The Chinook Indian Nation--whose ancestors lived along both shores of
the lower Columbia River, as well as north and south along the Pacific
coast at the river's mouth--continue to reside near traditional lands.
Because of its nonrecognized status, the Chinook Indian Nation often
faces challenges in its efforts to claim and control cultural heritage
and its own history and to assert a right to place on the Columbia
River.
Chinook Resilience is a collaborative ethnography of how the Chinook
Indian Nation, whose land and heritage are under assault, continues to
move forward and remain culturally strong and resilient. Jon Daehnke
focuses on Chinook participation in archaeological projects and sites of
public history as well as the tribe's role in the revitalization of
canoe culture in the Pacific Northwest. This lived and embodied
enactment of heritage, one steeped in reciprocity and protocol rather
than documentation and preservation of material objects, offers a
tribally relevant, forward-looking, and decolonized approach for the
cultural resilience and survival of the Chinook Indian Nation, even in
the face of federal nonrecognition.
A Capell Family Book