Xwelíqwiya: The Life of a Stó Lo Matriarch Contributor(s): Bolton, Rena Point (Author) |
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ISBN: 1927356563 ISBN-13: 9781927356562 Publisher: Athabasca University Press OUR PRICE: $36.05 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 2013 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional - Native American & Aboriginal - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies - History | Native American |
Dewey: B |
LCCN: 2013464639 |
Series: Our Lives: Diary, Memoir, and Letters |
Physical Information: 0.71" H x 6.03" W x 9.13" (1.10 lbs) 320 pages |
Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - Native American |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Xwel qwiya is the life story of Rena Point Bolton, a St lo (or, as they are now called, Xw lmexw) matriarch, artist, and craftswoman. Proceeding by way of conversational vignettes, the beginning chapters recount Point Bolton's early years on the banks of the Fraser River during the Depression. While at the time the St lo, or Xw lmexw, as they call themselves today, kept secret their ways of life to avoid persecution by the Canadian government, Point Bolton's mother and grandmother schooled her in the skills needed for living from what the land provides, as well as in the craftwork and songs of her people, passing on a duty to keep these practices alive. Point Bolton was taken to a residential school for the next several years and would go on to marry and raise ten children, but her childhood training ultimately set the stage for her roles as a teacher and activist. Recognizing the urgent need to forge a sense of cultural continuity among the younger members of her community, Point Bolton visited many communities and worked with federal, provincial, and First Nations politicians to help break the intercultural silence by reviving knowledge of and interest in Aboriginal art. She did so with the deft and heartfelt use of both her voice and her hands. Over the course of many years, Daly collaborated with Point Bolton to pen her story. At once a memoir, an oral history, and an "insider" ethnography directed and presented by the subject herself, the result attests both to Daly's relationship with the family and to Point Bolton's desire to inspire others to use traditional knowledge and experience to build their own distinctive, successful, and creative lives. |