Trail to Heaven describes an anthropologist's experience with the subarctic Beaver Indians, the Dunne-za. Robin Ridington, a scholar who has spent nearly twenty-five years with the Dunne-za, describes moments in the life of their community, revealing the dynamics of change and stability among them as well as the ideas and assumptions that sustain them.

This unusual and captivating book is really two books in one. On one level it is an oral history of the Dunne-za, of their knowledge and way of life. On another level it is the story of Ridington's own involvement with these people, telling how his own assumptions, beliefs, and learning were challenged by the people he came to study.

A product of shared discourse, Trail to Heaven reflects both the actual quality of Indian experience as well as Ridington's discovery of the metaphors through which the Dunne-za communicate their reality. Only by listening to this reality, by becoming involved in the Dunne-za world, could Ridington learn what the Dreamers had to teach him.

Using a language of interpretation and description that communicates between Dunne-za knowledge and the knowledge of academic anthropology, Ridington gives us stories by and about Charlie Yahey and other Indian teachers. This moving narrative is both evocative and authentic, both subjective and scholarly. It speaks vividly to the academic world of anthropology as well as to all those looking for insights into the meaning of Indian culture and experience.

This is a new release of the book published in November 1996.

Robin Ridington is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Little Bit Know Something, Trail to Heaven: Knowledge and Narrative in a Northern Native Community, and Blessing for a Long Time among other works.

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