Little Bit Know Something: Stories in a Language of Anthropology

Book by Ridington, Robin

In this collection of 14 papers spanning two decades, Ridington ( Trail to Heaven : Knowledge and Narrative in a Northern Native Community ), an anthropology professor at the University of British Columbia, provides an acute, absorbing look at the customs and beliefs of the Dunne-za Indians of British Columbia. In "Fox and Chickadee," an elderly Indian named Chickadee uses storytelling to teach then-Ph.D. candidate Ridington the difference between collecting data and learning. "Telling Secrets" describes how private and public knowledge are joined as personal "vision quests" become part of the communal myth. In "A True Story," an elderly woman recalls her "vision quest," an encounter with the spirit of a sleeping bear. A glimmer of the way this hunting community adapted to trade with the European settlers is given in "From Hunt Chief to Prophet." And "The Medicine Fight" shows how a community without a formal political structure can distribute political power through an institutionalized competition. Photos not seen by PW .
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