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Peripheral Participation and the Kwakiutl Potlatch
Author(s) -
WOLCOTT HARRY F.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
anthropology and education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1548-1492
pISSN - 0161-7761
DOI - 10.1525/aeq.1996.27.4.05x1140v
Subject(s) - indoctrination , sociology , perspective (graphical) , expansive , frame (networking) , interpersonal communication , gender studies , anthropology , epistemology , social science , political science , politics , art , law , visual arts , philosophy , telecommunications , compressive strength , materials science , composite material , ideology , computer science
Invited to attend a memorial potlatch in 1987 that marked his own 25–year association with the Kwakiutl people of British Columbia, the author realized how the extended time frame offered a perspective not only on a celebrated Northwest Coast tradition but also on interpersonal complexities of culture acquisition and culture change as that tradition continues into the present. This account examines the potlatch from personal dimensions, a perspective missing from the expansive literature on an otherwise well–documented activity. Jean Lave's notion of “peripheral participation” is introduced as a framework for examining how humans find their “way in” to cultural events like this without necessarily realizing the subtlety of their indoctrination.