article
A structural change in Tlingit potlatching
Western Canadian journal of anthropology • 7 (3) • Published In 1977 • Pages: 29-40
By: Tollefson, Kenneth Dean.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article Tollefson analyses changes in Tlingit potlatching due to European and American contacts with the Tlingit. Formerly, potlatches were forums for publicly settling, recording, verifying, and ratifying political matters among autonomous localized clans. By 1912 economic influences had significantly altered the traditional culture, resulting in the disintegration of community households and the depletion of local clans in terms of membership and wealth. Consequently, clans, affiliated in the same moiety, banded together and pooled their wealth in order to continue to meet traditional potlatch expectations. This change replaced the former clan-host-guest potlatches with moiety-host-guest potlatches.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Gift giving
- Clans
- Moieties
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Sociocultural trends
- 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
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- 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.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ronald N. Johnson ; 1996
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1974
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1740-1974
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southeastern Alaska, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Kenneth D. Tollefson
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-40)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- cn81039011
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Tlingit Indians