lewis and Clark 3. Russians from Bering Straits 4. Spanish from CA 5. Later Americans and Canadians k. Heavily involved in the fur trade i. Sea otter 2. The Practice a. Extensively observed in the late 19th century b. Gave away i. Native blankets ii. Hudson bay blankets iii. Coppers – natively mined copper hammered into specific shapes. c. The Canadian govt. tried to stop this project i. Law stated: You could not have exchange of gifts with 5 or more people in a single place. ii. Groups got around the law
1. They then started walking potlatches would go from house to house, with never more than 5 people in one place at a time 3. Understanding the Potlatch a. Mauss and many others have tried to make sense of this Info comes from a variety of sources c. Much of it came from Franz boas i. His methods of fieldwork heavily dependant on taking texts l1. Had people write down essays on how they did certain things, like hunting or cooking iii. People feel he didn't give enough credit to his assistants iv.Sometimes he used this method to the detriment of observation d. Missionaries were also making observations e. Since then, a whole bunch of people took a stab at explaining the potlatch f. In 1934 Ruth Benedict. a student of Boas best seller book called"Patterns of Culture Said cultures are essentially personality types blown up into larger dimensions of a society a. Pueblo Indians of American sw were Apollonian": were restrained, admired harmony 1. Opposite was Dionysian: Given to excess b. Dobuans are all paranoid, hugely suspicious c. Kwakiutl= megalomaniacs, did everything to excess,say the potlatch as an example of this Have very elaborate ceremonies g. Problem: Helen Codere, Benedicts student i. Published an essay"An Amiable Side of Kwakiutl Life saying that the Kwakiutl were actually very nice and not megalomaniacal ii. Ceremonies and potlatches are not evidence of their everyday behavior and personality
1. They then started walking potlatches would go from house to house, with never more than 5 people in one place at a time. 3. Understanding the Potlatch a. Mauss and many others have tried to make sense of this b. Info comes from a variety of sources c. Much of it came from Franz Boasi. His methods of fieldwork heavily dependant on taking texts ii. Had people write down essays on how they did certain things, like hunting or cooking iii. People feel he didn’t give enough credit to his assistants iv. Sometimes he used this method to the detriment of observation d. Missionaries were also making observations e. Since then, a whole bunch of people took a stab at explaining the potlatch f. In 1934 Ruth Benedict, a student of Boas, best seller book called “Patterns of Culture” i. Said cultures are essentially personality types blown up into larger dimensions of a society. 1. 3 cases: a. Pueblo Indians of American SW were “Apollonian”: were restrained, admired harmony i. Opposite was Dionysian: Given to excess b. Dobuans are all paranoid, hugely suspicious c. Kwakiutl = megalomaniacs, did everything to excess, say the potlatch as an example of this i. Have very elaborate ceremonies g. Problem: Helen Codere, Benedict’s student i. Published an essay “An Amiable Side of Kwakiutl Life” saying that the Kwakiutl were actually very nice and not megalomaniacal ii. Ceremonies and potlatches are not evidence of their everyday behavior and personality
iii. People also contradicted assumptions of the Pueblo Indians as being peaceful and reserved h. what are the alternatives? It helps environmental adaptation Rich environments with uneven distribution of resources potlatch helps spread the wealth. More wealthy groups would throw potlatches and in exchange the receiving groups would acknowledge their inferiority lll. Problem: Thats not actually what the potlatch did It wasnt about food, mainly Investigations showed that it didnt distribute wealth or food to those who needed it most i. This is one example of a functional explanation i. Looking for ways that practices and institutions in a society fulfill certain needs in a society. Seems intuitively obvious, but not i. e witchcraft and warfare 1920-1950 the Functionalist Anthropology was very popular If you break certain social rules, you may be accused of being a witch ii. In other cultures the people likely of being accused of witchcraft were overly ambitious shamans or medicine men Thought that witchcraft was a way of maintaining social conventions iv. Warfare is more difficult to explain as advantageous 1. Increases solidarity of the group(i.e. Hating the Yankee's makes Boston hang together more) k. Functionalism is mostly a game: in what way can something be functional You look at the phenomenon and try and speculate what could have caused it, instead of going to look for its source Assume that societies are in some sort of equilibrium. That notion is
iii. People also contradicted assumptions of the Pueblo Indians as being peaceful and reserved. h. What are the alternatives? i. It helps environmental adaptation ii. Rich environments with uneven distribution of resources. Potlatch helps spread the wealth. More wealthy groups would throw potlatches and in exchange the receiving groups would acknowledge their inferiority. iii. Problem: That’s not actually what the potlatch did. It wasn’t about food, mainly. Investigations showed that it didn’t distribute wealth or food to those who needed it most i. This is one example of a functional explanation i. Looking for ways that practices and institutions in a society fulfill certain needs in a society. Seems intuitively obvious, but not always ii. i.e. witchcraft and warfare j. 1920-1950 the Functionalist Anthropology was very popular. i. If you break certain social rules, you may be accused of being a witch ii. In other cultures the people likely of being accused of witchcraft were overly ambitious shamans or medicine men. iii. Thought that witchcraft was a way of maintaining social conventions iv. Warfare is more difficult to explain as advantageous. 1. Increases solidarity of the group (i.e. Hating the Yankee’s makes Boston hang together more) k. Functionalism is mostly a game: in what way can something be functional. You look at the phenomenon and try and speculate what could have caused it, instead of going to look for its source. l. Assume that societies are in some sort of equilibrium. That notion is dubious
4. Potlatch: A Better Explanation a. Helen Codere-why do we assume this system as always been this way? This whole area has been in turmoil since the 18 century b. The potlatch is not in its original form. Because of all the traders explorers and colonizers, the modern incarnation of the potlatch is the end point of all these influences i. There was a huge population drop among the native peoples of the NOwcast l1. 19 century after 1835-37. About an 80% population drop iii. Each society has a whole series of titles, when the population dropped, there were almost as many titles as there were people iv. It became very ambiguous who should succeed to the title c. This combined with the fact that as the pop dropped, the people who were left became relatively rich i. Europeans paid a lot of money for sea otter skins, and these societies were at the heart of this fur trade l1. Some also started to work in the tanneries and at other jobs lll. They had a lot more wealth to put into potlatches, great d. Third element: Suppression of warfare i. People with crappy titles were struggling to keep them, and they had more wealth to throw at the effort and they also no longer had the outlet of warfare for their grudges against others so the potlatch became the arena for that anger e. Other anthropologists added to this Potlatches were relatively rare. Some times only once or twice in a The goods for the potlatch were collected and they were not really competitive or unstable, it was more to validate titles If there was a transfer of title, a potlatch would be arranged by the new title holder, inviting all the other title holders
4. Potlatch: A Better Explanation a. Helen Codere – why do we assume this system as always been this way? This whole area has been in turmoil since the 18th century. b. The potlatch is not in its original form. Because of all the traders, explorers and colonizers, the modern incarnation of the potlatch is the end point of all these influences i. There was a huge population drop among the native peoples of the NW coast ii. 19th century after 1835-37. About an 80% population drop. iii. Each society has a whole series of titles, when the population dropped, there were almost as many titles as there were people. iv. It became very ambiguous who should succeed to the title. c. This combined with the fact that as the pop dropped, the people who were left became relatively rich. i. Europeans paid a lot of money for sea otter skins, and these societies were at the heart of this fur trade. ii. Some also started to work in the tanneries and at other jobs iii. They had a lot more wealth to put into potlatches, great multiplication of d. Third element: Suppression of warfare. i. People with crappy titles were struggling to keep them, and they had more wealth to throw at the effort and they also no longer had the outlet of warfare for their grudges against others so the potlatch became the arena for that anger. e. Other anthropologists added to this: i. Potlatches were relatively rare. Some times only once or twice in a generation ii. The goods for the potlatch were collected and they were not really competitive or unstable, it was more to validate titles: 1. If there was a transfer of title, a potlatch would be arranged by the new title holder, inviting all the other title holders