This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Jones, P. N. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Identity Through Fishing

A Preliminary Analysis of Impacts to the Nez Perce as a Result of the Damming of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers

Bäuu Institute, Boulder, Colorado

Indigenous cultures throughout the world have struggled to maintain many of their traditional lifeways and cultural identity in the face of pressure from modernizing forces (industrialization, population and demographic changes, globalization, and modern socioeconomic and sociopolitical forces). These forces have particularly affected the Nez Perce of the Plateau culture area in north-western North America. This article discusses how these forces have impacted the Nez Perce for well over a hundred years, though major impacts did not begin until the damming of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers, when access to salmon became an issue. In this regard, the Nez Perce are an informative case in the study of cultural preservation, cultural change, and cultural identity in the face of these forces. Using Elias Canetti's idea of ‘crowd symbol’ and Sherry Ortner's idea of ‘key symbol’, this article argues that salmon play a similar role in the formation and maintenance of Nez Perce cultural preservation and identity.

Key Words: cultural identity • fishing • indigenous people • key symbols • Nez Perce

Cultural Dynamics, Vol. 17, No. 2, 155-192 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0921374005058584


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?