ANTH 205 Lecture 10

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Tlingit History and Culture

Tlingit = "in the people"

Native to Southeast Alaska

Population:

• 10,000 (pre-contact)
• 25,000 today
• 1,000 native Tlingit speakers alive

Prehistory

• Living there by about 7,000 BC
• First contact with Europeans (Russian explorers; first transliterated language in Cyrillic) in the 18th century
• US gained control of Alaska in 1867; gave 100 M acres to Tlingit and other natives
• Totem poles

Recent History

• Originally hunter-gatherers: mammals, salmon, wild plants/berries, shellfish
• Later participated in fur trade; lots of arts and crafts (esp. carving and weaving)
• Non-traditional vocations: value education

Culture still very much alive

Kinship

Relationship between people and groups of people who culturally conceive of themselves as relatives

• Moiety system : Raven or Eagle/Wolf
• Clan: group with shared genealogy, history, and possessory rights
• Matrilineal: descent is traced through female line
• Matriclans: membership in clans is determined by female ancestor

Marriage

Exogamy: marrying outside the group.

Preferred marriage pattern:

1. marry father's mother's daughter ("patrilateral cross-cousin marriage")
2. member of paternal grandfather or great grandfather's clan
3. anyone from the opposite moiety

Any deviation used to result in ostracism or even death (not so much any more)

Divorce is rare

Polygamy among higher echelon population

Social Organization

Social classes

1. Onyaddi (high class)
2. Kanackideh (commoners)
3. Nitckakaku (low class)

Born into class of parents, but choose your own (move up or down)

Religion

Elaborate creation story

• owned sun, moon, and stars, but raven stole those.
• Spirits (animistic ): Jek is title of spirit
• Humans possess two spirits: mortal and immortal.
• Afterlife: Two levels of heaven, mortal spirit reincarnation as maternal ancestor

Storytelling

• Communicates morals and ethics (like Aesop's fables)
• No written history
• Legends often coincide with archaeological findings
• Stories are performed, not just told

Slavery

Tlingit traditionally owned slaves (captured in war)

• slaves either captured in war or "dried fish slaves" (members of Tlingit society who were extremely poor)
• Possession of slaves more important than services they provided
• Manual labor done by free men in training and for honor to elders
• Pride in work
• Routinely killed or freed to
  • appease angry spirits
  • enhance social position
  • provide servants in afterlife

Slavery and US

• Emancipation proclamation issued in 1863
• 13th Amendment in 1865
• Slavery was illegal by Alaska's purchase in 1867
• Slaves were freed without compensation: this was a huge blow to Tlingit society

Lincoln Totem Pole

Totem poles used to tell story, honor something, or shame someone/something

3 explanations:

1. in 1867, US ship patrolled coast, came across and helped Tlingits fleeing from others. Erected pole in honor of their freedom
2. in 1880s, ancestors who thought they were the first to see white men, used Lincoln photo from army as model (this explanation used in museum)
3. debt created when slaves freed against will of Tlingit, and pole erected to shame Lincoln