Book
These mysterious people : shaping history and archaeology in a Northwest Coast community / Susan Roy.
"Archaeologists studying human remains and burial sites of North America's Indigenous peoples have discovered more than information about the beliefs and practices of cultures--they have also found controversy. These Mysterious People shows how Western ideas and attitudes about Indigenous peoples have transformed one culture's ancestors, burial grounds, and possessions into another culture's "specimens," "archaeological sites," and "ethnographic artifacts," in the process disassociating Natives from their own histories."-- Provided by publisher.
"Focusing on the Musqueam people and a contentious archaeological site in Vancouver, These Mysterious People details the relationship between the Musqueam and researchers from the late-nineteenth century to the present. Susan Roy traces the historical development of competing understandings of the past and reveals how the Musqueam First Nation used information derived from archaeological finds to assist the larger recognition of territorial rights. She also details the ways in which Musqueam legal and cultural expressions of their own history--such as land claim submissions, petitions, cultural displays, and testimonies--have challenged public accounts of Aboriginal occupation and helped to define Aboriginal rights in Canada. An important and engaging examination of methods of historical representation, These Mysterious People analyses the ways historical evidence, material culture, and places themselves have acquired legal and community authority."-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780773547100
- ISBN: 077354710X
- Physical Description: xxv, 218 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- Edition: Second edition.
- Publisher: Montreal ; McGill-Queen's University Press, [2016]
- Copyright: ©2016
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-207) and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Introduction: the travels of qeysca:m -- 1. "Who were these mysterious people?" -- 2. Burial grounds as sites of archaeology: Harlin I. Smith and the Jesup North Pacific Expedition -- 3. Musqueam house posts and the construction of the "ethnographic" object -- 4. The national colonial culture and the politics of removal and reburial -- 5. The Great Fraser Midden and the civic colonial culture -- 6. From colonial culture to reclamation culture: the Musqueam, Charles E. Borden, and salvage archaeology in British Columbia -- 7. Conclusion. |
| Additional Physical Form available Note: | Also issued in electronic format. |
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Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
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| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Circulation Modifier | Holdable? | Status | Due Date | Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emily Carr University of Art + Design | E99 .S21 R69 2016 (Text) | 30229045 | Book | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Choice Reviews : Choice Reviews 2011 August
Qeysca:m, a "large, egg-shaped stone ... carved to represent a human figure," is the protagonist of this book. Qeysca:m opens the story and leads readers on a disturbing journey: the recent history of the Musqueam First Nation and, in particular, the history of the people's encounter with archaeologists and anthropologists who appropriated objects of significance to the Musqueam and made of them "artifacts" and "specimens." Roy (history, York Univ., Canada) examines "three major projects" at the Marpole Midden, a "site" alienated from Musqueam supervision by the whims and agendas of colonial governments and social scientists. The projects began in the 1890s and continued through the 1960s. Human remains, mortuary carvings, poles, and other objects of value to the Musqueam community were shipped to museums and study centers to provide support for half-baked theories of aboriginal origin and misplaced notions of race and difference. The practices of anthropologists both framed and reified the nonrecognition of the rights of the Musqueam and the sanctity of their territory and burial grounds. In recent years, Musqueam First Nation and others have resurrected and foregrounded archaeological reports and objects such as qeysca:m as "indisputable evidence" of their long occupation and claims to the territory. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. Copyright 2011 American Library Association.
