Webquest+8.


 * Web Quest 8**


 * Introduction**

An important ceremony that marks major life changes is the Potlatch ceremony. This ceremony occurs among different groups of Northwest Coast Native Americans. Anthropologists have had considerable difficulty understanding what this ceremony means to its participants.


 * Process**

Read the relevant parts of the two studies presented below.


 * Task**

In a three to four (3 - 4) page paper, explain what a Potlatch is, what it does, what it means, and how we may best understand it as anthropologists. Use evidence from the two studies given to you to support your interpretation.

Masco, Joseph 1995 "It is a Strict Law That Bids Us Dance": Cosmologies, Colonialism, Death, and Ritual Authority in the Kwakwaka'wakw Potlatch, 1849 to 1922. In __Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 41-75__ Cambridge University Press.  Ringe,Gail 1979 The Kawkiutl Potlatch: History, Economics, and Symbols. __Ethnohistory, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Autumn, 1979), pp. 347-362.__  Duke University Press.
 * Resources**