> I am writing on behalf of one of my undergraduate students at the
> University who is doing research on the Potlatch. She wants to
> analyze U.S. government repression of the Potlatch ceremony practiced
> by Pacific Northwest nations...
Although there were certainly Indian agents and missionaries who strongly
opposed the potlatch in the U.S., it was actually in Canada were it was
repressed (by law, from 1884 - 1951). The potlatch is often considered
to be indigenous to "the Northwest Coast," and while Salish people did
practice a form of potlatching, it was not their primary spiritual
ceremony. That distintion belongs to the nations north of the Salish,
particularly Kwakwaka'wakw (formery called by one band's name-Kwakiutl;
Nuu-chah-nulth, formerly called Nootka; Heiltsuk, formerly called Bella
Bella; Nuxalk, formerly called Bella Coola, Tsimshin, also known as
Gitksan-Westsewetun (I'm unsure of the spelling here), Haida and
Tlingit. In other words, the bulk of people whose potlatch included
spirituality in ceremony and whose government suppressed it, are
indigenous to Canada. A couple contemporary titles that explore this
subject are "An Iron Hand upon the People," co-author is Doug Cole;
anything by Thomas Berger; "Persecurtion or prosection" by Daisy
Sewid-Smith (available through the museum at Cape Mudge, British
Columbia, Canada), the film "A Strict Law bids us Dance" - the last two
listed are story of the jailings of participants at a ca. 1921 potlatch.
I also recommend that your student read the material on potlatch in the
Handbook of American Indians, vol. 11 (?) Northwest, which will both
reveal exactly who did potlatch and who didn't, and the bibliography is a
valuable source of material, as well. Please feel free send additional
questions if you find this reply to be of any help.
Pam Creasy
Status member of Kwakiutl band of Kwakwaka'wakw Nation
Graduating senior in Anthropology,
Minor in American Indian Studies,
University of Washington,
Seattle, WA