GENDER AND POLITICS IN A CARRIER INDIAN COMMUNITY By JO-ANNE FISKE B.Ed., The ...

401 Pages·2010·17.73 MB·English

GENDER AND POLITICS IN A CARRIER INDIAN COMMUNITY
By
JO-ANNE FISKE
B.Ed., The University of British Columbia 1969
M.A., The University of British Columbia 1981
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
(Department of Anthropology and Sociology)
We accept this thesis as conforming
to the required standard
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
September, 1989
© Jo-Anne Fiske, 1989
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced
degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it
freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive
copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my
department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or
publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written
permission.
Department of Anthropology
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
September 25, 1989
Date
DE-6 (2/88)
ABSTRACT
This thesis presents a study of the political processes of Stoney Creek,
Saik'uz, a Carrier Indian community in British Columbia. The primary goal is to
account for the central role of women in public decision making. The focus is on
the political significance of women's domestic authority, of their influence in
kinship groups, of their social rank in the clan/potlatch complex, and of their roles
in the elected council and the administrative structure, and of their voluntary
associaticns.
The study is approached from three directions. First, women's changing
socio-economic position is described and analyzed. Second, the influence of
traditional culture on modern life is considered. Third, the current socio-political
organization of the community is examined in relation to prevailing conditions of
economic dependency. Here the focus is on the management of scarce social
and economic resources and on the competition for decision-making positions.
This study argues that women's public presence is the result of three tightly
interwoven factors: women's economic autonomy (which includes control over
critical domestic resources); the prevailing ideology of respect for older women's
knowledge and wisdom; and the socio-economic structure, in which public and
private interests are essentially undifferentiated.
These factors coalesce to provide economic and cultural foundations for
women's unique political strategy: the formation of voluntary associations that
ii
interact successfully with the formal political structure to influence public decisions
and to advance family and community interests. Women's voluntary associations
compete successfully with the elected council in obtaining limited economic and
political resources and provide a special forum in which women can retain and
advance family honour and political fortunes.
The study also examines a number of approaches to the impact of
colonization and capitalism on indigenous women. The findings refute the
argument the capitalism automatically erodes the position of women in indigenous
communities. They support the contrary view that in conditions of
political-economic marginality, a domestic sector of production exists along side
capitalist production. Because the domestic sector is organized around kinship
and the creation of use-values, this mode of production protects or even
enhances women's personal autonomy and social influence.
The analysis of political processes in which women are equal participants
requires moving away from common assumptions of female subordination to
analytical models that reveal the complex, and often contradictory, structural
relations that develop between women and men as women come to occupy a
variety of social positions. In seeking to understand women's central position in
this community, this study points to the need for theoretical models grounded in
the routines of social relations. Theoretical formulations are needed that will take
into account the simple fact that women and men are visible and active in the
public domain. In conclusion, it is argued that approaching women's political
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participation through theoretical perspectives that stress female subordination
obscures the relative power available to indigenous women as a consequence of
ascribed rank and personal competence.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT . ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xii
ORTHOGRAPHY xiii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION 1
The Research Problem 1
The Ethnographic Record 11
Women and Politics 20
Methodology 25
Organization 30
CHAPTER TWO
SAIK'UZ TODAY 32
Introduction 32
The People 32
The Land 37
The Village 39
The Economics of Dependency 47
The Administrative Structure 50
The Political Issues . . . 54
CHAPTER THREE
HISTORY OF THE SAIK'UZ WHUT'ENNE 60
Introduction 60
Aboriginal Social Organization 62
The'Uda'Dune 64
The Fur Trade 1806-1862 69
Settlement 1862-1910 72
Church and State Intervention 76
Economic Expansion and Settlement
1911-1950 80
i) Economic Diversity 80
ii) Changes in Subsistence Production 83
iii) Changes in Fur Trapping 85
iv) The Depression Years 87
v
Modernization 90
i) The War Years 1939-1945 90
ii) The Post-War Years 1946-1960 91
iii) The Present 99
Summary and Conclusions 100
CHAPTER FOUR
A SAIK'UZ VIEW OF HISTORY 102
Introduction 102
The Cosmological Matrix 104
i) Selection and Analysis of the Narratives 105
ii) Women in Mythology 107
iii) Rites of Passage 109
iv) Social Context 119
The Good Times and the Hard Times 126
Gender in the Political Context 141
Summary and Conclusions 145
CHAPTER FIVE
WOMEN'S LIVES:
DAUGHTERS, MOTHERS, LEADERS 147
Introduction 147
"A Little Girl is Not for Nothing" 148
i) Birth and Childhood 148
ii) Motherhood 154
"Unless There is a Woman" 161
Good and Strong Women 165
i) The Good Women 166
ii) The Strong Women 175
Summary and Conclusions 182
CHAPTER SIX
DOMESTIC LIFE AND KINSHIP ORGANIZATION 184
Introduction 184
Welfare Colonialism 184
Household Composition 188
Family and Kinship Organization 194
i) The Family and Extended Family 194
ii) Domestic Responsibilities 196
vi
The Outfit 207
i) Organization 207
ii) The Adams Outfit 220
iii) The Baptiste Outfit 226
iv) The Charles Outfit 228
v) The Daniels Outfit 231
Summary and Conclusions 236
CHAPTER SEVEN
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
AND COMMUNITY LIFE 238
Introduction 238
The Clans 238
The Potlatch 245
Social Status r 249
Gender 256
Clans and Outfits 264
Voluntary Association 267
Public Events 272
Summary and Conclusions 274
CHAPTER EIGHT
WOMEN AND THE POLITICAL PROCESS . 276
Introduction . '. 276
Positions of Power and Powerful People 277
The Political Units 291
i) The Voluntary Associations 291
ii) The Administrative Structure 305
Summary and Conclusions 314
CHAPTER NINE
WOMEN'S SOCIO-POLITICAL STATUS: REGIONAL VARIATIONS
AND CONCEPTUAL ISSUES 317
Introduction 317
Changing Social and Economic Relations 318
i) Precapitalist Gender Relations 319
ii) The Impact of Mercantile Capitalism 322
iii) Wage Labour and Women's Subsistence
Production 324
iv) Contemporary Conditions 326
vii
Theoretical Implications 332
i) Historical Materialism 332
ii) Cultural Explanations 341
iii) Processual Analyses 347
Conclusions 350
CHAPTER TEN
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 352
Summary 352
Carrier Ethnography 360
i) The Past 360
ii) The Present 364
Conclusions 366
BIBLIOGRAPHY : 371
viii
LIST OF MAPS
MAP 1: Indians of British Columbia 33
MAP 2: Internal Divisions of the Carrier 35
MAP 3: Indian Reserves No. 1 to 8
of Stoney Creek Band . 41
MAP 4: Fishing Sites Utilized by
Women of Saik'uz 222
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