The Snoqualmie: a Puget Sound chiefdom

Tollefson, Kenneth Dean

article

The Snoqualmie: a Puget Sound chiefdom

Ethnology • 26 (2) • Published In 1987 • Pages: 121-136

By: Tollefson, Kenneth Dean.

Abstract
This is a retrospective analysis of the social, economic, political, and religious behavior and related customs of the Snoqualmie during the decade and a half prior to forced removal from their traditional lands. The central argument is that earlier scholars had wrongly described their pre-treaty political organization and that of their culturally-related neighbors as lacking any sociologically relevant political hierarchy or centralized leadership (e.g. chiefs and sub-chiefs) above the village level. The discussion identifies a range of factors that led to increased political complexity. The most important factor was the advent of Euromerican intrusion that required collective action in defense of land rights and local autonomy. Other factors include demographic change and resource scarcity in local communities. Kinship groups and village communities responded to these internal challenges by instituting organized ceremonials and other cultural mechanisms that facilitated resource exchange and effective defense against slave raiders. These pragmatic inter-village interactions and adaptive responses led to the rise of a hierarchy of leaders that exercised significant influence beyond their natal village communities.

Identification

Cultural identity and pride

Settlement patterns

Community structure

Community heads

Inter-community relations

Territorial hierarchy

Form and rules of government

Chief executive

Status, role, and prestige

Organized ceremonial

Exchange transactions