Vallee, Frank G.

English

Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)

COMPTES RENDUS - BOOK REVIEWS 161 beset Canada in the 1850's brought a new stridency, reflected in the schism of 1853-1856, while Gowan's ~lose identification with the moderate conservatism of John A. Macdonald contributed to his personal defeat in the 1854 election. Professor Senior has contributed a useful discussion of the Orange role in the politics of cultural strife and his discussion of the Order as an instrument of immigrant democracy is particularly suggesti ve. Unfortunately, when he turns to the role of Orangemen in the new Dominion he does little more than touch such familiar bases of late nineteenth cen-tury cultural-religious controversy as the Riel Reb~llions , the_Jesuit Estates crisis and the Manitoba Schools Question without adding anything particularly penetrating or new. Most valuable, perhaps, is his emphasis on the divergence in viewpoint between many Orangemen and the extremists of the Protestant Protective Association. Evidently the old Gowanite spirit of moderation was not entirely dead and during the Manitoba Schools Question , James L. Hughes, the Grand Master of Ontario West, argued in the Orange Sen-tinel on behalf of remedial legislation. Hughes, however, despite his position of authority, was not a typical Orangeman and Professor Senior has not provided much by way of sys tematic anal}sis of the role of Orangemen generally in the late nineteenth century cultural cri sis. One consistent theme is the democratic, popular nature of the lodges. Their primary concern, Professor Senior insists, was with "the day-to-day social needs of the lower classes." Mutual assistance, help in finding employment and land, collections for widows and orphans, the promotion of temperance and the provision of reading rooms were more significant than politics. "The cornerstone of an Orange Orphan Home," he tells us, " was laid in 1861 and the first Orange Insurance Society was founded in 1881." For some reason the author does little more than allude in passing to such activities and, given the lack of evidence, his assertion that in the building of nineteenth century Canadian Society, none played a more active and effective part than the Orangeman, seems ridiculously far-fetched. Similarly, his argument that the Order was significant as an agency of Canadianiza-tion is intriguing but the support given to the Confederation cause by many Maritime Orangemen together with their opposition to Fenianism should hardly exhaust the possible examples. One wishes, for instance, that his discussion of the Order's activities in the West had not focused so exclusively on such dramatic events as th t> RiPI RehPllions hut ha<l examined instead some of the more mundane efforts of Orange immigrants to carry their Ontario value system with them to their new homes. If politics has retained pride of place in this study and if for the most part it retraces already familiar ground, the problem may be one of sources. The twentieth century may pro ve a more fruitful period for the researcher and if Professor Senior continues his research into more recent years he may find further substantiation for his thesis about the primacy of the Order's social role. Certainly Orangemen continued to play an important part in Canadian life at least until the Depression of th e 1930's. OnP may hope, then, that the present volume is intended as an interim statement and that Professor Senior will con-tinue his work on Orangemen and their times. • • • Peter OLIVER, York University . JAMES P. SPRADLEY, ed. - Guests Never Leave Hungry: the Autobiography of James Sewid, a Kwakiutl Indian. Montreal & London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1972. James Sewid's autobiography, first published by Yale University Press in 1969, arrived on paper after having travelled through many hours of tape-recorded interviews over a two-year period conducted by the editor, who contributes a useful introduction and prologue. 162 HISTOIRE SOCIALE - SOCIAL HISTORY The latter also contains an analysis of the autobiography, based en the tapes as well as on psychological tests, the editor's observations of Mr. Sewid during their time together, and interviews with others. Spradley persuaded James Sewid to commit his life story to paper as a case history of how a person can make reasonably good adjustments to different cultures. If Spradley's primary interest was in showing how the process of cultural adapta· tion works by using the life history method, James Sewid's strongest motivation appears to have been his desire to inspire others by his example. What, we may ask, is so remarkable about Sewid, in many ways a very ordinary man, that would justify a book of this sort, and at such length? The Canadian Census of Popula-tion would describe him unimpressively as: an inhabitant of a rural, non-farm village, pop· ulation between one and five thousand; age 50-55; married, father of seven; Anglican, English-speaking; fisherman with other skills. Only as an Indian would the Census find him exceptional. If our perspective is shifted from this global view to the local level, Sewid emerges as the descendant of tribal chiefs, and in his own right a successful entrepreneur, civic leader, and pillar of the Anglican congregation. In the prologue the editor presents the findings of Sewid's responses to the usual " who-am-I?'' test. The subject was asked to list in a few minutes twenty ways in which he thinks of himself. Sewid's own answers (p. 293) were: Sewid; father; chief councillor; boat owner; captain; rector's warden; laymen's reader; native Indian; Mamalilikulla; Kwiksutainuk; logger; chairman of the Youth Guidance Committee; vice-president of the Native Brotherhood; totem pole carver; hereditary chief; brick layer. The list mirrors his varied identities, some with their source in Indian culture, others (perhaps most) in White culture. From this Spradley argues that the conventional view, which holds that people par-taking of two different cultural traditions are racked in painful conflict, is short-sighted. Satisfactory accomodations, as in the case of James Sewid, are possible. Implicit in Spradley's argument is that the analysis of individual adjustments, especially under modern conditions, in terms of the "two-cultures-coming-together" model, is unfruitful. Even if a definitive answer to the question: "Is James Sewid more Indian than Canadian?'' was possible, on wonders how much it would aid our understanding of the life situations of people like Sewid. To the historian, the issues which exercise Spradley and his fellow anthropologists are not those of the highest priority. By contrast he would feel in general that any Indian autobiography (even in a "filtered" state) is of .interest to social historians, and especially so-called ethno-historians. Of more particular importance this autobiography provides an abundance of evidence of the consequences for the Kwakiutl of the institutional invasion by government, schools, missions and men of commerce and industry - not to mention anthropologists. The contacts between Sewid and these representatives of the non-Kwakiutl world are portrayed in simple language and in homely detail over nine chapters, covering every stage of his life up to the present day. Quite apart from its scholarly interest, the book is worth reading as a narrative of events, some of them of real significance - for instance, the out· lawing of the potlatch - and others simply gripping accounts of joyous and harrowing experiences which James Sewid and his fellow men have lived through. • • • Frank G. VALLEE, Carleton University . 

James P. Spradley, ed., Guests Never Leave Hungry: the Autobiography of James Sewid, A Kwakiutl Indian

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James P. Spradley, ed., Guests Never Leave Hungry: the Autobiography of James Sewid, A Kwakiutl Indian

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Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)