A Thorny Identification: Rosebuds as Symbols of Native Identity

Beginning early in the history of European presence in the James Bay region of subarctic Canada, numerous items of native Cree manufacture were sent, or taken back, to Europe. Although many of these older pieces have ended up in European museums, precise documentation of their origins has not. Only occasionally does sparse information identify either the geographic locale or the cultural ethnicity. The identities of the women who are known to have created these items were either unrecorded or ignored and remain forever anonymous. Subsumed within this anonymity are the women’s voices, their feelings, reactions, and responses to the European male presence.

PDF

___

Barth, Fredrik. Introduction. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Boston: Brown, Little and Company, 1969. 9-38.
Boas, Franz. “Property marks of the Alaskan Eskimo.” American Anthropologist 1.4 (1899):61-613.
Brown, Jennifer S.H. “‘I Wish to be as I See You’: An Ojibwa-Methodist Encounter in Fur Trade Country, Rainy Lake, 1854-1855.” Arctic Anthropology 24.1 (1987):19-31.
Bunzel, Ruth. “The Personal Element in Design.” The Pueblo Potter. Ed. Ruth Bunzel. New York: Columbia University Press, 1929:49-68.
Burgesse, J.A. Snowshoes. The Beaver. (March 1941): 24-28.
Cleaver, Nancy and Rosemary Knight. Snowshoe Rabbit and Wild Rose Legends or How The Snowshoe Rabbit Got Its White Winter Coat and How The Wild Rose Got Its Thorns. Cobalt, Ontario: Highway Book Shop, 1978.
Densmore, Frances. How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts. 1928. New York: Dover Publications, 1974.
Dittemore, Diane D. and Nancy Odegaard. “Eccentric Marks on Western Apache Coiled Basketry.” American Indian Art Magazine 23.2 (1998):34-43.
Duncan, Kate C. Northern Athapaskan Art: A Beadwork Tradition. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1989.
Fitzhugh, William and Susan Kaplan. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982.
Goody, Jack. The Culture of Flowers. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1993.
Herold, Joyce. “Chumash Baskets from the Malaspina Collection.” American Indian Art Magazine 3.1 (1977):68-75.
Hill, James N. and Joel Gunn, eds. The Individual in Prehistory. New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Hostetler, John A. “The Amish Use of Symbols and Their Function in Bounding the Community.” The Journal of the Royal Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 94 (1964):11- 21.
Leighton, Anna L. Wild Plant Use by the Woods Cree (NIHITHAWAK) of East-Central Saskatchewan. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1985.
Mackey, Albert G., M.D. An Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences. London: The Masonic History Company. 2 vols.,1873.
Maurer, Evan. “Symbol and Identification in North American Indian Clothing.” The Fabrics of Culture: The Anthropology of Clothing and Adornment. Eds. Justine M. Cordwell and Ronald A. Schwarz. New York: Mouton Publishers, 1979:119-142.
McClellan, Catharine. My Old People Say: An Ethnographic Survey of SouthernYukon Territory. 2 vols. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1975.
McMullen, Ann. “Looking for People in Woodsplint Basketry.” A Key Into the Language of Woodsplint Baskets. Washington, CT: American Indian Archaeological Institute, 1987:102- 123.
Mularchyk, Sylva. “A Search for Fortune.” Search for Identity. Eds. Jon Reyner and Rachel Schaffer. Billings, MT: Council for Indian Education, 1991:37-46.
Oberholtzer, Cath. “Embedded Symbolism: The James Bay Beaded Hoods.” Northeast Indian Quarterly 8.2 (1991):18-27.
O’Meara, Sylvia. Wo/Men’s Place: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue. Paper read at the Twentyninth Algonquian Conference. Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. October 24, 1997.
Penney, David W. “Floral Decoration and Culture Change: An Historical Interpretation of Motivation.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 5.1(1991):53-77.
Pettipas, Katherine. Severing the Ties that Bind: Government Repression of Indigenous Religious Ceremonies on the Prairies . Winnipeg, Manitoba: The University of Manitoba Press, 1994.
Phillips, Roger and Martyn Rix. The Quest for the Rose. London: BBC Books, 1993.
Phillips, Ruth B. “Saying It With Flowers: Meanings of Floral Images in Woodlands Indian Art of the Victorian Era.” Paper presented at the 11th American Indian Workshop, London, England. 9 April 1990.
Reynolds, Georgeanne Lewis. “Ownership Marks and Social Affinity in Northwest Alaska During Late Prehistoric Times.” Arctic Anthropology 26.1 (1989):88-107.
Ribeiro, Berta G. “Visual Categories and Ethnic Identity: The Symbolism of Kayabí Indian Basketry (Mato Grosso, Brazil).” Material Anthropology: Contemporary Approaches to Material Culture. Eds. Barrie Reynolds and Marjorie A. Stott. Lanham: University Press of America, 1987. 102-128.
Rose, Richard. Face to Face: Encounters with Identity. Rochester, NY: Rochester Museum and Science Center, 1983.
Seton, Julia M. American Indian Arts. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1962.
Tanner, Adrian. Bringing Home Animals. St. John’s, Newfoundland: ISER Books, 1979.
Turner, Nancy J. “Just When the Wild Roses Bloom.” Wildflower 9.3 (1993):38.
Van Kirk, Sylvia. Many Tender Ties: Women in the Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.
Williams, Alice. “The Spirit of the Quilt.” Canadian Woman Studies 10.2,3 (1989):49-51.
Winther, Barbara. “More About Dau Marks: Visiting Four Pomo Basket Makers.” American Indian Art Magazine 21.4(1996):44-51.
Winther, Barbara. “Pomo Banded Baskets and their Dau Marks.” American Indian Art Magazine 10.4 (1985):50-57.