<
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-the-nisgaa-nations-fight-for-the-return-of-a-36-foot-totem-pole-180981342/>
"Three years ago, Sigidimnak’ Noxs Ts’aawit (also known as Amy Parent) headed
home to Nisga’a territory, a 780-square-mile valley of forests, streams and
rugged lava fields, fringed by glacier-capped mountains on the northwestern
side of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Parent, a scholar specializing in Indigenous education and governance at Simon
Fraser University in British Columbia, had returned to her traditional
territory to follow up on her research for a Nisga’a language revitalization
project. After Parent passed along the information, she asked if she could use
her research skills to assist the community with any other knowledge needs. An
elder asked her to look into the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole, a hand-carved totem
pole dated to the mid-19th century.
Nisga’a carvers had drawn on historical and contemporary photographs to create
a replica of the totem pole, which was stolen from the First Nation in 1929 and
sold to what is now the National Museum of Scotland. But before the
Laxgalts’ap, a Nisga’a community of around 600 people, could complete
ceremonies and raise the replica outside their community building, they needed
more details on the original. “Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl”—Chief Earl Stephens—“asked
me to look for information about some of the names that were connected to the
original Ni’isjoohl pole,” Parent recalls."
Via V. T. Eric Layton and Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
