Bacc

Hinweis der Redaktion

• #2 Hello! Thank you for coming. My name is Hannah Gilbert, I am an Environmental Studies and Anthropology AOC and today I will be presenting my thesis: Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx / Makah: Cultural Self-Representation and struggle for sovereignty
• #3 The Kwih-dich-chuh-ahtx, or Makah, -live on the tip of the Olympic peninsula -there are a little over 1,000 enrolled members of the tribe, most live on the reservation -most people on the reservation live in Neah Bay The Makah recently hosted Canoe Journeys, where a many american indian and first nations groups come together to race, do long distance trips, and celebrate their heritage. Hat is a traditional-style Makah woven hat.
• #4 The Makah are the only tribe in the United States with the right to whale outlined in their treaty. In the 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay, it states that the Makah have (QUOTE ABOVE) The Makah stopped hunting whales as a response to dwindling whale populations (because of angelo whaling). They petitioned the International Whaling Commission to restart the hunt when the North Pacific Gray whale was removed from the endangered species list. hunted one whale legally in 1999, since then they have been gridlocked in the courts because of environmental activist response. They are now attempting to receive a Marine Mammal Protection act exemption.
• #5 The Makah exchanged an enormous amount of land to retain their oceanic activities, particularly whaling. Many of the Makah people I spoke to expressed gratitude for their ancestors foresight. That said, they have not been able fulfill the right, which has been frustrating. Wayne Johnson, the man who fired the killing blow to the whale in 1999, said “QUOTE) He actually said this after getting a group together to hunt another whale without proper exemption (illegally) in 2007. There was a very mixed response from the tribe, and it was received with controversy outside the Makah community.
• #6 I applied to be a Board approved resercher at the Makah Cultural and Research Center (MCRC). There I observed and talked to both interpreters and visitors. I was able to explore the museum and go to a talk by Keith Johnson, former head of the Makah whaling commission. Additionally, I was able to visit Cape Flattery (the NW corner of the US) and observe interactions there. The Center sends an interpreter to the Cape to talk to visitors about both natural features and cultural components of the land- and sea-scape.
• #7 For my fieldwork, I primarily set out to study “cultural self-representation” through the museum and it interpretation. ---->Cultural self-representation, in my thesis, is pretty self-explanatory. It is simply when a member of a culture represents their culture. This happens everyday, all the time at the Center, because it is staffed by Makah tribal members. The interpretors, all Makah, have a personal investment in representing their own culture to the public and to other Makah people. ---->I also looked at how visitors received the representation. I was able to interview visitors, in particular after Keith Johnson’s talk. He said at the beginning of his presentation, to the group of Road Scholars visiting the MCRC, that “We want to give our side of the story, so that the general public can make an informed decision on what we’re attempting to do and what we’re trying to do to continue our way of life on the Makah Reservation as whalers.” Ultimately, I wanted to see how cultural self-representation could positively advance Makah goals to revive whaling. That being said, I discovered during my fieldwork that the MCRC was also a place for cultural preservation and tribal outreach, not just educating the public. In fact, I’d say that cultural preservation is the MCRCs ultimate goal and they share with the public and with researchers some of that process. (but I’ll discuss this more later!) photo, website, digital self-representation
• #8 Today I’d like to expand on my thesis by discussing a reoccuring theme: Ownership. implicit and explicit Ownership is a contested word, but I am going to use it in the context of self-determination. (I’ll get there, you’ll see!) The types of ownership I primarily noticed in my fieldwork fit into these categories: Makah artifacts, the Makah museum, Makah creations, Makah Ancestors, and the Makah Story. I will discuss all of these catagories!
• #9 First, I’d like to discuss how ownership is articulated in Makah society. It is unique in that ownership is a ceremonial right, passed on primarily through family lines. As such, it is not the way most of us think of ownership, in terms of capitalism. In my thesis, I discussed why I did not have almost any pictures of the museum printed. Photography is not allowed the museum because the designs featured in the artifacts housed there are familial— owned— and if they were reproduced it would be incredibly disrespectful of the ceremonial rights involved.
• #10 More than designs are owned. Ceremonies, songs, prayers, and names are all owned and passed down as well. Often someone is chosen to witness the passing down of ownership, and this becomes part of oral history. The person photographed here is a carver who consented to being photographed while working. Many makah artists create designs and artwork specifically to be sold. Ownership, then, is more complex—in that it is both traditionally Makah and working within a consumerist culture, depending on the context and the artwork. There is some concern in relation to the Makah Cultural and Research center that some of the artifacts on display are owned by family lines and shouldn’t be displayed to the public.
• #11 In 1970, parts of the village of Ozette was uncovered by a storm. The storm revealed the remains of very well-preserved longhouses full of objects, covered by mudslides hundreds of years earlier. An 11 year long excavation, the artifacts collected at Ozette represent 97% of the total artifacts collected on the NW coast. It was decided early on that all the artifacts would stay on the reservation, and that the artifacts belonged to the Makah people. The artifacts are organized in the storage collections at the museum by language-based makah cognitive categories. For example, the Makah language groups objects used “perpendicular to the plain of action” (wedge, canoe paddle) and so those artifacts are grouped together in the the collections. These methods emphasize Makah ownership of the artifacts. In the picture we see Richard Daugherty, the lead archaeologist on the site from Washington State University. He is examining an artifact used in advertisements for the Cultural Center, so I feel comfortable publishing it here. It is called “the whale saddle” (the saddle is said to house the spirit of the whale). It has over 500 sea otter teeth embedded in the saddle to create a thunderbird image.
• #12 The Makah Cultural and Research Center (or MCRC) houses artifacts for display and research. Importantly, It is also home to the Makah language program, traditional skills workshops (like basketweaving and carving) and other outreach projects. Much of what the MCRC does is geared towards the Makah people, not the visitors. Because the museum focuses almost entirely on the Makah way of life, it asserts ownership to visitors. The picture here is from the MCRC website. It does not include any photographs of the artifacts themselves, but you can see replica canoes (which can be touched) and the skeleton of the whale killed in 1999 (reconstructed by Makah youth).
• #13 The MCRC, and the interpreters I observed and spoke with, focus on cultural continuity and a connection to ancestors. Here Jenine Ledford says: (QUOTE) On tours, Jenine and the other interpreters frequently referred to past Makah people as a continuation of present day Makah people. She and others used words like “we” and “our” instead of “they” and “theirs” when discussing the past. These are significant observations because the connection between decedent communities and the creators of artifacts is not always clear. Additionally, Jenine and others emphasize the individual who created or owned the object, they own the artifact by connecting it both individually and collectively to their ancestors. The picture here is in the museum. This man is carrying seal skin floats. One interpreter I worked with— this is her (MANY GREATS??) grandfather!
• #14 Cultural and spiritual items created by the Makah and their very close reletives the Nuu-chah-nulth are on display at the American Museum of Natural History. I went to the Natural History Museum after the MCRC, and after experiencing and learning what I did with the Makah, I was very uncomfortable with the ownership concerns surrounding this museum and how anyone can take pictures of the objects. The objects are also displayed on the museum website. ----->This clearly betrays the spirit of Makah ceremonial rights to ownership. Additionally these items are displayed in the same museum as fossils, rocks, taxidermic animals— its a natural history museum. The American Museum of Natural history creates an overwhelming heterotopia. It attempts to group disparate things together under one roof and thus confuses the viewer and erases the uniqueness of each tribe or culture on display.
• #15 Native Scholar Samuel R. Cook describes self-determination as the means to sovereignty. The Makah at the MCRC assert ownership through cultural self-representation. This is a form of self-determination. This assertion, this form of self-determination, is a means of gaining respect and sovereignty. As such, it helps advance their goal to revive their whaling practice and claim ownership over that right.
• #16 Makah Ownership culminates in one overarching theme: the Makah story. The Makah own their story and they share it with others on their own terms. I note in my bacc: “The focus of their story is not others but themselves, and not only about the past but also the future.” Visitors also noticed this. As one woman said to me: “This is all their story, this is for them”, and I think that sums it all up very nicely.
• #17 Thank you!