More than useable tools: towards an appreciation of Ne?kepmx fibre technology as a significant expression of culture

Abstract

Prior to the general adoption of manufactured goods brought by traders and settlers to N+e?kepmx territory. N+e?kepmx women spent a great deal of time processing plant materials ii to make items for daily. ceremonial. and trade purposes, such as baskets. mats, clothing.cradles. rope, and nets, as well as a number of products for decorative or recreational purposes.I call this activity fibre technology. Much of the research concerning the use of plants by N+e?kepmx women in this type of technology was compiled almost one hundred years ago. It offers valuable information about this activity during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since the body of literature covering this time frame was produced predominantly under the influence of the Boasian anthropological theory of cultural relativity, it describes fibre products mainly by their form, the techniques used, and their utilitarian function. Based on more recent literature about First Nations' cultural practices, that includes a strong Native voice, and on interviews I had with N+e?kepmx women. I argue in this thesis that N+e?kepmx women not only produced useable objects through fibre technology, but that these were works of artistic beauty and also symbolic representations of N+e?kepmx culture. N+e?kepmx women made fibre products with a commitment to respect the spiritual and material worlds at all stages of the process. This is a deep part of N+e?kepmx cultural values, traditional knowledge, and identity.That commitment manifests in beautifully crafted pieces that are distinctly N+e?kepmx. At the same time, through their own ingenuity N+e ?kepmx women. both prior to and since colonisation.have adapted fibre products to meet the changing conditions of their own lives. The practice of fibre technology has diminished considerably in the last several decades. Nevertheless, those women who continue to practise it and teach it to others do so with a strong commitment to their traditions in order that fibre technology can remain an important symbolic expression of N+e 7kepmx culture.