The Continuing Reshaping of Our Ritual World by Academic Adjuncts

Abstract

It is the custom of nobility within the Kwakwakðwakw Nation not to respond publicly to criticism or gossip outside the Gukw Dziý, or the Big House. If an issue needs answering, it is answered by the Chiefs. My strict tutelage as a daughter of a Clan Chief and as a trained Potlatch Recorder has reminded me to dismiss many inaccurate theories and interpretations of my sacred culture by outsiders. Today I can no longer be silent. My mail this new year carried a copy of Harry F. Wolcott's article “Peripheral Participation and the Kwakiutl Potlatch/” sent to me by the author. The anticipation of reliving my late father's last Potlatch through the words of Dr. Wolcott soon turned to grieving for all the nobility who had struggled so hard to keep our culture alive despite the institutionalized oppression and the loss of land, life, and language. Our cultural institutions are perhaps the most documented and theorized in modern academic times, yet in my learned view often sorrily misunderstood. Since many of our institutions are meant to be secret and understood only by their limited membership, few academic adjuncts have chosen trained or appropriate informants to base their theses on. Within our world, we have highly knowledgeable people whom we call Ninogad, or wise ones. Those who are well trained are said to be λiλixs?akw, or literally well lectured. Abrupt or confrontational people in our ritual world are referred to as being visibly not λixs?akw, or void of wisdom, even if they are academically schooled. Our ritual world is not a democracy, nor has it a consensus-building process in which the whole Clan participates. It has, however, a strict line of succession for most positions, based on more than the obvious nuclear family birth positions. It has rights and privileges that are heavy responsibilities, not just prestigious titles. Mine is a complex and interconnected culture. Dr. Wolcott's renderings of my father's last Potlatch from personal dimensions crossed boundaries that make it impossible for me to remain silent. I have chosen to break the rules of my training to offer an accurate account of some of the events and issues Dr. Wolcott has discussed in his article. I have chosen to break the century of silence by our nobility, in this publication, in order for those schooled in my culture to understand that our collective silence has not been a gesture of approval or consent. It is my desire that my words will provide a guidance for academics in the future to carefully validate their informants and their information for future research in our ritual world. It is the highest insult to our culture to choose a beer parlor setting, for example, to elicit research for future academic use, when trained informants are identified and known in our respective communities. In preparation for writing this article, I consulted my family, friends, and the appointed Speaker, Chief Adam Dick, to refresh and validate what I did and what 1 remembered of my late father's last Potlatch. I do not need to use footnotes for this discussion, since lama primary source and a trained specialist who has the lineage and authority to speak as I do.