article
Giant fish, giant otters, and dinosaurs: 'apparently irrational beliefs' in a Chipewyan community
American ethnologist • 14 • Published In 1987 • Pages: 226-235
By: Sharp, Henry S..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In response to recent formulations of rationalism this paper investigates several nonexistent beings -- giant fish, giant otters, and dinosaurs -- in detail. From the analysis of the material presented in this paper Sharp concludes that explanation of events, at least among the Chipewyan, operates in a completely different manner from that assumed by the rationalists. Instead of reducing events to either a single explanation or to mutually exclusive explanations, they become the foci around which multiple or even conflicting explanations center.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Spirits and gods
- Ethnozoology
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Chipewyans
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Arctic and Subarctic
- 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
- John Beierle ; 1989-1991
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1970-1975
- 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)
- 'Mission' [probably Black Lake], northwestern Saskatchewan, Canada
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] Henry Stephen Sharp
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 234-235)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 74644326
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Chipewyan Indians