Falsely Represented Counterfeit Culture Among the Kwakwaka’wakw

Hannah Harkins

ANTH 511

Professor Lahiri

Falsely Represented Counterfeit Culture Among the Kwakwaka’wakw

After 400 years since the discovery of the Americas in 1492 the Chicago World Fair was established. An elaborate transformation of the ‘White City’ accompanied the eyes of over 27 million attendants and hundreds of participants throughout the course of several months. The Exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a large effect on architecture, sanitation, the arts, Chicago's self-image, and progression of American colonialism and industrialism. Missionaries, anthropologists, sociologists, etc. were there to show civilians the progression of world cultures within the Americas and the fast paced industrialist economy developing. 

At the fair was the first anthropology building solely dedicated to the early ethnographers and anthropologists’ workings and understanding of America pre-Columbus. With that being said many indigenous groups were present at the exhibit and sharing their traditions with the public’s non expert eye. Each indigenous exhibit was organized by anthropologists Frederic Putnam and Franz Boas’ noted interpretations. Outside of the Anthropology building were reconstructed archaeological sites and ethnographic exhibits also constructed by Boas and Putnum. One exhibit in particular included the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl).

Several tribal members both men, women, and children traveled from the northern Vancouver Islands to Chicago to display themselves and everyday activities for several months. Franz Boas who constructed the specific display, encouraged the traditional rituals and dances that were looked down upon or banned in the home country of the Kwakiutl. The Kwakiutl exhibit consisted of Northwest Coast-style cedar plank houses, cedar canoes, bark blankets, totem poles, masks and much more. The attempt of the display of these aboriginal beings for several months was supposed to be them portraying their normal conditions and practices although they are staged and not authentic culture.

As much as the viewer would like to believe that because there are legitimate tribal members that what they see is the real deal, but in retrospect these people have backgrounds. They have a long history of who they were and what they have become, but what is presented is the stereotypical “culture”. Over years and years of assimilation their display doesn’t come close to giving this group of people justice.  

The notion that Indian identity consisted of and could be identified by a timeless, bounded set of anthropologically defined cultural characteristics relegated Aboriginal people to the past and denied them a role in the future. Aboriginal peoples inevitably deviated from their prescribed culture. (Raibmon, 2000)

Like all cultures, they are constantly changing. For the Kwakiutl tribe they faced assimilation and had adjusted to the newly introduced idea of colonialism. They were suppressed throughout their history, but the World Fair forgot to mention an accurate representation of what they really went through. Instead it was an attempt to show what was and what’s now.

The first encounter the Kwakiutl had with the Europeans was in the 1790s.  However, the settlers that made their way into Kwakiutl territory were not the immigrant settlers but Christian missionaries and government officials. These were the strongest advocates for assimilation as they would not accept the Aboriginal economy and cultural values.  These Christian missionaries and government officials instilled on the people that they must adopt Western work ethic and capitalist practice. And on top of changing their economy they were coerced into converting to Christianity. By 1904 90% of the entire Aboriginal population had converted to Christianity. Before Christian missionaries made their impression, Roman Catholic priests had tried and resulted in a failed attempt to sustain a mission among the Kwakiutl.

Throughout the Kwakiutl history gift exchange ceremony known as potlatch was the focal point of the struggle between them and colonial society. A potlatch event was often partaken in during community rituals like marriages, coming of age ceremonies, public apologies, debt repayment, and winter ceremonies. Specific dances and ceremonies were performed at such events depending on what type of occasion and what entertains the host. Potlatches enacted symbolic relations between the social, natural, and supernatural worlds. It was what legitimized and confirmed links between resource rights, social hierarchy, and supernatural ancestry. However, Europeans did not accept this form of culture. They thought it was uncivilized which resulted in outlaw against such practice. It even went as far as having anti-potlatch police officers enforce appropriate behaviors.

Over time the Kwakiutl people realized for their own cultures sake of survival would depend on their literacy and skill. They took initiative many times to sought out that education. Although the resistance that they often expressed during assimilation they had a desire to learn how to read and write. They understood that Westernized environments would not correlate with their potlatch tradition and were commonly not tolerated. This wasn’t an attempt for those who abandoned that tradition to abandon the tribe as a whole, it was more about finding their place in modernity. To survive they assimilated to this culture due to the fact that it was the only safe option presented at the time.

So, why did the Kwakiutl even take part in the Chicago World Fair if the fair was just a celebration for how far America has come? Franz Boas organized a Northwest Coast exhibit which is where the Kwakiutl display had been presented. Their replicated space was an attempt to allow the tribal members to live under “normal” conditions and do their everyday traditional activity for six months. So, after hundreds of years of their culture being banned and outlawed to practice, they got the opportunity to practice freely. How isn’t that a great opportunity? On the other hand, yes, it’s authentic to the point where legitimate tribal members perform traditional ceremonies and rituals, but they are constantly being over examined by fair goers and putting on a show for them. The dances, rituals, and ceremonies are being performed because that’s what the curator of the exhibit was encouraging them to show to the public. In conclusion, this specific display is counterfeit. Ceremonies aren’t being performed because it’s called for by the actual Kwakiutl people but because that’s what anthropologists observed as their cultural characteristics. This display isn’t an accurate representation of what the Kwakwaka’wakw culture really is but what is presented as most notable “culture”.

References

Raibmon, P. (2000). Theatres of Contact: The Kwakwakawakw Meet Colonialismin British Columbia and at the Chicago Worlds Fair. Canadian Historical Review, 81(2), 157–190. doi: 10.3138/chr.81.2.157

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/all-the-world.