Anthropologica (New Series) 2001
Caputo,Virginia. Telling Stories from the field: Children and the Politics of Ethnographic Representation. Anthropologica, 2001. 63(2): 179-190.
The author Virginia Caputo of Carleton University takes a feminist anthropological approach to childhood issues of gender and power. The author argues violence both physical and verbal has not been addressed in previous anthropological texts concerning the childhood development. The author conducts her fieldwork using participant observation study in an After School Program in downtown Toronto in 1992. The author’s fieldwork includes twenty-five children from the age’s six to twelve. Using informal interviewing techniques while speaking to the children. She argues that power is accessed, manipulated, and exercised by children according to shifting contexts and their positions in regards to gender, race, class, and age. She believes that each child exercises gender roles that appear correct to social standards in order to be seen as normal and acceptable. She provides an example of oral song traditions that girls often practice in public settings. This appears to be an acceptable form of girlhood. Whereas boys admit to knowing these particular oral traditions but rarely agree to perform songs in front of their peers. Only those who are labeled popular, or hold connotations of homosexuality will perform. This is an example of how children learn about normative conceptions and learn to negotiate limits of categories while making sense in their own lives and relationships to others.
The author also addresses the unacknowledged problem of violent behaviours in children. She provides two examples of physical and verbal power exercised by children. Her first example is of friends aged eight and nine. Both girls sat in conversation with the ethnographer to converse about topics regarding popular music and events surrounding their lives. The girls used `hate lists’ to include family members and peers that they disliked and did not want to associate with. Excluding specific individuals from their group. Hate- list making established and maintained certain relationship status among the girls. The author notes that girls used less obvious and written forms of communication. The lists became a vehicle to assert and redefine the boundaries around girlhood and childhood.
The second example of violent behaviour is when a boy named Brad who spit his gum at the author referring to her as a `white woman’. He threatened to kill her, and her entire family, reproducing and challenging normative constructions of childhood through violence. The peer performance in front of his audience publicly certifies that he is getting his gender `right’. Referring to the ethnographer as a white woman emphasizes gender and racial divisions. Her model demonstrates that boys use physical aggression awhile girls use relational aggression. The author believes that examples such as this one are rarely acknowledged in child research.
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JESSICA COELHO York University (Maggie McDonald).
Downe, Pamela J. Playing With Names: How Children Create Identities of Self in Anthropological Research. Anthropologica, 2001. XLIII(2): 349-378.
This article examines how children are represented in the study of anthropology, and how their representations affect anthropologist’s research. When conducting ethnographic research, ethnographers ignore the role and significance of the child. They exclusively concentrate on language, customs, beliefs, rituals, etc of the adults.
In this article, Pamela Downe states that the problem with anthropological research is that anthropologists exclude children in their studies, and represent them as appendages to adult society. She defines this problem as one that ultimately leads anthropologist’s work to be inaccurate. The children are seen as a part of the culture, but not identified as having an effect on issues they are studying. Children are viewed as pre-social, passive, dependant, private and natural. This judgement of the children leads them to act out in playful and unfocused ways.
Downe argues that children identify themselves in terms of how they see culture. It is not in a way in which their caregivers would identify, but in a way that they see how culture is to them in terms of race, class, gender, etc. She argues that in order to study children, one must look at what they reveal about their cultural constructions. This plays a major role in research Downe says, because it shows the primary way in which a child forms personal identity. Contrary to belief, Downe believes that children are aware of power relations in culture. They identify themselves and others in terms of how they view cultural constructions. Downe studied two girls in particular to see how they constructed new names that they were able to choose, and what these names meant to them.
The first girl that Downe studied was named Kizzy (by personal choice). Kizzy was a Barbadoian girl that lived in a lower class part of the town. Kizzy identified many names that she wanted to be called (eg Sonya- a rich, French- English Caribbean who was not contained to live just in Barbados). She also identified the names that she did not want to be called (eg Bonya- a fat, drug smoking Jamaican girl). It was clearly evident that Kizzy associated class, race and gender roles to particular names given in her culture.
The second girl studied was named Ashley-Mika (by personal choice again). She was a 15 year old Metis (mother was an Aboriginal and father was Euro-Canadian), prostitute. She discussed the struggles she faced with trying to identify herself as a woman (society’s view), a child (law’s view), an Indian (white’s view) and white (Indian’s view). Ashley-Mika chose this name because she wanted to identify what it felt like to be “in the middle”. Ashley was a `regular’ white name and Mika was an Indian name that meant “wise little racoon” (racoon being homeless yet very smart). It was clear that Ashley-Mika identified the many social categories that her culture invented. She was aware of the different identities that culture had initiated on her as well.
The studies of these two females support Pamela Downe’s theory that children are active agents of culture, wielders of knowledge and creators of play. It shows that children must be interpreted as significant in the study of culture conducted by anthropologists.
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JESSICA CARDAMONE York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Helleiner, Jane. “The Right Kind of Children”: Childhood, Gender and “Race” in Canadian Postwar Political Discourse. Anthropologica, 2001. 43(2): 143-152.
Helleiner’s paper discusses postwar (in Canada) effect on children by links nation building with the construction of a universalized, gendered, and racialized “childhoods”. She focuses on a feminist insights and pays very close attention to gender, racism and racial discourse in the construction of childhood in Canadian political discourse. For instance Helleiner believes that the West have made a very strong political claim on behalf of children.
Helleiner point to a case in which a Muslim girl was “rescued” from having to marry an Arab man, emphasizes Helleiner believes that the symbol of childhood innocence seems to have “transcended” both political and cultural arenas. Helleiner stresses that such observations require a more critical review of childhood discourse in both the historical and geographical context; and therefore create a greater focus on the unequal childhood that many assume as natural, experience by both boys and girls. Helleiner also says that male children continue to be associated with nation building, pointing to believe that the unity of Canada was “cemented” by the blood of young men in two great wars. While any references to young women were associated to their roles as caregivers and the transmitter of culture. She believe that there should be more critical review on the construction of childhood and that political discourse depends on this construction, which is “variously universalized, gendered and racialized”. In this paper Helleiner offers anthropologists a way to contribute to the construction of childhood by showing children as agent for changes in a diverse and sometimes unequal ways.
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SOPHATH MAO York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Helleiner, Jane et al. Anthropology, Feminism and Childhood Studies. Anthropologica, 2001. 43(2): 135-142.
In these changing times, more critical attention needs to be paid to childhood studies as a growing discipline. Expanding on work done by past feminist theorists, the authors all agree that we have reached a point in history where a lot more focus needs to be placed on the deconstruction of “childhood” as a static and homogenous category. For such an essentialist perspective tends to undermine the subjectivity of children and ignores the numerous challenges they are currently experiencing in the face of our rapidly globalizing world.
The solution as they see it, is that there needs to be more of an interdisciplinary approach to studying and understanding “children” and “childhood”. They argue that consolidating feminist perspectives with those of an anthropologist helps to broaden the field of childhood studies as it allows for the creation of more critical theories which are all-inclusive of diverse children’s lived realities.
Helleiner and her colleagues give credit to distinguished feminist scholars like Ann Oakley and Leena Alanen who have begun to make the links between feminism and childhood studies. These two particular theorists “[argue] that the feminist rethinking of the “private/public” dichotomy has cast women and children into various public spheres” (135). It is feminist critiques such as this one, that the authors of this article find particularly useful because critiques like this places a new emphasis on “age relations” (like gender relations) by showing the intersectionality of the “adult/child” binary with other oppressive social categories like race, class and gender. The authors feel that these issues need to be fully addressed and thoroughly explored within the discipline because so far up-to-date, the researchers positionality has reflected the lack of knowledge with regards to the social inequalities that are felt by these children.
The authors of this article have all expressed their indebtedness to those feminist scholars whose work they have used as a starting point for their own individual research. Combined, their research addresses how “various childhoods are constructed and experienced within vertical and presumed veridical structures of social inequality at the local level as well as within the broader fields of national and global processes” (136). They feel that by placing such social relations as power/difference and structure/agency at the forefront, their work is making an invaluable contribution to the field of feminist anthropology of children and childhood. They seem hopeful and optimistic that future researchers will adopt a feminist anthropological approach to childhood studies because so far, it has proven to be a successful methodology for understanding the complexities and heterogeneity of children’s lived experiences.
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ALICIA DUNN York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Holmes, Paula Elizabeth. The Narrative Repatriation of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. Anthropologica, 2001. 43(1): 87-103.
According to the author, Paula Elizabeth Holmes, repatriation refers to the return of something valuable and sacred to its people and homeland; it usually refers to indigenous material, which have been taken by non-Natives and used for their own purposes. Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th century Mohawk convert, was a symbolic figure who was removed from her original homeland and exploited by Europeans and Euro-Americans. Nonetheless, Kateri, portrayed as a quiet and obedient figure in Jesuit accounts, was given new words, purpose and identity by her contemporary devotees 300 years later. In this paper, Holmes examines how Kateri was returned to the reservations, repatriated and reclaimed by her people through four interrelating narratives.
Holmes suggests that Kateri is repatriated through the retelling of her deathbed words. Unlike the Jesuit version, which had Kateri proclaiming her love for the Christian faith, this revised scene gives Kateri new lines which speaks a message of unity between her Indian and Catholic ways. Therefore, through the repatriation of Kateri’s dying moments, her contemporary devotees are able to reclaim their saint’s final words.
Holmes also believes that the repatriation of Kateri is achieved through the many stories of her saintly activities. Thus, he presents numerous dialogues which are focused on the miracles that the devotees had experienced, such as visions, dreams and answered prayers. These stories, of their daily encounters with Kateri, are then retold from one generation to the next.
Furthermore, it is through the exchange of these stories with other devotees that Kateri is repatriated. Holmes claims that the rumours of Kateri’s miraculous activities articulate and create intertribal unity amongst her devotees. Therefore, these stories reconstruct the Catholic indigenous community while reinforcing Kateri’s sainthood.
Finally, Kateri is “brought home” through her devotees’ popular proclamation of her full-fledged sainthood. She becomes, as her devotees say “a saint to me”, despite how this challenges the Vatican’s recognition of a saint.
Therefore, this layering of reclamations, which include the retelling of Kateri’s final words, the stories of her saintly activities, the sharing of these narratives and the proclamation of her saintliness, is what Holmes has termed “narrative repatriation”. Furthermore, it is through these narratives that Kateri is transformed from a historically silent and passive figure to a creative and heroic one.
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ANNIE CHAU York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Mitchell, Donald and Donald, Lellan. Sharing Resources on the North Pacific Coast of North America: The Case of the Eulachon Fishery. Anthropologica, 2001. XLIII (1): 19-35.
This article addresses the Eulachon fishery in the northern Pacific coast of North America. The eulachon, a fish native to the rivers of that region, has been an important resource to the locals and has been hunted for generations primarily because it was so rich in oil. Mitchell and Donald discuss some of the reasons why this particular fish was so valued and also some of the social organizations of the Aboriginal tribes that gathered each spring to catch the eulachon.
This small fish was the main resource for the Native tribes of the area. Once extracted, this nutritious oil was consumed and had many healthy and curative properties. Some tribes also caught the fish then dried it and stored it for future use. The healthy oil of the eulachon was a major economic commodity and was traded every year among large groups of various tribes. For almost all, this fish was a way of life in terms of trade and business and also because it was a staple of the local diet.
The eulachon however was only available in certain places, mainly the Nass River and the Kingcome River. Because the eulachon and its oil were so desirable, arrangements had to be made for further distribution of it by a larger number of people. Fishing assemblies were organized where the resources and access to the rivers would be shared during the spring season. Each spring, upwards of 10,000 people from 24 different villages and tribes would convene at the rivers to fish for the prized eulachon. It is interesting to note that there were no formal political organization when the tribes gathered for the month or so of fishing in the spring, however the fighting that one would expect from such a competitive group was usually held in check. Mitchell and Donald documented a couple of instances of hostility and the subsequent resolutions. If a fight was to break out among tribes and a member of either group was to be killed, retributive killing would take place where a member of the other tribe was attacked and killed and a truce of sorts would be called for by the heads of the tribes. No further bloodshed was necessary and peaceful coexistence was maintained so that year after year the tribes would again gather at the rivers to fish.
There were various ways where tribes from farther away could obtain rights to fish for eulachon. These rights usually resulted from marriage, kinship ties and inheritance. Also from an economic point of view, if more people could fish for eulachon, and subsequently produce its oil, there would be more of that product out in the market, which in effect, would lower the price of eulachon oil.
This paper provided an interesting insight into the unique social relations of a year round activity that had important local value and the way in which large numbers of people from different background were able to co-operate with little formal control.
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RAFFI PIRJANIAN York University (Maggie MacDonald).
O’Neil, Tom. “Selling Girls in Kuwait”: Domestic Labour Migration and Trafficking Discourse in Nepal. Anthropologica, 2001. XLIII(2): 153-164.
This article cites the arrest of 15 Nepalese girls intended to work as domestic labourers in Kuwait as a reason to readdress the rules restricting the migration of female workers to foreign markets. This migration is the result of families in less developed nations electing to send their unwed daughters to more developed countries to receive higher wages by participating in domestic labour. This challenges developed nations as more of its resident women enter the workforce and cannot attend to domestic chores. However, domestic work is regarded as non-productive and is therefore not regulated. As a result, the governments of the less developed nations fear their female labourers will be exploited and possibly forced into prostitution. These governments have thus prohibited the migration of young women with the result that their movement has been forced underground thereby exposing them to an even greater risk for abuse. The author argues that the restrictions prohibiting female migration be readdressed seeing as they do not stop females from wanting to leave and potentially increase the risk of exploitation, which they were intended to prevent.
The author presents the case of 15 Nepalese girls destined for Kuwait as an example of the conflicting discourses of national honour and trafficking. The girls felt a responsibility to help their families economically and elected to go to Kuwait to earn higher incomes and a part of this income would be sent back to the girls’ families. At the time of their departure, news broke of the suicide of a Nepalese domestic worker in Kuwait who was raped by the men of the family for whom she worked. As a result, Kuwait was painted as a nation that had defiled the national honour of Nepal. Therefore, the arrest of the girls in Nepal was deemed a rescue from potential, forced prostitution even though only 0.4 % of the female domestic workers in Kuwait seek embassy shelters as a result of exploitation. The author sees this `rescue’, however as preventing the girls and their families from benefiting from the world economy. Thus, as stated by the author, state protection conflicts with the interests of households where migration decisions are made. From this example, the author argues that a discourse is needed to strike a balance between `national honour’ and the autonomy for all migrants, regardless of gender or age.
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SAMANTHA THERRIEN York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Ridington, Robin. Re-Creation in Canadian First Nations Litereatures: “When You Sing It Now, Just Like New”. Anthropologica, 2001. 43(2): 221-230.
This article talks about the narrative forms of storytelling and the ways in which stories are passed down from generation to generation amongst First Nations people in Canada. It expresses concerns with the false assumptions held by a majority of the general population that the inclusion of contemporary elements and western ideas make the stories told by the first nations people less authentic and not really by actual ‘Indians’. The author argues that no matter what, heritage is heritage and no matter how many modern elements first nations people incorporate into their lives (and stories) they are still just as authentic and have as much history and culture as they have always had. To give examples of how the modernization of First Nations people is discouraged against we are told how other aspects of modernization have been looked down upon. For example, how in the 18th century the status of ‘Indian’ was revoked if the person had graduated from university, making a person receiving a degree “educated” and therefore not a real, ‘primitive Indian’.
The article is broken down by giving us a history of storytelling, as well as a history of court cases in Canada that show the obstacles, such as racism, that first nations people have had to overcome. It explains the evolution of storytelling and describes the complex, intertwined process of all of the stories coming from pre-existing stories. In addition, it presents evidence of specific court cases in Canada that have produced unjust and/or racist results, and give additional examples of stories told by first nations people. The author’s argument becomes evident through these examples of stories told by First Nations people and how the stories still contain the same message, even though some of the more traditional elements have been substituted with contemporary ones. This, however, is only done in order to make the stories more updated, but still ensuring that they have the same message.
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LAUREN GEORGY-YANG York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Smith, Derek G. The Policy of Aggressive Civilization and Projects of Governance in Roman Catholic Industrial Schools for Native Peoples in Canada, 1970-95. Anthropologica, 2001. 43(2): 253-272.
In 1869 the United States government established a system of industrial schools for Indian children. The curriculum emphasized basic trades such as farming and carpentry. What the schools neglected to impart were the skills in math, science and literacy. They were run by religious orders and consequently native children received a great deal of religious training. For the most part these were residential schools and the children were separated from their parents and their Native communities and even non-native communities.
Ten years later the government of Canada sent one Nicholas Flood Davin, to investigate how the U.S. policy was working out. In 1879 he submitted a confidential report on “Industrial schools for Indians and Half-Breeds” to Sir. John A. MacDonald, which suggested that Canada should emulate the U.S. system. This recommendation was adopted.
Derek Smith provides a critical anthropological analysis of this policy. He uses a conceptual framework of the “post-Foucauldian theory of governance.” A key concept of this theory is that of “projects of governance,” which in part is defined as the discourses and practices aimed at the control of others. Smith maintains the system of residential schools set out to achieve three projects: to ‘protect’, to ‘civilize’ and to ‘assimilate’.
The schools ‘protected’ Native children by isolating them from what the government perceived to be harmful Native influences such as their families and other aspects of Native culture. They were also isolated and ‘protected’ from non-native populations.
The schools ‘civilized’ the children by encouraging disciplined work habits in prescribed trades and by making them adopt Christian religious beliefs. The U.S. policy makers called this strategy “aggressively civilizing” the `Indian’.
The purpose of the “assimilation project” was to have Native children abandon Native lifestyle in favour of the dominant culture. Property was not to be held communally but individually. Also, it was understood that an `Indian’ would no longer roam the land for a living but that he/she would stay in one place.
Certain post-Foucauldian concepts such as “modes of domination” and “symbolic violence” (which is defined as “the gentle hidden form that violence takes when it cannot be overt”), describe the methods by which these projects were carried out.
Smith addresses academic controversies pertaining to the cultural analysis of the policy. One is whether Canada’s policy was significantly different from that of the United States. Given Davin’s report, Smith concludes the answer is no. A second issue is whether the projects of ‘protection’, ‘civilization’ and ‘assimilation’ occurred in historical sequence or all at once. Smith concludes that the latter was the case with each project reinforcing the other. Though it is called a theory of governance, the post- Foucauldian theory encompasses more than government. Smith maintains that the projects of the industrial school system were carried out as a consequence of the needs of several sites within the non-native culture. The most important of which was the institution of religion. To both political and religious leaders conversion of a Native to the status of a “law abiding citizen” and a “virtuous Christian” were practically synonymous.
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KATY AITKENS York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Stephenson, Peter H. Expanding Notions of Culture and Ethics in Health and Medicine to Include Marginalized Groups: A Critical Perspective. Anthropologica, 2001. XLIII(1): 3-18.
Peter H. Stephenson argues that the medical ethics of North American societies create consequences for the society as a whole. For instance, the North American western culture is too focused on an ethics of individualism; thus, the medical ethics in the western society is generally concerned with health care being accessed by people with higher income levels. This medical ethic implies that minorities, such as indigenous populations who are more community oriented rather than individualistic, do not have equal access to long life and hospitalization, with serious consequences demonstrated by the statistics of high infant mortality rates amongst the indigenous populations.
Various examples of medic-ethical issues are used in the article. The first example states that Western culture blamed the Mexican cultural beliefs for the death of a child, Sandra Navarerete, because her parents did not bring her to the hospital, but in reality, her parents felt isolated in a foreign land and did not have enough money for hospitalization. The second example states that Western culture is obsessed with fighting death. Compared to the Native population of North America, the urban, white and wealthy people dominate the demographic segment of 65 year olds and older and hospital programs for the old; whereas, the Native population has a shorter life expectancy and a diminished population of the elderly. Furthermore, early deaths among the Native population may be caused by social factors such as malnutrition-associated illnesses as a result of loss of land and resources and little access to health care; poverty; and violence, which may further cause suicide.
The last example in the article conveys the point that the ones who can afford health care, are the ones who are able to control their own time of death by performing euthanasia on themselves with a push of a button. On the other hand, in a Hutterian society, death is regarded as inevitable and natural, and this view makes the living “the focus of community attention and love”. This clash of views on death was elaborated in order to show how Western society emphasizes individualism, which can cause a consequence for the West because the West does not appreciate life, since the West is too concerned with death. Also, this individualistic view in the Western society causes consequences for the marginalized minorities because this individualistic view cannot facilitate the concept of cultural relativism because the West will view all other non-individualist cultures as inferior and incomprehensible.
The medical ethics that the Western society embraces is narrowly confined to individual rights rather than human rights.
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LELE MAC York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Webster, Cranmer Gloria. Dzawadi. Anthropologica, 2001. KLIII (1): 37-42.
This paper details the past and the present of fisheries at the North western coast of North America called Dzawadi. The main theme of the paper revolves not only around the old and the modern ways of the catching and processing of Eulachon (a fish of the smelt
family) which returns to the Kingcome and Klinaklini rivers after three years of its spawning in the Pacific Ocean, but also presents an alarming of decline of Eulachon in the rivers.
The Indians of Dazwadi used a simple and crude method of catching Eulachon i.e. through nets made of nettle fiber and cedar slats. The catch was loaded into canoes and carried ashore and was placed into prepared pits. Today instead of canoes aluminum skiffs called “punts” are used and commercial herring seine net has replaced the nettle fiber mesh. Modern technology also allows for a catch of gigantic proportions.
Beside salting and storing, eulachon has been a big source of oil called “Grease” for the people of Dzawadi for centuries. It not only fulfilled their dietary needs but also, served as a much-needed source of revenue and cultural exchange.
The process of making grease from Eulachon is as simple as catching. The day’s catch was unloaded into “Lapas” (big pits). Shallow trenches were dug to provide drainage from the pits. Here the writer also points out that the Eulachon is not left in the pits to rot, in fact the writer gives an eye witness account that these pits are watched very carefully to prevent any contamination. From pits Eulachon were transferred to the boxes made of cedar planks. Another task to be carried out while the eulachon are in the pits is to prepare the cooking tanks. There is a slight difference between the traditional and present methods of preparation, however the both methods yields oil or grease, which would stored, traditionally, in kerfed boxes or in the bulb ends of large kelp. The grease was an important trade item between the coastal tribes and the interior tribes. The trade not only allowed them to exchange a number of things between each other, but also it provided an opportunity of a cultural exchange and sometimes, intertribal marriages.
In recent years Eulachon stocks have been on sharp decline in all rivers. The reasons being clear- cut logging; rise in the pollution level of rivers; proliferation of fish farms and no Government support to protect the fish. Like many other species Eulachon is also on the verge of extinction. The loss of Eulachon will be a loss of the rich cultural heritage of the people of Dzawadi.
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ADNAN WAHEED York University (Maggie MacDonald).
Yetman, David and M’Closkey, Kathy. “The Sun is the Poor Mayo’s Cobija”:
Mayo Weavers Encounter Neo-liberalism. Anthropologica, 2001. 43(1): 71-86.
Weaving, for the Mayo people of Mexico has been fundamental to their identity and significant in their tradition. Yetman and M’Closkey discover the importance of weaving and the decline of the art amongst the Mayo. The adoption of Neo-liberal economic policies by Mexico in the last two decades has had an affect on the Mayo weavers.
Mayo weavers, on average, are women between the ages of thirty-two to ninety. Weaving is a source of pride because they control the entire process from start to finish, and the money they receive from sales is theirs. Weavers may also bring prestige to the village by attracting tourists and occasional buyers or photographers. The decline of Mayo weaving is seen to be because of three main reasons. The first is the unavailability and cost inefficiencies of materials and resources. The second is that young Mayos are culturally assimilated into the Metizos’ urban values and influenced by television. They yearn for the urban life and glamour that they see on TV and want to work in the fields where they can socialize and get away from the protection and control of their culturally conservative parents. Thirdly, the introduction of Neo-liberal policies in Mexico does not aid the Mayo. Thus, the Mayo have a lack of reliable markets for their textiles because of the competition from other Latin American textile manufacturers, as well as international competition because of low trade barriers. The Mayo lack support from the government and trade organizations in helping them produce these textiles. Structural adjustment policies (SAPS) by the IMF and the World Bank negatively affect the Mayo because subsidies towards food and other needs are decreased to pay off Mexico’s foreign debt.
Yetman and M’Closkey question why, in spite of these factors, would the Mayo continue weaving? They found that the Mayo received satisfaction in keeping and perpetuating the Mayo tradition that had been handed down for generations. Their textiles had meaning and were considered as works of art. Weavers feared the uncertain future of weaving and hoped that it would not die out because it was an important tradition that carried knowledge as well as it was a part of their way of life.
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LORRAINE SIT York University (Maggie MacDonald).