Little Bit Know Something: Stories in a Language of Anthropology

Thomas S. Abler is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and the author of A Canadian Indian Bibliography, 1960-1970.

As a Harvard graduate student, Ridington began field work among the
Dunne-za or Beaver Indians of British Columbia’s Peace River country
in 1964. He has continued his research from his position in the
Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of British
Columbia. Over the course of these years, he has come to “little bit
know something” and to have effectively conveyed that knowledge
through publication in various journals. Fourteen articles published
between 1968 and 1989 are reprinted here, along with one previously
unpublished paper, brief introductory material, and a two-paragraph
“epilogue.”

Although the papers were originally written to stand alone, they
reinforce each other to a remarkable degree. Taken together, the whole
is greater than its constituent parts. A common theme is the Dunne-za
view of their world; each paper brings out more detail of that view in
one dimension or another. The complex relationship among myth, vision
quests, and dreaming is presented in a way that will enlighten urban
dwellers from a far different cultural tradition.

Ridington’s subtitle styles this book “stories in the language of
anthropology.” However, two of the papers were originally published in
Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly, a third in Canadian Literature, and
a fourth in Io. Ridington confesses his efforts “to avoid writing in
‘anthropologese’.” That his heart clearly lies with the humanists
is perhaps most dramatically demonstrated in an essay considering a
Dreamer’s (shaman’s) spirit journey and Neil Armstrong’s voyage to
the moon. Included is a speech by Armstrong—to which, Ridington notes,
“I have added . . . words which I feel would have been appropriate for
Armstrong to say but which he did not.” However, even the most
hard-headed social scientists will appreciate Ridington’s insights
into Dunne-za culture.

Of particular note is the final section, “The Problem of
Discourse,” which focuses on the lack of will of contemporary
non-Natives to comprehend or accommodate the Dunne-za worldview. It
deserves a readership far wider than the social science community—as,
indeed, does the entire book.