"The wretched giving away system which is the root of all iniquity" : the Church Missionary Society and Kwakiutl potlatches, 1878-1912
Date
1987
Authors
Tanner, Michael Allan
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Abstract
The efforts of one of the Christian missions which attempted to suppress Indian potlatches in British Columbia are analyzed. The mission under investigation is that of Reverend Alfred James Hall of the Church of England's Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.) who worked with the Kwakiutl people. The records of the C.M.S.
pertaining to this mission are studied to consider:
i) the C.M.S.'s role in potlatch issue;
ii) the social relationships between and among the missionary and the Kwakiutl as these relationships are reflected in the potlatch "crisis";
iii) and the missionary's conceptions and understanding of potlatching as reflected in his writings.
Hall's conceptions, in turn, are compared to the anthropological literature written about potlatching in order to gauge the degree to which he understood the nature of potlatching.
The findings of this research suggest that the Reverend Hall had a reasonable understanding of the basic mechanics and functions of potlatching, as compared to the anthropological writing. It was mainly in how he evaluated potlatching that his view of it differed from that of the anthropologists. Hall saw potlatching as something degraded, wretched and inconsistent with Christian living, as well as an interference in his work. He sought to suppress all potlatching activity by preaching the Gospel and espousing Victorian values, with a view to converting individuals to the beliefs and lifestyle which he advocated. The result of his effort was to break down a once cohesive native social system, which had been integrated around Kwakiutl potlatching values, into three factions which no longer shared similar views regarding potlatches. These factions consisted of full native converts who accepted Hall's views on potlatching, native traditionalists who rejected mos of HAll's teachings, especially those which affected their potlatches, and those Kwakiutl who accepted Hall's Christian principles but who also continued to potlatch. Once these factions were created, change could be introduced by focusing on individuals committed to the mission programs to various degreees. In this case, however, the faction supporting Hall was not significant enough for the C.M.S. to effect major changes to potlatching during the duration of Hall's mission.
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UN SDG 4: Quality Education