Synopses & Reviews
In August 1975 at Foxholm Lake on the reserve of the Chipewyan, a Northern Dene people, in the Northwest Territories of Canada, the anthropologist Henry S. Sharp and two members of the Mission Band encountered a loon. Loons are prized for their meat and skin, so the two Chipewyan triedand#8212;thirty timesand#8212;to kill it. The loon, in a brazen display of power, thwarted these attempts and in doing so revealed itself to be a "spirit." In this book, Sharp embarks on a narrative exploration of the Chipewyan culture that examines the nature of a reality within which wild animals are both persons and spirits. In an unforgettable journey through the symbolic universe and daily life of the Chipewyan of Mission, his work uses the context and meaning of the loon encounter to show how spirits are an actual and almost omnipresent aspect of life.and#160;To explain how the Chipewyan create and order the shared reality of their culture, Sharp develops a series of analytical metaphors that draw heavily on quantum mechanics. His central premise: reality is an indeterminate phenomenon created through the sharing of meaning between cultural beings. In support of this argument, Sharp examines such topics as the nature of time, power, gender, animals, memory, gossip, magical death, and the construction of meaning. Creatively argued and evocatively written, his work presents a compelling picture of one people engaged in the human struggle to create meaning.
Review
"A well-told narrative ethnography of the Dene people of Mission, Canada, during the last decades of the twentieth century."and#8212;Tom Mould, Journal of American Folklore
Review
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Loon is a wonderful text thatand#8212;as most thoroughly complex and interesting texts doand#8212;starts with a very simple premise. . . . I recommend this book to anybody interested in what anthropology is really about, trying to gain a deeper insight into the construction of meaning and reality, or truly creative and critical thinking and writing, and I also warmly recommend it for use in introductory and advanced classes on a number of subjects dealing with these issues.and#8221; and#8212;Sebastian Braun,
North Dakota QuarterlyAbout the Author
Henry S. Sharp is an anthropologist who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of The Transformation of Bigfoot: Maleness, Power, and Belief among the Chipewyan.