1. Academics as Colonialists 2

2. Dan Cranmer’s Potlatch
December 1922
Village Island, Alert Bay BC
“Kwakiutl” or Kwakwaka’wakw

3. After the Cranmer Potlatch
Sgt D Angermann of RCMP investigates
Reports to Indian Agent Halliday
49 convictions under Section 149 of the Indian Act
22 2-month jail sentences
4 6-month jail sentences
23 suspended sentences

4. After the Cranmer Potlatch
ceremonial regalia confiscated
ceremonial masks passed on to
Museum of Civilisation, Ottawa
ROM Toronto
only returned in 1987

5. Banning Potlatch
BC Missionaries and their Indian converts call for potlatch to be banned
From 1884, section added to Indian Act, banning potlatch
Act vague on what constitutes potlatch
Potlatch an indictable offence, prison terms

6. Banning Potlatch 1895 Potlatch more carefully defined by Indian Act
1914 wearing of aboriginal costumes at ceremonies severely restricted
1918 Potlatch a summary offense: Indian Agent can jail you on the spot.
Ban continues until 1951 when it is quietly dropped

7. Christopher Bracken
Potlatch Papers (1997)

8. Christopher Bracken Potlatch invented by C19th Canadian Law
Reports from missionaries, anthropologists etc., used to create fictions about BC coast First Nations
Indians smash things at Potlatches
Tales of cannibalism at Potlatches
Tales of wastefulness and carelessness

9. Christopher Bracken
Banning of Potlatch tells us more about European anxieties than about First Nations culture
Potlatch really offended European sensibilities
Indians didn’t appear to value property “correctly”

10. Modern Potlatches
Last for several days, usually scheduled for weekends
Guest list in the hundreds
$10,000 and up for food:
guests eat several full meals
Gifts of baskets, regalia, coppers plus consumer goods

11. Franz Boas (1858-1942) “Father of American Anthropology”
Trained a lot of famous anthropologists
German-Jewish immigrant to US

12. Franz Boas Advocated field research (a new idea then)
Culture determines people, not race/genes
Made his academic career studying aboriginals
especially the Kwakiutl

13. Franz Boas
Although he opposed the banning of Potlatch, his papers were used as evidence by Government of Canada to justify banning potlatch
His anthropology made it easier to define potlatch legally

14. Academics as Colonialists
Museums gaining collections of NW coast aboriginal artefacts through the banning of Potlatch
Academics making their careers around the misinterpretation of aboriginal culture
Academic research being used to impose coercive policy on First Nations