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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page examination of the rituals associated with death in nineteenth century Tlingit culture. The Tlingit people lived along the coast of Southeast Alaska which extended from the Canadian boundary to Yakutat Bay. In this report, emphasis is placed on body preparation, mourning, and the potlatch with respect to the traditions of this particular aboriginal culture. Bibliography lists four sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Tlinget.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
During the nineteenth century the Tlingit people lived along the coast of Southeast Alaska which extended from the Canadian
boundary to Yakutat Bay (Kan 21). Like many aboriginal names for themselves, the term Tlingit distinguishes the people belonging to the Tlingit cultural group as being different from the
animals and other people of their region (Emmons, 7). Their first contact with Europeans came at the hands of the Russians in 1741 in the form of the fur
trade with which the Tlingits became immediately involved (Kan 27). Although they, like any other people, had witnessed changes in their culture previously; contact with the Russians and their
participation in the fur trade resulted in significant technological and socioeconomic change (Kan 21). According to Kan, however, "these changes did not affect the underlying structural principles of
the social order, basic cultural values, or ethos (Kan 21)". The literature differs somewhat in respect to the particulars of the
social organization of the Tlingit but basically it is agreed that they are separated into two major matrilineal exogamous moieties. Klan (24) and Emmons (21) identify these moieties as
Ravens and Eagles (which he states are known as Wolves in some localities). Emmons (21) identifies a third moiety among the Sanya people, the Eagle People, which were neither
of the Wolves or the Eagles but which could marry into either. These moieties functioned in the social life of the Tlingit, they were particular important in regulating marriages
and in performing rituals such as those associated with death (Kan 24). The Tlingit were further divided into fourteen to twenty exogamous matrilineal descent groups called kwaans which were
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