Kwakiutl

Kwakiutl
/kwah'kee ooht"l/, n.
1. a member of a North American Indian people of Vancouver Island and the adjacent British Columbian coast.
2. the language of the Kwakiutl, a Wakashan language.

* * *

Northwest Coast Indian people who live along the shores of Vancouver Island, B.C., Can.

, and the mainland opposite. They speak Kwakwala, a Wakashan language, and call themselves Kwakwaka'wakw, meaning "Those Who Speak Kwakwala." Traditionally, the Kwakiutl subsisted mainly by fishing. They had a technology based largely on woodworking. Their society was stratified by rank, determined primarily by inheritance. The potlatch was elaborately developed and was often combined with dances and songs dramatizing ancestral experiences with supernatural beings. They continue to be known for their highly stylized art, which includes totem poles and striking masks. The Kwakiutl numbered about 3,000 in the 2001 Canadian census.

* * *

people
self-name  Kwakwaka'wakw 
 North American Indians who traditionally lived in what is now British Columbia, Can., along the shores of the waterways between Vancouver Island and the mainland; their name for themselves means “those who speak Kwakwala.” They speak a Wakashan language that included three major dialects: Haisla, spoken on the Gardner Canal and Douglas Channel; Heiltsuq, spoken from Gardner Canal to Rivers Inlet; and southern Kwakiutl, spoken from Rivers Inlet to Cape Mudge on the mainland and on the northern end of Vancouver Island. The Kwakiutl are culturally and linguistically related to the Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth).

      The Kwakiutl contributed extensively to the early development of anthropology as the subjects of ethnographic studies by pioneering scholar Franz Boas (Boas, Franz). In more than 5,000 pages written over almost half a century, Boas described and analyzed nearly every aspect of Kwakiutl culture and its relationships to other Northwest Coast Indians (Northwest Coast Indian) with whom the tribe shared general features of technology, economy, art, myths, and religion.

 Traditionally, the Kwakiutl subsisted mainly by fishing and had a technology based on woodworking. Their society was stratified by rank, which was determined primarily by the inheritance of names and privileges; the latter could include the right to sing certain songs, use certain crests, and wear particular ceremonial masks.

      The potlatch, a ceremonial distribution of property and gifts unique to Northwest Coast peoples, was elaborately developed by the southern Kwakiutl. Their potlatches were often combined with performances by dancing societies, each society having a series of dances that dramatized ancestral interactions with supernatural beings. These beings were portrayed as giving gifts of ceremonial prerogatives such as songs, dances, and names, which became hereditary property.

      Early 21st-century population estimates indicated approximately 700 individuals of Kwakiutl descent.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Kwakiutl — en Vancouver, Canadá. Los Kwakiutl son una tribu amerindia que hablan lenguas wakash. Su nombre significa playa al lado norte del río . Se dividía en tres grupos: haisla o kitimat, hailtzuk o Oowekyala (que comprende los subgrupos bellabella,… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Kwakiutl — Kwakiutl,   nordamerikanischer Indianerstamm im Nordosten der Insel Vancouver und auf dem gegenüberliegenden Festland von British Columbia, Kanada (etwa 4 500), einschließlich nahe verwandter Stämme und der weiter nördlich wohnenden Haisla und… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Kwakiutl — steht für: einen der heute 16 Stämme der Kwakwaka wakw Stammesgruppe, siehe Kwakiutl (Volk) eine lange gebräuchliche Bezeichnung für alle First Nations im Raum der nördlichen Vancouver Insel vor der Westküste Kanadas und des angrenzenden… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kwakiutl — Kwakiutl, Indianervolk Nordwestamerikas, im Norden der Vancouverinsel und an der gegenüberliegenden Küste von Britisch Kolumbien. Ihre dem Selisch verwandte Sprache wird in drei verschiedenen Dialekten gesprochen, dem eigentlichen K., dem… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Kwakiutl — Kwakiutl(s) Amérindiens de l O. du Canada qui occupent la partie N. de l île de Vancouver et la côte voisine. Ils pratiquaient le potlatch. Sculpture sur bois (mâts, proues, masques polychromes) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Kwakiutl — [kwä΄kē o͞ot′ l] n. [native name, lit., beach at the north end of the river] 1. a member of a North American Indian people of British Columbia, noted esp. for elaborate potlatches 2. the Wakashan language of this people …   English World dictionary

  • Kwakiutl — The term Kwakiutl, historically applied to the entire Kwakwaka wakw ethno linguistic group of originally 28 tribes, comes from one of the Kwakwaka wakw tribes, the Kwagu ł or Kwagyeulth, at Fort Rupert, with whom Franz Boas did most of his… …   Wikipedia

  • Kwakiutl — noun (plural Kwakiutl) Etymology: Kwakiutl kwágut, kwáguʔt, a Kwakiutl tribe Date: 1848 1. a member of an American Indian people of the Canadian Pacific coast 2. the language of the Kwakiutl people …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Kwakiutl — Kwakwaka wakw La célèbre maison de Mungo Martin dans le parc Thunderbird, à Victoria Les Kwakwaka wakw (ou Kwakiutl) sont un peuple amérindien de la province de Colombie Britannique au Canada. Ils vivent principalement au nor …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kwakiutl — [ kwα:ˌkjʊt(ə)l] noun (plural same or Kwakiutls) 1》 a member of an American Indian people of the NW Pacific coast. 2》 the Wakashan language of the Kwakiutl. Origin the name in Kwakiutl …   English new terms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”