People of the Saltwater: An Ethnography of Git Lax M'oon

Charles R. Menzies, People the Saltwater: An Ethnography Git lax m'oon. Lincoln and London: University Nebraska Press, 2016.198 pages. ISBN 9780803288089. $45.00 USD hardcover.This book is an ethnography Git lax m'oon, the people the saltwater, also known as Gitxaala. They are an ancient Indigenous people the northwestern coast North America whose oral histories reach all the way to the ice age. Since that time, have lived within their laxyuup (territory) where we have welcomed newcomers, repulsed invaders, and enjoyed the beautiful place that is our home (1).Throughout the book, the author situates himself as both a member the nation and as an anthropologist doing research with and on behalf the people. As he writes, who I am shapes what I (6). This is a different position than giving back - it means doing research for on topics important to them: resource use, management, and harvesting. To do this, Menzies draws on multiple sources information including oral history, archaeology, archival sources, and the landscape itself in a decolonial methodology rooted in Indigenous perspective. Indeed, throughout the book his narrative tacks between research and personal experience in territory, from a young boy marvelling at an old stone fish trap to an adult researcher leading archaeological and oral work at important sites.The book is organized into two parts. The first part outlines the foundation being Gitxaaia: names, governance, place, and history (5). Each the four opening chapters analyzes one these social foundations in terms continuity and change through the disruptions colonialism and the industrial capitalist economy. Chapter 1 tells the story from a perspective situated within the world. (25). Here the are called by their own name, not one chosen by outsiders. values and practices are explained by people. And throughout the text, words are used instead English ones. Chapter 2 explains smgigyet (hereditary leadership) and the core principles governance. Chapter 3 is about the enduring importance of place and territory in the modern identity and way life (47). Indeed, political leadership and social organization are intimately linked to place, to the laxyuup Gitxaaia (8). Chapter 4 is about adaawx (history) and how historical knowledge is transmitted within and between generations. Key to this is the importance learning while being in place. In a approach one leams by traveling through and to places and participating in activities there. As one hereditary leader said, telling the story on the spot. Telling adaawx on the spot. It brings the memories back (81).The second part the book shows how these practices being are enacted in the harvesting and processing Gitxaaia's own foods (85). Chapter 5 is an overview fisheries and natural resource harvesting as a critical core cultural and economic practices Gitxaaia. Theirs was never a subsistence fishery - systems rank and prestige depended on the ability to harvest surpluses and trade or gift that surplus. Menzies also writes about the transformation fisheries since the arrival K'amksiwah (white people) and subsequent participation in the capitalist economy (87). …

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