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The Kwakiutl: Indians of British Columbia

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This book is an ethnographic description of a group of Kwakiutl Indians living in Gilford, British Columbia, a coastal fishing community in the 1960s. The Rohners lived in Gilford for about 14 months altogether from 1962-1964. During this time, Evelyn served as the community schoolteacher in the one-room schoolhouse, while Ronald occupied himself with ethnographic research. The Kwakiutl were not familiar with profession of anthropology, and were quite suspicious, especially at first, of Ronald's activities, particularly his constant note-taking. Eventually, they came to accept the couple, mostly because of Evelyn's treating them with respect as the parents of her charges. Through their observations of the village and villagers, they were able together to compile a broad description of village life. The book is illustrated with black-and-white photographs and maps. There is a short list of references at the end of the book, but no index.

The book is divided into two parts, contemporary society, and society in the past, the Potlatch Period. The majority of the book is devoted to describing contemporary society. The Rohners begin by telling us of the environment in the Gilford area, both physical and man-made. They note that the population is ever fluctuating, with migrants coming to town for labor, or leaving for other jobs. Empty housing is often taken over by newcomers, leading to conflict if and when the original inhabitants return. The economic life of villagers is captured by a description of what people are doing during a two-day period in December. The authors note that there is a prominent division of labor according to gender, with men engaging in commercial and subsistence activities, and women doing the domestic chores. Men dig clams, fish and hunt, but mainly fish. They prefer to run their own fishing boats rather than work on the boats of others, as the very old and very young must do. The authors note that the community seems to be becoming increasingly dependent on industrial goods such as nylon fishing nets rather than making these items themselves as they did in the past. They note that the Kwakiutl currently dress like others and live in a way that is similar to non-Kwakiutls in the area. On this basis, they claim that the Kwakiutl "can be viewed as a rural working-class, a sub-cultural variant of the North American class structure, rather than being a distinctive cultural group." Nevertheless, they claim that the Kwakiutl share a distinctive value-system, based on generosity, borrowing and sharing, forming friendships, avoiding interfering in the lives of others, and gaining power and prestige through interpersonal relationships. The authors also discuss the impact that drinking has had on the society, suggesting that it serves to fill the void of cultural loss and can be positive in that it facilitates interpersonal communication by lowering inhibitions.

Much of the second part of the book is historical, in which the authors describe the structure of society in the past, when giant potlatches were held. They note that during this period, "wealth was important only insofar as it could be publicly displayed and redistributed in feasts and potlatches, thereby raising the esteem of the donor." They also describe a potlatch in a neighboring community that they attended.

The text is clearly written in language that is accessible to general readers. It includes information about a variety of aspects of life. However, the style is not particularly engaging, and readers may find that many topics common to other ethnographies are not touched upon in this volume.

This was a gift to a well know linguist in indian languages and culture and he was very happy with this book and its coverage and fine organization. It is well written and will be interesting to anyone who wants to learn of our local indian culture.