ANTHROPOLOGISTS OVER THE PAST two
hundred years have come to appreciate that culture plays an important
part in determining how its members define their sense of identity
and self-worth (Carrithers, Collins 8c Lukes 1985; de Laguna 1954;
Druke 1980; Hallowell 1955; Mauss 1938/1985; Rosaldo 1984; Shweder
& Bourne 1984).
Over the same period of time, the
natives of the Northwest Coast of North America have come to appreciate
that their own sense of self-worth (which Ruth Benedict [1934] has
portrayed as full of self-importance to the point of megalomania)
is not validated by the evaluation of the European immigrants.
The recent decision of the Supreme
Court of British Columbia regarding the GitksanWet'suwet'en land claims
court case once again draws attention to the stark contrast between
the evaluation of these native cultures by the colonial-now-judicial
powers and the natives' own sense of self-worth. In this paper I would
like to portray the role that belief in reincarnation plays in the
Gitksan sense of identity and self-worth and contrast that with Judge
McEachern's evaluation.