article

The historical position of the Lower Chinook in the native culture of the Northwest

Pacific Northwest quarterly28Published In 1937 • Pages: 363-372

By: Ray, Verne Frederick.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this article Ray suggests five aspects of historical relationship between the culture of the Lower Chinook (the Chinook, Clatsop, and the Kathlamet) and the surrounding cultures particularly in reference to the tribal groups of the desert Plateau, and the Pacific Northwest coast (e.g., the Haida, Kwakiutl, and Tlingit). These five aspects are: (1) an old underllying stratum of culture extending over the whole of northwestern America, illustrated by the political unit and the territorial tie; (2) a relatively recent overlay upon this old stratum, illustrated by the institution of the potlatch; (3) the presence of comparatively old traits of foreign origin, as representative of attitudes toward rank and class; (4) the fusion of two or more foreign traits of disparate origin, as seen in the guardian spirit ceremones; and (5) the presence of foreign traits of recent introduction such as the secret societies. The major portion of this document involves the cultural comparisons of these five aspects in reference to the various ethnic societies listed above.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Comparative evidence
Acculturation and culture contact
Gift giving
Accumulation of wealth
Community heads
Inter-community relations
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2004
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.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 2002
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
ca.1801-1920
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Lower Chinook region, southern Washington and northern Oregon, United States
NotesAdditional notes
Verne F. Ray
Includes bibliographical references
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
08030966
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Chinook Indians