Standing Up with Ga'axsta'las: Jane Constance Cook and the Politics of Memory, Church, and Custom

Leslie A. Robertson, the the Kwagu'l Gixsam Clan

UBC Press, Oct 7, 2012 - Social Science - 596 pages

Standing Up with Ga axsta las is a compelling conversation with the colonial past initiated by the descendants of Kwakwaka wakw leader and activist, Jane Constance Cook (1870-1951). Working in collaboration, Robertson and Cook s descendants open this history, challenging dominant historical narratives that misrepresent her motivations for criticizing customary practices and supporting the potlatch ban. Drawing from oral histories, archival materials, and historical and anthropological works, they offer a nuanced portrait of a high-ranked woman who was a cultural mediator; devout Christian; and activist for land claims, fishing and resource rights, and adequate health care. She testified at the McKenna-McBride Royal Commission, was the only woman on the executive of the Allied Indian Tribes of BC, and was a fierce advocate for women and children. This powerful meditation on memory documents how the Kwagu l Gixsam revived their dormant clan to forge a positive social and cultural identity for future generations through feasting and potlatching.

Contents

• Prologue: 1
• Having Oneness on Your Face: 10
• The Living Text Traces of Jane Cook: 23
• Dukwaesala Looking Around on the Beach Ancestors: 53
• Stranger Than Fiction Surviving the Missionary: 103
• Children of the Potlatch System 18881912: 154
• We As the Suppressed People 191318: 192
• We Are the Aboriginee Which Is Not a Citizen 191827: 232
• With the Potlatch Custom in My Blood 193039: 285
• One Voice from Many Citizenship 194048: 343
• A Tower of Strength Word Memorials 1951: 390
• Dłaxwitsine For Your Standing Feasting: 403
• Notes: 471
• Bibliography: 542
• Index: 556

About the author

Leslie A. Robertson is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia. The Kwagu l Gixsam Clan comprises approximately one thousand members descended from a common ancestor. Their cultural root is Tsaxis (Fort Rupert).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Standing Up with Ga'axsta'las: Jane Constance Cook and the Politics of Memory, Church, and Custom; Women and Indigenous Studies Series
• Authors: Leslie A. Robertson, the the Kwagu'l Gixsam Clan
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: UBC Press, 2012
• ISBN: 0774823860, 9780774823869
• Length: 596 pages
• Subjects: History / Native American; Social Science / Anthropology / General; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Native American Studies