Bibliography of Tahltan Materials

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An Annotated Bibliography of Tahltan Language Materials

John Alderete - Simon Fraser University, Department of Linguistics

Thomas McIlwraith - Douglas College, Department of Sociology & Anthropology

The purpose of this paper is to list and summarize materials on the Tahltan language, including linguistic and anthropological research papers, dictionaries, collections of stories, and teaching materials. We hope that the bibliography will give language teachers, linguists, anthropologists, and all others interested in Tahltan language and culture (and Athabaskan languages in general) an awareness of what materials exist and how they might be useful in a range of scholarship.

Read the Full Paper (PDF): Here
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Hunting and History in Northern B.C

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‘But We Are Still Native People’: Talking about Hunting and History in Northern Athapaskan Village

by Thomas McIlwraith Ph.D

Abstract:

My dissertation is a study of hunting in the northern Athapaskan village of Iskut, British Columbia, Canada. Hunting serves as a cultural system uniting Iskut people in a place where ethnic identity is not as easy to identify as outsiders might expect. Moreover, non-natives sometimes suggest that Iskut hunting activities reflect cultural and economic poverty. Still, interest in Iskut knowledge about animals and the land persists in and outside of Iskut. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is in demand in bureaucratic settings, for example, but Iskut knowledge about food and animals resists easy interpretation. I turn to the ‘ethnography of speaking’ as a way of learning about hunting and of moving beyond the fact-finding often associated with bureaucratic TEK projects. I attend to hunting stories and group history to understand why Iskut people talk about hunting with such passion. Studying talk of hunting and its etiquette reveals a wide range of lived experiences and practices at Iskut Village. It shows how Iskut people draw their history into contemporary resource conflicts. And, it illustrates a cultural system in a place where different family histories exist.

Read More (PDF): Here
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‘Sacred Headwaters’ Endangered

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The headwaters of the Skeena, Nass, and Stikine Rivers – so important in Tahltan history and culture - have made the annual list of endangered rivers, compiled by The Outdoor Recreation Council of BC. The Council lists the headwaters at #6 due to the possibility of coal-bed methane mining.

Source: Tad McIlwraith
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