Book
Art of the northern Tlingit
University of Washington Press • Seattle • Published In 1986 • Pages:
By: Jonaitis, Aldona.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is an art historian's interpretation of the art of the northern Tlingit. (70 plates depicting Tlingit artworks are appended to p. 2). Jonaitis outlines several theoretical approaches to the interpretation of ethnographic art specimens. Jonaitis has taken one of the more sociologically oriented approaches in an attempt to show how Tlingit art might be related to social structure, and to religious ideology and experience. More specifically, she relates the artworks to Tlingit sibs and moieties and the exchange relations among these groups (including the potlatch). Art used in this context is classified as secular art. Also included in the book is a detailed discussion of shamanism and shamanistic art, which Jonaitis describes as sacred art. This piece is highly interpretive and relies on the metaphor of binary oppositions to explain the relation of the works of art to Tlingit symbolism and rites of passage.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Fauna
- Representative art
- Musical instruments
- Status, role, and prestige
- Accumulation of wealth
- Shamans and psychotherapists
- Ethnozoology
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Tlingit
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1997
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Northwest Coast and California
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Art Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Christopher Latham ; 1988
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- northern Tlingit Alaska, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Aldona Jonaitis
- The 70 plates depicting the works of art can be found in Represetntative Art (532), with the exception of plates 10, 21, 33, 34, 54 and 69, which are indexed for Decorative Art (531). Information on the potlatch generally was indexed for both Gift Giving (431) and Accumulation of Wealth (556). Where either gift giving, or ostentatious display and consumption of wealth is stressed, the information has been indexed for Gift Giving (431) or Accumulation of Wealth (556), respectively. Finally, for information on Tlingit animal-spirits (YEK) see Fauna (136), Spirits and Gods (776) and Ethnozoology (825).
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-177) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 85040353
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tlingit Indians