Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Art Native American

Kwakiutl String Figures

by (author) Julia P. Averkieva

edited by Mark A. Sherman

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Jan 1992
Category
Native American
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780774804325
    Publish Date
    Jan 1992
    List Price
    $39.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Julia Averkieva's study represents the most comprehensive Native American string collection ever assembled from a single tribe. In addition to characterizing the social conditions that prompted string figure making among the Kwakiutl during the time of her field study, Averkieva noted step-by-step instructions for each figure and transcribed traditional accompanying chants. In editing and expanding Averkieva's manuscript, Mark Sherman addresses string figure enthusiasts as well as cultural anthropologists. Sherman includes in his introduction a complete description of basic openings and string figure moves. For each Kwakiutl figure he has prepared clear illustrations based on Averkieva's original photographs and pencil sketches. In addition he has tested each figure for workability, clarifying instructions where necessary and recasting them in Rivers and Haddon's standard terminology.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Julia Averkieva (1907-1980) was director of North American studies at the Institute of Ethnography, Soviet Academy of Sciences, Moscow, and editor-in-chief of the internationally known journal Sovetskaia Etnografia. Mark A. Sherman (editor) is a biochemist who devotes his leisure time to the study of string figures.