Marius Barbeau’s Vitalist Ethnology

Table of Contents

• Cover 1
• Halftitle Page 2
• Title Page 4
• Copyright 5
• Land Acknowledgement | Reconnaissance territoriale 6
• Abstract 7
• Résumé 8
• Table of Contents 10
• List of Illustrations 16
• A Note on Language | Une note sur le langage 20
• Foreword 22
• Introduction 26
• Acknowledgements 30
• Section I: Animism to Vitalism: Learning Anthropology at Oxford and Paris 32
• Evolutionism: An Escape from Quebec’s Catholicism 32
• Chapter 1: Animism at Oxford, 1907–1910 36
• Tylor’s Animism: A Theory of Interconnecting Life Forms 39
• Tylor’s “Intellectualism” 44
• Classical Greece before Ethnographic Diversity at Oxford 49
• Anthropology, the Classics, and Tylor’s Eclipse 51
• Barbeau’s Struggle to Grasp Anthropology 57
• Oxford’s Anthropological Society 60
• Chapter 2: Social Anthropology in Paris 64
• En Route 64
• Studying Religion with Marcel Mauss 66
• Barbeau’s Thesis 72
• Securing a Job in Canada 78
• Tylor’s Animism versus James’s “Pluriverse” 79
• Souls and Solidarity 87
• Chapter 3: Technology: Museum Studies in France and England 92
• Museum Studies at Saint-Germain-en-Laye 94
• Museology at the Pitt Rivers 103
• From Technology to Visual Arts 109
• Technology as Art Appreciation 112
• Durkheimian Technology as Social Creation 116
• Extracurricular Lessons in Art 117
• Section II: Vital Voices: Oral Narratives and Songs 124
• Part A: Collecting Oral Narratives 124
• Chapter 4: First Fieldwork for Canada’s National Museum 132
• Collecting Quebec’s Indigenous Narratives 134
• Reporting Back to Oxford 135
• Boas Provides a Diffusionist Perspective on Oral Culture 141
• The Clergy’s Collaboration 146
• Storytelling Preserved across Time and Space 148
• Chapter 5: A Broader Range of Voices: Narratives in Northern British Columbia 150
• Critiquing Boas 153
• Totemism Revisited 164
• Anthropogeography and the Sources of Local Artistry 168
• Barbeau’s Intercontinental Anthropogeography of Souls 175
• Christian Narratives as Pagan Folk Tales 179
• A Program for Ethnological Research in North America 182
• Chapter 6: Creating Literature from Oral Culture Collections 186
• Writing for Tourists 186
• A Collaborative Publication of First Nations Narratives 193
• Writing a World of Song 196
• Working with an Illustrator 204
• Part B: Ethnomusicology 206
• Chapter 7: Encountering Songs and Singers 206
• Songs and Singers in Rural Quebec 207
• Note Taking 210
• Luddite Fears of Music’s Mechanization 213
• Indigenous Songs and Singers 214
• Indigenous Voices in the Northwest 215
• Transcription Difficulties 222
• Consulting Sir Ernest MacMillan 223
• Marguerite d’Harcourt’s Transcription Advisory 227
• Moving Pictures with Sound 228
• Chapter 8: Performing, Publishing, and Arranging Ethnomusicology Collections 230
• Music among Museum Curators 232
• Publishing French-Canadian Songs with Sapir 236
• Performance and New Music 243
• Barbeau’s Compositions 252
• Section III: Visions of Vitality: Material Culture and Visual Arts 258
• Exploring Europe’s Visual Arts 263
• Enduring Oxford Vision of Art 263
• A “Pioneer Collector” 266
• Part A: Collecting Material Cultures 268
• Chapter 9: Early Museum Work in Ottawa 268
• A Meeting Ground of Boasian, Paris, and Oxford Practices 268
• Collection Controversies 276
• Sapir’s Departure Causes a Rift 282
• Chapter 10: Divergent Perspectives: Curators’ Conflicts 288
• Sapir’s Depreciation of Visual Arts 289
• Sapir Uses Carl Jung for Culture-and-Personality Theory 291
• Alternatives to Sapir’s Intellectualism 293
• Chapter 11: Totem Poles: Collection, Documentation, and Relocation 300
• Documenting Gitxsan Totem Poles 302
• Totem Poles as Art History 304
• Preserving Totem Poles In Situ 306
• Barbeau’s Totem Pole Report 309
• Totem Pole Restoration Aesthetics 310
• Totem Poles as a “Modern Growth” 315
• Museumizing Totem Poles 315
• The Pole for Paris 323
• A French Attempt to Avoid Conservation Problems 326
• Barbeau’s Museum Aesthetics Condemned 328
• Totem Poles in B.C. Settler Museums 329
• William Beynon Raises a Totem Pole at Gitsegukla 331
• Part B: Work with Modern Settler Painters and Late Discoveries 336
• Chapter 12: Fieldwork with Settler Society’s Visual Artists 336
• Lifelines 336
• Art and Souls 337
• Drawings versus Photographs 339
• Langdon Kihn 342
• A. Y. Jackson and Arthur Lismer in Rural Quebec, 1925 349
• An Arts and Crafts Perspective 353
• Discovering Louis Jobin 355
• Settler Artists in Northwestern B.C., 1926 358
• Chapter 13: Art and Artifacts: Curating for Urban Galleries, 1926–1927 364
• Art Gallery of Toronto Show, 1926 365
• Homespuns 366
• Woodcarvings 367
• Placing Quebec Woodcarvers in European Art History 368
• Art and Anthropology 370
• National Gallery of Canada, 1927 372
• Curatorial Statements 374
• Barbeau’s Inclusion of Emily Carr 376
• Barbeau’s Appreciation for Carr’s Totem-Pole Paintings 381
• Conflict and Damage: Hanging the 1927 Show 384
• Carr Sees Opposition to Barbeau’s Co-curation 385
• The Demands of a Travelling Show 387
• Curating World Fairs 390
• Section IV: Abroad Again and Late Works on Haida Gwaii 392
• Chapter 14: Barbeau’s 1931 “Holiday” in France and England: Historicizing Indigenous Handcrafts 394
• Working at the Trocadéro 395
• Paris between the Wars 399
• Mauss Shifts Barbeau’s Vision Seaward 404
• Visiting England’s Museums 405
• Paris and the Intercontinental “Origins” of Totem Poles 406
• The Paris Totem Pole 407
• Chapter 15: Late Fieldwork on Haida Gwaii: Argillite Carving 410
• Barbeau’s Talks on Northwest Coast Craftsmanship, 1939 413
• The Unique Properties of Argillite 415
• Scrimshaw as a Product of Boredom 418
• Boston Whalers among the Haida 419
• Haida Myths: Illustrated in Argillite Carvings, 1953 420
• Lingering Classicism from Oxford 422
• Making Sense of Argillite Collections 423
• Tsimshian Myths versus Haida Carvings 423
• Museum Evidence for Argillite Carvings’ Marine Travels 425
• Narrative Themes of Argillite Carvings 426
• Haida Carvers in Argillite, 1957 427
• Musical Instruments Carved of Argillite 429
• Plate and Dish Makers and Miniature Totems 429
• Beynon’s Contribution to the Argillite Volumes 433
• Conclusion 436
• Bibliography 442
• Notes 464
• Index 500
• Backcover 538