In August 2016, the Yahgulaanaas/Janaas clan of the Haida Nation held an historic potlatch, “Raven Always Sets Things Right”. It was held to strip two of their clan cheifs/spokesmen – litl’xaydaga – of their names and positions because they had clandestinely collaborated with the Enbridge oil pipeline company against the explicit wishes of their clan and matriarchs. Such a name stripping had not been done in living memory and was seen as a new strategy for dealing with industry corruption and “divide and conquer” tactics.
The video here is an informal collage of images from the potlatch. It is a work-in-progress ‘place-marker’ for the longer term project. My intention is to go to the follow-up potlatch, where the new litl’xaydaga are installed to film and create a film combining images from the two events and from other nations struggling with the same issues.
video documentation and participant observation research supported by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation