Loon : Memory, Meaning, and Reality in a Northern Dene Community

Henry S Sharp

ISBN 10: 0803293216 / ISBN 13: 9780803293212

Published by Univ Of Nebraska Press Dez 2004, 2004

About this Item

Neuware - In August 1975 on the reserve of the Chipewyan (a Northern Dene people in the Northwest Territories of Canada), anthropologist Henry S. Sharp and two members of the Mission Band encountered a common loon (dadzene). Loons are prized for their meat and skin, so the two Chipewyan tried--thirty times--to kill it. The loon, in a brazen display of power, thwarted these attempts and in doing so revealed itself to be a 'spirit.' In this book Sharp embarks on a narrative exploration of the Chipewyan culture that examines the nature of a reality within which wild animals are both persons and spirits. In an unforgettable journey through the symbolic universe and daily life of the Chipewyan of Mission, his work uses the context and meaning of the loon encounter to show how spirits are an actual and almost omnipresent aspect of life. To explain how the Chipewyan create and order the shared reality of their culture, Sharp develops a series of analytical metaphors that draw heavily on quantum mechanics. His central premise is that reality is an indeterminate phenomenon created through the sharing of meaning between cultural beings. In support of this argument, Sharp examines such topics as the nature of time, power, gender, animals, memory, gossip, and magical death, and the construction of meaning. Creatively argued and evocatively written, Loon is a compelling picture of a people engaged in the human struggle to create meaning.

Seller Inventory # 9780803293212

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Loon : Memory, Meaning, and Reality in a Northern Dene Community
• Publisher: Univ Of Nebraska Press Dez 2004
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803293216
• ISBN 13: 9780803293212
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 228W x 155H x 14D millimeters 228 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 14 millimeters depth
• Weight: 331 grams

About this title

Synopsis

In August 1975 at Foxholm Lake on the reserve of the Chipewyan, a Northern Dene people, in the Northwest Territories of Canada, the anthropologist Henry S. Sharp and two members of the Mission Band encountered a loon. Loons are prized for their meat and skin, so the two Chipewyan tried―thirty times―to kill it. The loon, in a brazen display of power, thwarted these attempts and in doing so revealed itself to be a "spirit." In this book, Sharp embarks on a narrative exploration of the Chipewyan culture that examines the nature of a reality within which wild animals are both persons and spirits. In an unforgettable journey through the symbolic universe and daily life of the Chipewyan of Mission, his work uses the context and meaning of the loon encounter to show how spirits are an actual and almost omnipresent aspect of life.

 

To explain how the Chipewyan create and order the shared reality of their culture, Sharp develops a series of analytical metaphors that draw heavily on quantum mechanics. His central premise: reality is an indeterminate phenomenon created through the sharing of meaning between cultural beings. In support of this argument, Sharp examines such topics as the nature of time, power, gender, animals, memory, gossip, magical death, and the construction of meaning. Creatively argued and evocatively written, his work presents a compelling picture of one people engaged in the human struggle to create meaning.

About the Author

Henry S. Sharp has been a professor at the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University in Canada and a former scholar-in-residence at the University of Virginia and is now semi-retired. He is the author of The Transformation of Bigfoot: Maleness, Power, and Belief among the Chipewyan and Hunting Caribou:
Subsistence Hunting along the Northern Edge of the Boreal Forest (Nebraska, 2015) with Karyn Sharp.