George Hunt: en kwakwaka’wakw livshistorie

Abstract

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Inspired by Armin W. Geertz’ research into Hopi religion and culture, I focused on the religion of another Native American people, the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) on the American Northwest Coast for the seminar celebrating Geertz’ 70-year birthday. The material on Kwakwaka’wakw is heavily influenced by George Hunt (1854-1933), who worked as a consultant for both Franz Boas and Edward Curtis, but is also to be regarded as an anthropologist in his own right. I choose to concentrate on the ritual aspects of George Hunt’s life story and touch on Hunt’s performance at the Chicago World’s Fair 1893, his participation in the production of Edward Curtis’ feature-length, narrative, ethnographic film In the Land of the Head Hunters(1914), and Hunt’s work as collector for museums and text-editions in collaboration with Franz Boas. In the last part of the paper, I discuss the autobiographical text on his initiation as a shaman “I Desired to Learn the Ways of the Shamans”, published by Boas in 1930, and made famous by Lévi-Strauss in the article “Le sorcier et sa magie” (1949)/ “The Sorcerer and His Magic” (1963) under the initiate’s shaman-name, Quesalid. DANSK RESUME: Med inspiration i Armin W. Geertz’ forskningsindsats inden for hopireligion og -kultur søgte jeg i mit indlæg til Geertz’ 70-års fødselsdags-seminar at belyse nogle kultiske aspekter af religionsudviklingen hos et andet af Amerikas oprindelige folk, kwakwaka’wakw (kwakiutl) på den amerikanske Nordvestkyst. Materialet er stærkt præget af George Hunt (1854-1933), som var konsulent for både Franz Boas og Edward Curtis, men tillige må betragtes som antropolog i sin egen ret. Jeg har valgt at fokusere på de rituelle aspekter af George Hunts livshistorie og berører hans optræden ved verdensudstillingen i Chicago 1893, hans medvirken i produktionen af Edward Curtis’ etnografiske spillefilm In the Land of the Head Hunters1914 og hans meget omfattende indsamling til museer og tekstudgivelser i samarbejde med Franz Boas. Artiklen munder ud i en drøftelse af den selvbiografiske beretning om hans indvielse til shaman “I Desired to learn the Ways of the Shamans”, en tekst, som Boas udgav i 1930, og som Lévi-Strauss gjorde kendt under hovedpersonens shaman-navn, Quesalid, i artiklen “Le sorcier et sa magie” (1949)/“The Sorcerer and His Magic” (1963).

Keywords

• Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl); Hopi; Autobiography; Shamanism; George Hunt; Franz Boas; Edward S. Curtis; Armin W. Geertz; Claude Lévi-Strauss