Book
The eastern Cherokees
AMS Press • (23) • Published In 1978 • Pages: 169-413
By: Gilbert, William Harlen.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
The purpose of this document is four-fold and it is organized in four corresponding parts: 1) a description of Eastern Cherokee society on the Qualla Indian Reservation as it is represented by the community of Big Cove in 1932; 2) a functional analysis of Eastern Cherokee society at Big Cove; 3) a description and functional analysis of Cherokee society in the 18th century; and 4) a discussion of the changes in Cherokee social organization during the 18th and 19th centuries. The description of Eastern Cherokee society at Big Cove in 1932, covering the environment, descriptive somatology, economic, social, and political organization, and life cycle, provide the most useful information in this source. For several reasons the author's treatment of Cherokee society in the 18th century and his discussion of change in Cherokee society is much less useful. First, he fails to adequately define the temporal dimension of his discussion of 'former' Cherokee society. Second, his method of analyzing social change consists of comparing 'former' (18th century) society with 'present' Cherokee society at Big Cove; he labels the difference between the two 'social change' and, moreover, this is grossly underanalyzed. Finally, by the author's own admission, Big Cove is the most conservative community on the Qualla Reservation; he provides no details as to why Big Cove was selected as a study site nor does he examine the implications of his choice for the analysis of change in Eastern Cherokee society. The appendices of this document consist of briefly annotated bibliographies of primary source materials on the Cherokee and should be of use to students familiarizing themselves with the literature on the historic Cherokee.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Kinship terminology
- Kin relationships
- Regulation of marriage
- Clans
- Grandparents and grandchildren
- Avuncular and nepotic relatives
- Parents-in-law and children-in-law
- Siblings-in-law
- Family relationships
- Mythology
- Informal in-group justice
- Execution of justice
- Community structure
- Magical and mental therapy
- Mourning
- Information sources listed in other works
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Cherokee
- 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
- Eastern Woodlands
- 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.
- 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.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Gerald Reid ; 1988
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1932
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1540-1932
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Town of Big Cove, Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation, North Carolina, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- by William Harlen Gilbert, Jr.
- Originally presented as the author's thesis, University of Chicago, 1934
- Reprint of the 1943 ed. published by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, which was issued as no. 23 of Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 402-413)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 76043714
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Cherokee Indians