Standing Up with G̲a'ax̱sta'las: Jane Constance Cook and the Politics of Memory, Church, and Custom(Women and Indigenous Studies)

Standing Up with G̲a'ax̱sta'las is a compelling conversation with the colonial past initiated by the descendants of Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw leader and activist, Jane Constance Cook (1870-1951). Working in collaboration, Robertson and Cook's descendants open this history, challenging dominant narratives that misrepresent her motivations for criticizing customary practices and eventually supporting the potlatch ban. Drawing from oral histories, archival materials, and historical and anthropological works, they offer a nuanced portrait of a high-ranked woman who was a cultural mediator; devout Christian; and activist for land claims, fishing and resource rights, and adequate health care. G̲a'ax̱sta'las testified at the McKenna-McBride Royal Commission, was the only woman on the executive of the Allied Indian Tribes of BC, and was a fierce advocate for women and children. This powerful meditation on memory documents how the Kwagu'l Gix̱sa̱m revived their dormant clan to forge a positive social and cultural identity for future generations through feasting and potlatching.

Table of Contents:
Foreword / Nella Nelson Prologue Introduction: "Having Oneness on Your Face" Part I – The Living Text: Traces of Jane Cook Part II – Duḵwa̱'esa̱la (Looking Around On the Beach): Ancestors Part III – Stranger Than Fiction: Surviving the Missionary Part IV – "Children of the Potlatch System," 1888-1912 Part V – "We As the Suppressed People," 1913-18 Part VI – "We Are the Aboriginee, Which Is Not a Citizen," 1918-27 Part VII – "With the Potlatch Custom in My Blood," 1930-39 Part VIII – One Voice from Many: Citizenship, 1940-48 Part IX – A Tower of Strength: Word Memorials, 1951 Part X – Dlax̱w'it'sine' (For Your Standing), Feasting Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Leslie A. Robertson is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia. The Kwagu'l Gix̱sa̱m Clan includes approximately one thousand members descended from a common ancestor. Their cultural root is Tsax̱is (Fort Rupert).

Review :
In this most innovative book, Robertson and the Gix̱sa̱m Clan collectively write a book that will quickly become a methodological model for ethnohistorians. The non-linear narrative, with the focus on an interaction between the anthropologist, the indigenous community (Cook's descendants), and the memory of Cook, provides a way of dealing with memory and history through the presentation of multiple voices. As one committee member stated, "The book models a collaborative process that more and more of us will be challenged to undertake. I think the future of our profession is that we will be expected to write with, rather than about, Indigenous communities. That this book presented a cohesive narrative about a woman whose life was so complicated and whose memory has been so contested by weaving together the voices of so many contributors is stunning to me." - Award citation (Wheeler-Voegelin Prize, American Society for Ethnohistory)