Hwitsowitenne : land, law and the feast in Northwestern Carrier society

The central problem addressed in the thesis is the nature of the relationship between the contemporary Carrier feast and the realities of the social-economic context of Carrier life outside the feast hall. In Part I an ethnohistorical analysis of Carrier society is first presented, indicating a pattern of changing social structure relating to shifting ecological and economic conditions. Through an analysis of certain protocols of the Carrier feast, it is then argued that the "surface" structures manifest at the feast are related to Carrier social history through principles operating at unconscious levels of structure. This analysis is intended to elucidate the "meaning" of the feast from within the feast hall.Part II contains an examination of the changing nature of Bulkley River Carrier (Hwitsowitenne) social-economic conditions pri¬ marily since 1950, focussing on hereditary authority, property relations and supporting indigenous laws. It is argued that a dependency relation¬ ship has developed between government and industry, on the one hand, and Hwitsowitenne society, on the other. This is seen to effect change in the Hwitsowitenne structure of authority and system of property relations which, in turn, places stress on the feast as it is described in Part I.Conclusions arising from both parts of the essay discuss the relationship between ritual and social structure and the significance of the contemporary Hwitsowitenne feast