Research Guides
Daniel Trager
HONORS 394 B, Puget Sounds: Ethnomusicology Archiving Close to Home
SPRING 2012
Instructor: John Vallier
May 27, 2012
The Potlatch: Trading Cultural Grey-out for Cultural Exchange
Abstract: Reflections on the ethnomusicological and archival significance of donating an audiovisual document of a North Seattle cooperative preschool community potlatch, featuring First Nations ‘Leengit Kusti’ dancers.
Contemplating a broad history of music scholarship in general, and ethnomusicology in particular, in a recently published academic journal (2010) [7], noted ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl cited sources and precedents dating back as far as 1885 for fashioning a survey and appreciative history of his chosen discipline. From that survey he formulated ten foundational guiding questions. These questions include:
While all of these questions are appreciably compelling and fundamental to any inquiry related to musicology, the last two questions, “what kind of people are we, are we doing anyone any good,” struck me as particularly germane to the donation of the material I propose to donate. The question ‘what kind of people are we’ can be directly reflected, if not ever comprehensively answered, in a description of time and place and context (December 3, 2004, North Seattle, community preschool potlatch attended by teachers, students, their families, and featured guests and performers Leengit Kusti Dancers (LK), from the First Nations Tlingit tribe, totaling approximately 100 attendees, including the 13 LK dancers). Such a description, however, while helpful, is naturally superficial. Beyond such a superficial description, the audiovisual material speaks for itself and literally sings with the music and dancing it contains, thus the benefit of an audiovisual record of an event, as opposed to any mere description of the same. As to the question of doing anyone any good, as a parent and participant and recipient of the Wedgwood Cooperative Preschool (WWCP) Potlatch, featuring the LK dancers, I can personally attest to the enriching and invigorating effects of the event in particular, and the contextual curriculum in general, both for myself, and my kids. Beyond my personal attestations, or those forthcoming from other participants, the twin questions of who, why, as well as each of the eight former Nettl questions, bear further inquiry and reflection, all of which may be appreciated in relation to the context of a concept of cultural equity.
Cultural Equity
In his 1972 “Appeal for Cultural Equity,” noted polymath (ethnomusicologist, historian, archivist, audio engineer, activist, et cetera) Alan Lomax asserts his concern that traditional and minority cultures are in danger of being occluded and obliterated by a pervasive spread of ‘popular’ culture. He states the theme of his polemic in stark terms, as he wrote, “cultural variety lies under threat of extinction. A grey-out is in progress which, if it continues unchecked, will fill our human skies with the smog of the phoney (sic) and cut the families of men off from a vision of their own cultural constellations [6].”
Lomax implicates a centralization of telecommunication technologies and content programmers as the source of the threat. He prescribes greater access to technology and means of production and transmission for wider assortments of cultures as a solution. It is especially noteworthy, from a contemporary perspective, within the framework of a society that has long since exited an economy built on industry, and entered into an economy built on informational commerce, that Lomax recognizes communications technology as being both scourge and savior.
Lomax’s vision of telecommunications technology as pivotal boon or bane for culture and society echoes ongoing contemporary debate about the effects of the since burgeoning internet, and attendant world-wide-web infrastructure and economy. The arrival of the internet and the attendant impact on global society more than twenty years after Lomax’s “Appeal” offer endless opportunity to reflect variously on the accuracy or inaccuracy of his vision.
A positive reflection of Lomax’s prescience has recently been realized in the form of his vision of a ‘global jukebox.’ Soon after the publication of his “Appeal,” Lomax began envisioning in computerized telecommunications technology the potential to realize what he called a ‘global jukebox.’ In the global jukebox he envisioned an elegant encapsulation of his life’s work to record, categorize, compare, cross-reference, and access the multiplicity of the world’s music and dance.
Cultural Tourism
The 2012 realization of the Lomax Global Jukebox via an online publishing and accessioning of the Lomax archives marks but the latest milestone of many milestones drifting in the wake of Lomax’s 1972 “Appeal.” Since that time, the marketing and expansion of ‘world music’ as recognizable touchstone of academic endeavor and marketing brand name has demonstrably been established and significantly spread.
The spread of the ‘world music’ concept has been similarly celebrated variously as a boon for researchers, consumers, and producers, but also decried by some parties as a threat to tradition by progressive erosion. This dichotomy was presented and explored in a 2006 published anthology of ethnomusicology literature edited and introduced by Jennifer Post, entitled simply, Ethnomusicology: A Contemporary Reader. In the introduction she recognizes the positive and negative perspectives associated with ‘world music,’ citing in particular the dual perspectives attendant with a concept of ‘cultural tourism.’ Says Post: “While some researchers identify cultural tourism as detrimental to the continuation of traditional practices, others have found through their fieldwork that the practice has actually been responsible for renewal and revival of traditional music forms and styles [8].”
Sandi Dexter and the Wedgwood Cooperative Preschool
The Wedgwood Cooperative Preschool community and curriculum offers an interesting and arresting milieu to reflect on the questions of cultural equity and cultural tourism. The WWCP curriculum includes exploration in and of multiculturalism as both a foundational aspect of learning, and as a recruiting ethos. Founded in 1983 by extant teacher Sandi Dexter, the school and its primary teacher will celebrate their 30th anniversary next year in 2013. This longevity is arguably testament to the structuring and fostering of the principles of a cooperative preschool in a market that appreciates it, and also the enriched and diverse curriculum it offers.
Key components of the WWCP curriculum include all facets of multiple cultures, including art, clothing, literature, food, language, and most of all music. Teacher Sandi begins and ends each class session with welcoming and departing sing-alongs. “Music is one of the keys for engaging kids emotionally” says WWCP Teacher Sandi Dexter in a recent testimonial video created by a WWCP parent and posted to YouTube[1]. Sandi’s repertoire of songs, led by her voice encouraging the participation of the children in a call and response manner, either a cappella or self-accompanied with her autoharp, includes familiar folk songs (Plant an Apple Tree, Sing Your Way Home) alongside adaptations of African Swahili songs such as Karibu (first song on the DVD) and Asante Sana. She duly makes special effort to learn, teach, and share appropriately representative songs for the children’s special weeks. The special weeks, detailed in the next paragraph (below), are emblematic of a collaborative and shared learning experience for both children and parents. Augmenting and highlighting education for parents is readily apparent as parents are co-enrolled in Parent Education courses when joining the cooperative.
In addition to the component of Parent Education courses, as jointly administered by the North Seattle Community College, parents are charged with providing and performing an array of administrative tasks and regular classroom participation. As part of the classroom participation and WWCP curriculum, parents (and their families) are further charged with preparing and hosting a ‘special week’ in the classroom devoted to celebrating their child with a theme of either their own cultural background, or any other culture of their choosing. Throughout the week, items and symbols from the chosen culture, including arts and crafts and food and music, are featured and explored in the classroom. Given the diverse nature of the North Seattle population, including ever evolving and expanding enclaves of Nordic, Asian, Indian, and numerous other culturally rooted representations, the intention for special weeks to serve as a proxy ‘trip around the world’ is routinely manifest. This ‘trip around the world’ presents something of a reverse pan cultural ethnography for the children and their parents, and may be considered as a form of cultural tourism. Instead of going out into the field, or actually travelling the world, however, the cultures of the world are brought into the classroom. In addition to the special weeks, other cultural exploration includes a WWCP community and family potlatch presented as a culmination of exploration of First Nations art, music, and folklore.
Leading up to the potlatch, items and artifacts of First Nations culture and literature are made available for the children to read individually and as a group activity read-aloud. Children are introduced to First Nations art and symbols through sharing of the literature and eventually create their own headgear, hand drums, and ‘button blankets,’ albeit woven and crafted in the medium of construction paper, instead of traditional wool or woven bark or plant material, before the availability of wool. At the potlatch the WWCP kids wear their makeshift First Nations regalia, sing songs and dance with and for each other, the community of their attending family members, and guest attendees, the Leengit Kusti dancers, members of the Tlingit tribe.
Potlatch
As an important and central component of Pacific Northwest First Nations social and economic structure, the potlatch has a deep history with a commensurate library of anthropological and native literature devoted to its study and importance. A Chinook word, with a literal definition of “to give away,” potlatch gatherings have been a hallmark practice of Pacific Northwest First Nations society for thousands of years. Held for the sake of cultural exchange, commerce, and celebration, hosts are honored to share their wealth in the form of food, music, dance, story telling, and other assorted cultural goods, with visiting guests in specially sanctioned guest halls devoted to the practice. Weddings, births, namings, deaths, and numerous ritual passages are considered opportune occasions for practicing the potlatch. In spite of the cultural centrality of the potlatch, as part of an aggressive assimilation doctrine of the encroaching European pilgrim settlers, the potlatch practice was officially banned by both Canadian and US governments roughly between 1885 and 1950. Ironically, Western modern contemporary society derives the ‘potluck’ practice of splitting and sharing communal meals directly from the First Nations’ potlatch. Seen in this context, it is an especial privilege for the WWCP community to share in an actual potlatch, or as close to an actual potlatch that non-native First Nations members could hope to approximate, by virtue of hosting the honor of the visiting Leengit Kusti dancers, members of the Tlingit First Nations tribe.
Leengit Kusti Dancers
The WWCP association with the LK dancers has been marked as at least an annual occasion with an evolution currently spanning over 15 years. In the audiovisual recording from 2004, LK leader Fred Fulmer cites the WWCP and Fulmer family association as being in its 10th year. In email correspondence Sandi Dexter describes the history and evolution of the WWCP First Nations cultural study, “(The WWCP potlatch) started out as a celebration during the preschool day, later the families agreed to do it in the evening. I had a First Nations storyteller as our first guest, had a parent tell stories the next year or two and then we found the Fulmers. At that time their dance group had yet another name.” Fred Fulmer corroborates this historical account in the audiovisual recording, citing, as previously noted, 2004 as marking the 10th anniversary of their association, and the earlier incarnations of the dance group as ‘Ancha’ (sp?), ‘Kutiya,’ and then ‘Leengit Kusti,’ which he translates from the Tlingit tongue as meaning ‘Tlingit way of living.’
The Fulmer family, including Leengit Kusti leader, Fred, his wife, Ivy, and daughter Yolanda, her children, and a wider cast of family and friends, spans at least 3 generations. The number of group members ranges between around 5-25 members at any given time or occasion, 13 dancers participated in the recorded May 3, 2004 potlatch. Fred is an accomplished sculptor and carver of totem poles, masks, paddles, canoes, and other items. His work is displayed in the Burke Museum, where he has received grants and worked as artist in residence (2009), and the internationally acclaimed Stonington gallery in Seattle.
Tlingit
In the Tlingit language, ‘Tlingit,’ the word itself is translated as ‘people of the tides.’ The lineage and history of the Tlingit nation has been traced back as far as 15,000 years, representing a conglomeration of inhabitants of the coasts of what now constitutes Southeast Alaska and the Island coasts off of British Columbia. Within the framework of a 15,000 year old society, it should be appreciated that the Tlingit culture is considerably vast and deep, and any thorough appreciation of its depths is considerably outside the scope of this relatively modest endeavor to present and analyze the context of this audiovisual document. See the references section for potential starting points for deeper study of Tlingit culture.
Four key elements of Tlingit culture are notably present in this audiovisual document of the Leengit Kusti dancers’ performance: button blankets, hand drums, and the songs and dances themselves.
The ‘button blanket’ may be among the most prevalently displayed and readily associable artifacts in this audiovisual document. A key feature of nearly all NW coastal tribes, including the Tsimshian, Haida, Makah, Coast Salish, as well as Tlingit, the button blanket is a traditional blanket worn for ceremonies and rituals, usually distinguished by a red, black, and white color scheme, with mother of pearl ‘buttons’ decoratively incorporated around the blanket border and into a central crest. The crest displays a symbol of the bearer’s family’s heritage. Tlingit culture is animist, venerating animals as their literal forebears. Tlingit trace their lineage back to either the Killer Whale or the Raven clans. The LK dancers are largely composed of members of the Killer Whale clan.
Ivy and Yolanda Fulmer describe the significance of the Killer Whale for Tlingit people, and their immediate family, on a site hosted by nativevillage.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a forum and repository for First Nations research, education, and news. “The killer whale represents one of our two primary clans. In the past, we actually had a Killer Whale Longhouse that housed many families. (It might be similar to an apartment building today, as opposed to individual family dwellings). Our crests and clan names describe where we came from (genealogy), and are never worshipped.[3]”
On the same site, Ivy and Yolanda describe the Tlingit hand drum:
“The hand drum we use ranges from 10 to 24 inches in diameter. We also use the box drum, which somewhat resembles a wooden footlocker with the lid taken off, and then it is tilted on edge and hit on the side. We love our drums.[3]”
Ivy and Yolanda differentiate Tlingit dancing from other First Nation dancing, again from the same source:
“Tlingit dancers come out for potlatches (parties, giveaways), funerals, weddings, clan gatherings, and almost any excuse to dance we can find. We are different from the powwow dancers because we only know how to dance as a group. We don't have individual dances or competition.[3]”
Multiculturalism
It is worth noting that the three previous citations are from the same source, a website hosted by and for First Nations communities, on a page created by Ivy and Yolanda Fulmer, and titled “Merry Christmas from Tlingits Everywhere.” The title of that page, as well as the page itself, and the hosting site of the page, fittingly hearkens back to this essay’s opening questions and themes of cultural equity, cultural tourism, and multiculturalism. Ivy and Yolanda make clear that they are deriving inspiration and even participation in a normative ‘Christmas’ celebration as they offer a Tlingit take on the classic Christmas song and offer 12 items related to their own culture to substitute for the traditional song items:
“The European version of the 12 Days of Christmas contains unfamiliar cultural elements, so this song was re-written to reflect Tlingit values and incorporate familiar sights and sounds of our villages.[3]”
Does this example of internet-driven cultural interplay and cross-pollination represent cultural erosion, cultural equity, or multiculturalism? Answers to these questions are dependent on perspective and prospective interpretation, but the novelty and multifaceted implications are appreciably within scope of any modern ethnomusicologist or multiculturalist.
By virtue of my personal participation in the recorded event, I have already stated my endorsement of the multiculturalism practiced in the WWCP potlatch. Engaging the questions of ‘who are we, are we doing anyone any good?’ with the answers that we are many people constantly churning and evolving, and are obliged to do good for each other by sharing what we can, leads to the following quote by Ronald Takaki from his formative multicultural book, A Different Mirror:
“The task for us is not only to comprehend the world, but also to change the world. In our very comprehending, we are in fact changing the world.”
By the same token, Post’s introductory essay touches on the aspect of ritual and performance, particularly with regard to music and dance, as tying threads from the past into the present: “"Identities over time are built on memories that are continually constructed and reconstructed both cognitively and symbolically. Performance not only mediates and embodies historical memory but also social and political ideas and ideals."
Archival Plan
By virtue of the performance of the Leengit Kusti dancers, comprised of 3 generations of Tlingit from the Killer Whale clan, this material is readily identifiable as fitting within the auspices of the UW Ethnomusicology Archive. The collection policy of the archive specifies that it is “as an appropriate repository for both historical and contemporary recordings of music of Northwest Coast people.” The material is additionally suited for inclusion in the Puget Sounds Archive as it is derived from the curriculum of a Seattle area cooperative preschool ‘potlatch’ community gathering where songs and music are shared communally and duly performed and produced in the Puget Sound region.
In order to maintain and provide access it is essential to monitor prevailing trends in software formats and applications to access the archived material. Immediate copying of the DVD contents to redundant hard-drive locations is a prudent and well advised step.
The DVD can and should be openly accessible to any party interested in its contents; permission has been solicited of the participating parties and no reservations or limitations have been expressed by any participating party, only the opposite (see below).
Funding, promotion, community outreach, and related community activities are familiar activities to both of the overlapping communities in this recording, both are extant, and both may be amenable to participating or at least endorsing some form of benefit concert or distribution of recorded materials on a fundraising basis.
Archival Description: An Audiovisual Recording of a Wedgwood Cooperative Preschool Potlatch, featuring the Leengit Kusti Dancers, December 3, 2004
Duration: 43:49 (43 minutes, 49 seconds)
Video Format: NTSC, DVD-R (2.49GB), Region 1
Size: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Audio Format: PCM
Channels: 2
Provenance: Original source material was captured on site at 8208 18th Ave NE, Seattle, WA in the reception room upstairs from the Wedgwood Cooperative Preschool’s (WWCP) home location, as hosted and provided by the Faith Lutheran Church of North Seattle (officially non-affiliated with the WWCP). The material was captured by Daniel Trager with a Sony DCR-TRV 900 NTSC miniDV cassette video-camera mounted on a Manfrotto 3063 video tripod on December 3, 2004.
This material is being donated to UW Puget Sounds and Ethnomusicology Archives on May 30, 2012 by Daniel Trager, author of the audiovisual capture and this document, with permission from the participants, including primary performers and community representatives teacher Sandi Dexter of WWCP and Yolanda Fulmer of the Leengit Kusti Dancers. Blanket informational emails were sent out to the WWCP email list of the 2004 class, with invitations to inquire for more information or express any reservations. To this date, no reservations of any kind have been expressed. Responsive correspondence so far has been expressly enthusiastic at the prospect of the recording being accessioned to an accredited and recognized archive affiliated with the authority of the University of Washington. The following is an example of one such response: “It would be an honor and privilege to have a small part in this archival record. Our family enjoyed, benefited and grew from our experiences at Wedgwood Co-op and we are happy to support your efforts in having the Potlatch preserved in the annals of UW history. Can you please let me/us know when this is all finalized so we can share with our children and let them know that they've contributed to a bit of history?”
The original capture of material was motivated by a desire to record personal family history and communal family history of the WWCP. Initial permission for capturing the material in this capacity was sought from, received, and endorsed by the participants, including the Leengit Kusti Dancers and WWCP families present. Over the course of five subsequent months to the original material acquisition, the footage was edited and compressed onto a DVD-R (using contemporaneous IMovie and IDVD software applications), copies of which were offered to any participants who wanted them. The DVD-R has been formatted to allow playback from the beginning of the recording or via choosing of any of nineteen discrete segments in chronological order and titled according to logical and identifiable content in program, song, or performance:
Archival Issues and Plan
Presenting and donating the audiovisual recording to the Puget Sound Archive entailed some interesting archival issues. These issues include the preservation and transmission of the recording across digital and physical mediums (of tape and formats and software) and questions of authorization and associated legal questions.
Who owns the recording? What claims or obligations are due to the performers, which include the LK as well as all of the participating members of the WWCP community? Are the performances or songs the intellectual property of any party that is likely or capable of making a legal claim to the material recorded in this audiovisual document?
Regarding the first question, ownership of the recording can be attributed to myself, as the owner and operator of the equipment and source cassette. Appropriate rights or claims are hereby donated to the UW archives cited above; please cite credit and attribution when and where appropriate (e.g. “Video recorded and donated by Dan Trager, performances by WWCP, Sandi Dexter, and Leengit Kusti dancers”). Requisite and commensurate mechanicals may be due to any or all of the performers in the unlikely event of a commercial release, releases may be obtained in that event. Intellectual content of the songs performed by WWCP and Sandi Dexter may be subject to publishing concerns. The Leengit Kusti songs may be subject to similar rights issues. Careful scrutiny of the song list reveals a lack of titling for the Tlingit material. Titles were explicitly sought at the original time of editing for DVD eight years ago; I was informed by Fred Fulmer that song titles had no corollary in Tlingit culture and was instructed that they should only be identified by topic matter (e.g. ‘A Canoe song,’ ‘A raven song,’ etc.).
In order to mitigate or diminish my obligation to the participants and their permission for the donation of the archive I considered attempting to edit the footage to emphasize the participation of one or the other of the two groups (LK and WWCP). Also, should I go back to the source miniDV cassette, locate a copy of the DVD I recalled producing? Ultimately I decided to move forward with the format and edit of the entire contents as assembled eight years ago, rationalizing that the original intent of the recording had archival value and significance.
Locating the digital files on a dusty old hard-drive was the first successful step. The miniDV tape was then also located. Unfortunately the miniDV player, the camera used for original capture, played tapes in a less than satisfactory manner (glitchy, drop-outs), and finally stopped playing tapes back altogether. Taking the miniDV cassette for viewing on systems in Odegaard also produced compromised playback results (also glitchy, choppy, uneven playback); whether the root of the issue was in the tape medium itself or acquired in the malfunctioning camera or Odegaard system was ultimately beside the point.
Attempting to cull the files on hard drive proved problematic as well when in the process of encoding for DVD the system would fail citing video encoding failure. Submitting via other means such as a hard drive was less than optimal.
Ten hours worth of troubleshooting and trying multiple avenues for solutions finally bore fruit. Two viable DVDs were produced, checked for playback quality, and submitted with pride and reasonable confidence.
But how well will the DVD disk persist? How well will the format of the DVD contents be viable? IDVD..? With regard to these issues, standard archive practice of periodic material and accession issues be practiced and adhered to.
Autobiographical statement
Born and raised in Detroit, MI for the first 18 years of my life (1967 - 1985), I am prone to describing my personal lineage as ‘garden variety Swedish Mexican Jew.’ My already diverse cultural foundation is further enriched and compounded by being raised within the context of the predominately black community of Detroit. After a visit to Seattle in the summer of 1987, I began my since then abiding residency in the ‘Emerald City,’ the following summer of 1988. The initial visit and move were motivated by recognition and appreciation for the diverse and vibrant music scene burgeoning in and around the Puget Sound area. By virtue of living and working in the Capitol Hill neighborhood and attending North Seattle Community College I became associated with many functionaries and participants in the Seattle music scene. At North Seattle Community College I studied Jazz with Fred Radke (Harry James Orchestra, Entertainment Director of Four Seasons Hotel), Joe Brazil, and others. I also studied audio recording with Kearney Barton. When the accredited course in the Art and Science of Music Mixing was subsequently cancelled at NSCC, I continued the course as part of a small group of students in a private manner at Kearney’s home studio in Laurelhurst. Deferring acceptance to the Evergreen State College, I opted instead to tour the country with punk band Treepeople as their tour manager and live sound engineer. I worked at Sub Pop records initially as assistant publicist to Nils Bernstein, and ended my 7 year tenure acting as Senior Artist & Repertoire representative. During that time I was directly associated with numerous artists and groups. During and after my Sub Pop stint, I studied Music Technology with Peter Randlette at TESC, as well as getting a Certificate in Audio Production from the UW Extension course program. Freelance work at UWTV afforded me the opportunity to learn and practice fundamentals of camera operation.
In the summer of 2003 our family had the good fortune to receive a phone call informing and inviting us to join the WWCP in the fall quarter soon to begin. As parents of a preschool aged child we had been looking for a preschool to enroll our daughter in and the reputation for the WWCP was, and still is, significant and renown for a deeply enriched and diverse learning environment for children and parents alike. Appreciation for that experience resonates to this day, as reflected in the contents and process of donating the material to the archives.
References