Ishi in Three Centuries

Karl Kroeber, Clifton B. Kroeber

U of Nebraska Press, Jan 1, 2003 - History - 416 pages

Ishi in Three Centuries brings together a range of insightful and unsettling perspectives and the latest research to enrich and personalize our understanding of one of the most famous Native Americans of the modern era?Ishi, the last Yahi. After decades of concealment from genocidal attacks on his people in California, Ishi (ca. 1860?1916) came out of hiding in 1911 and lived the last five years of his life in the University of California Anthropological Museum in San Francisco. ø Contributors to this volume illuminate Ishi the person, his relationship to anthropologist A. L. Kroeber and others, his Yahi world, and his enduring and evolving legacy for the twenty-first century. Ishi in Three Centuries features recent analytic translations of Ishi?s stories, new information on his language, craft skills, and his personal life in San Francisco, with reminiscences of those who knew him and A. L. Kroeber. Multiple sides of the repatriation controversy are showcased and given equal weight. Especially valuable are discussions by Native American writers and artists, including Gerald Vizenor, Louis Owens, and Frank Tuttle, of how Ishi continues to inspire the creative imagination of American Indians.

Contents

• PART ONE ISHI IN SAN FRANCISCO: 3
• A Personal Remembrance of Ishi: 11
• Ishis Two Bodies Anthropology and Popular Culture: 18
• When the Demons Come RetroSpectacle among the Savages: 35
• Kroeher Pope and Ishi: 48
• PART TWO THE REPATRIATION CONTROVERSY: 67
• Repatriating the Remains of Ishi Smithsonian Institution Report and Recommendation: 73
• Assuming Responsibility for Ishi: 87
• Assuming Responsibility for Ishi An Alternative Interpretation: 89
• Ishis Brain Ishis Ashes Reflections on Anthropology and Genocide: 99
• The Humanity of Ishi: 132
• Ishi and the University: 146
• PART THREE ISHIS WORLD REVISITED: 157
• The Stone Tool Technology of Ishi and the Yana: 159
• Ishis Spanish Words: 201
• Ishis Language: 208
• PART FOUR ISHIS STORIES: 229
• Yahi Culture in the Wax Museum Ishis Sound Recordings: 235
• When the World Was New Ishis Stories: 275
• The Story of Lizard: 293
• The Days of a Life What Ishis Stories Can Tell Us About Ishi: 318
• PART FIVE ISHI AS INSPIRATION: 357
• The Power of Names: 359
• Mister Ishi Analogies of Exile Deliverance and Liberty: 363
• Native Sovereignty and the Tricky Mirror Gerald Vizenors Ishi and the Wood Ducks: 373
• The Healer Maidu Artist Frank Days Vision of Ishi: 388
• What Wild Indian?: 394
• The Condition of California Indians 1906: 397
• Suggested Readings: 401
• Contributors: 405
• Index: 409

About the author

Karl Kroeber is Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. His most recent books include Creation Myths of Primitive America, Artistry in Native American Myths (Nebraska 1998), and Traditional Literature of the American Indian (Nebraska 1997). Clifton Kroeber is Emeritus Norman Bridge Professor of Hispanic American History at Occidental College. He is the coauthor of Massacre on the Gila and coeditor of A Mohave War Reminiscence, 1854?1880 and The Frontier in Perspective.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Ishi in Three Centuries
• Editors: Karl Kroeber, Clifton B. Kroeber
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: U of Nebraska Press, 2003
• ISBN: 0803227574, 9780803227576
• Length: 416 pages
• Subjects: History / Native American