Singing the Songs of My Ancestors: The Life and Music of Helma Swan, Makah Elder by Helma Swan, Linda J. Goodman

Abstract

such as Chinese and Japanese, as well as with Native Americans. Part 3, "Power of Choice," focuses primar ilyon how Filipina/os attempted to pool their resources to achieve common political goals. These community-building effortsultimately led tomajor Filipina/o involvement in union organizing during the interwar period. The most famous of these developments was the establishment and growth of the Cannery Workers' and Farm Laborers' Union (CWFLU). Fujita-Rony demonstrates how union organiz ing ? often involving such issues as gender, race, and privilege ? could divide and unite Filipina/o effortsto achieve some levelof com munity formation. This isa deeply researched and carefullyar gued analysis of theFilipina/o experience inSe attle and the American West. At times,however, the analytical framework seems to overpower any narrative flow.Although individual stories are occasionally told,particularly at thebegin ning and end of differentchapters, it isnot al ways easy forreaders toget a sense of thehuman dimensions of the story.It isnot until page 118 (out of 210pages of text),forexample, thatread ersgetany census figuresforhowmany Filipinos and Filipinas lived in Washington state (1930 served as the peak year,with 3,374males and 106 females).Moreover, because the analytical framework is emphasized, there is little,ifany, chronological structure to thebook. Perhaps a more significant issue ? especially for readers with a limitedknowledge of thehistory of Se attle ? is that there is littleattempt toplace the Filipina/o story within Seattle's broader history. Other than mentioning Seattle as a "m?tropole" for America's own overseas colonies, the author provides no detailed background on Seattle's historical evolution. Fujita-Rony sometimes adopts a writing style thatmay appeal to certain academics but may also limitthebook's appeal to a broader au dience. Summarizing theFilipina/o involvement with theCanneryWorkers' and Farm Laborers' Union, forexample, shewrites: "This storyhelps us to see that theCWFLU's history is contested space inwhich competing narratives articulate differentversions of this story.In order tomore fullyunderstand theunion's history, itis impor tant to contextualize it within the formation of the community as awhole" (p. 199). Despite these limitations,American Work ers, Colonial Power iswell worth examining for anyone interested in theAsian experience in theAmerican West. It demonstrates both the common features and the important dif ferences thatFilipina/os had with other ethnic groups. By placing her story within the context ofAmerica's colonial experience in the Pacific Rim, Fujita-Rony has provided an original and thought-provoking analysis of a people whose experiences deserve far more attention from historians than theyhave received todate. Singing theSongs of My Ancestors: The Life andMusic ofHelma Swan,Makah Elder by Linda J. Goodman University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2003. Illustrations, photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 356 pages. $44.95 cloth. Reviewed by Sandy JohnsonOsawa Independent filmmaker/writer andMakah Tribal member The MAKAHS have been blessed with many grand old ladies, and Helma Swan clearly falls into this tradition. Swan's story,told inher own words, spans from 1918 to 2002 and was recorded by her co-author, Linda J. Goodman, over a twenty-year period. Goodman's introduc Reviews 655 tion attempts to establish a context for Swan's story byproviding an overview of Makah history. The footnotes convey important information and perhaps should have been integrated into the story. A section at the end details ten Swan familysongs,which will be of special interestto ethnomusicologists. In noting the significance of this story, Goodman explains thatSwan "has been an astute observer and active participant inMakah culture for the largest part of the twentieth century" (p. 18). Swan's early recollections convey nostalgia: cranberry-picking,baling hay,wearing her first shoes, and making toy cars out of kelp within amore responsible, orderly lifestyle. Her brief description of the club of women who got together to eat seafood and would pinch any man who got too close is priceless. Swan also speaks candidly about infidelityand poverty in her firstmarriage and wife-beating in her second. Too much timemay have been spent on proving her link to three chiefs rather than on her subsequent journey to relearnand retainher familysongs,which seems tobe the real strength and heart of the story. The Swan family has beautiful dances, including twoofmy favorites,the spiritualdance and the...