essay
The chief and his council: unity and authority from the stars
Earth and sky : visions of the cosmos in Native American folklore • Albuquerque • Published In 1992 • Pages: 221-235
By: Chamberlain, Von Del.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article, written by an astronomer and director of the Hanson planetarium in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a study of Pawnee ethnoastronomy. In this essay, the author demonstrates how a constellation -- here referred to as the 'Chief and his Council' or the 'Chief's Council' (the Corona Borealis) -- '…charters human action, giving it both proper form and substance' (p. 221). Also in connection with the above Chamberlain describes the symbolic elements of the earth lodge as well as its physical attributes which makes it functional not only as a home but as an observatory of astronomical phenomena as well.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Mythology
- Spirits and gods
- Applied science
- Ethnometeorology
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Pawnee
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1998
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Plains and Plateau
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Astronomer
- 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
- John Beierle ; 1997
- 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)
- Nebraska, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- Von Del Chamberlain
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 235)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 91043268
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Pawnee Indians