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TitleAn Athapaskan way of knowing: Chipewyan ontology
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1998
AuthorsSmith, D. M.
Volume25
Issue3
Pagination412-432
PublisherAmerican ethnologist : the journal of the American Ethnological Society
Publication Languageen
KeywordsChipewyan, Inkonze, monism, ontology, perception
Abstract

The ontology of those Canadian Chipewyan who still actively hunt, fish, and trap is based on the assumption that one must maintain a harmonious communication with nature, especially with animal persons. To this end, emphasis is placed on paying attention to the full complement of holistically interacting senses, giving more attention to the intuitive and affective realms than is typical for Euro-American ontologies. No single sensorium dominates metaphorically; greatest validity is given to firsthand, experiential knowledge attained in waking life or in dreams, with the powerful stories of the elders serving as guides to understanding. Chipewyan thought is monistic?here are no human/nature, mind/body, thought/action, or spirit/matter dualisms. There is a definite cognitive connection among the inseparability of the senses, an implicit monistic philosophy, the understanding that individual can never be separate from society, social egalitarianism, and the belief in the need for maintaining harmonious communication with animal persons. [Chipewyan, ontology, perception, inkonze, monism]

Active Link

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/717960176

Group

CEMA

Citation Key24877

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