Omschrijving
This volume explores the development of the ethnography of Salishan-speaking societies on the North American Plateau through the correspondence between Franz Boas and James Teit.
“This book was compiled by an amazing research team with collective multidisciplinary expertise. It focuses on the lives and work of two extraordinary ethnographers, James Teit and Franz Boas, with the common goal of understanding and documenting the languages and rich cultural knowledge of Salishan and other Indigenous peoples of British Columbia. The insights about these men, their dedication, and their contributions to humanity shine through in their words, as does their remarkable friendship.”—Nancy J. Turner, author of Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge
“The editors graciously illuminate an important professional relationship behind the curtain of Franz Boas’s towering reputation. James Teit, a prolific yet lesser-known ethnographer, provided voluminous information from the field, directly to Boas. . . . Most impressive is [the book’s] ability to respectfully differentiate the gifts of these two scholars. In aligning them, this work sheds new light on the complexities of early twentieth-century academic studies of Indigenous people.”—Eileen Delehanty Pearkes, author of The Geography of Memory
Franz Boas (1858–1942) was a professor of anthropology at Columbia University and a public intellectual and advocate for social justice. He is the author of The Mind of Primitive Man; Primitive Art; Anthropology and Modern Life; and Race, Language, and Culture, among other books. Andrea Laforet formerly served as director of ethnology and cultural studies at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and is adjunct research professor in the School for Studies in Art and Culture, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario. Angie Bain is a researcher, analyst, and oral historian with the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and the Lower Nicola Indian Band in Merritt, British Columbia, specializing in land claims, litigation, and community histories. John Haugen holds a certificate in research from Simon Fraser University, is a Nlaka’pamux Knowledge Keeper, and is a researcher at Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council in British Columbia. Sarah Moritz is an assistant professor of anthropology at Thompson Rivers University. Andie Diane Palmer is an associate professor of anthropology and interim director of the Kule Folklore Centre at the University of Alberta.