HIST 450 Ishi Review Questions Flashcards
Who wrote this book?
Orin Starn
When did he write it?
Late 1990’s / early 2000
Where did the author do his dissertation research?
In the Andes, he lived for a year in a village in the dusty foothills of northern Peru. There he documented an area farmers movement for self help and justice.
When did the author first visit Yahi Country?
In 1997 He and Robin made there first expedition to Yahi country. After doing work in the andes and seeing the devastation there to native people, he moves back to the U.S. and had a kid. While in the U.S. he felt a growing duty to investigate Ishi.
How did Ishi die?
Ishi died of tuberculosis on March 25, 1916 after living in San Francisco for almost five years.
How many Native Americans were estimated to be in California in 1848?
An estimated 150,000 Indians still survived just before the Gold Rush of 1849. (Pg. 24)
How many Native Americans were estimated to be in California in 1900?
By 1900 it seemed improbable that a lost tribe of natives could still be secluded, however by Kroeber and Berkley anthropologists later reconstruction the Indians group numbered just four. (Pg. 116)
What happened on Alcatraz Island in 1969?
During the 60’s and 70’s Indians began to call out attention to their plight. A first and spectacular bit of guerrilla theater was the occupation of Alcatraz Island, in 1969, a bad of young indian seized the legendary, by then abandon, island prison as a kind of liberated republic; they demanded attention to the needs of their tribes and attracted worldwide press coverage. (Pg. 26)
Who was most responsible for beginning the movement to “retribalize” Ishi?
Art Angle (Pg. 27)
Where did the author (and others) first get a clue that there was an issue surrounding Ishi’s brain?
There had been rumors that they organ had never been cremated. A single cryptic reference existed concerning the brain, in the very last pages of Ishi In Two World’s, the biography of Ishi Published by Theodora Kroeber in 1961. In a letter from Edward Gifford, the museums’ deputy director, mentioning the “compromise between science and sentiment” and that Ishi’s brain was “preserve” but it was never explained what preserved meant. Preserved for later cremation or preserved in formaldehyde (Pg. 28-29)
Who came up with the name “Ishi”? What does it mean?
Alfred Kroeber supplied the name. I’citi meant “man”. Ishi is the anglicization of that. (Pg. 40)
How did Alfred Kroeber’s knowledge of “Yahi” compare to Ishi’s knowledge of English?
? Ishi knew much more English than Kroeber knew of Yahi. Ishi knew how to communicate in broken English and vocabulary grew to hundreds of words.
How did Kroeber feel about the proposed autopsy of Ishi?
? Kroeber was very opposed to the autopsy, as he knew Ishi had not wanted it. Sent a telegram on the day of Ishi’s death telling Gifford not to let Pope do the autopsy.
Who was Kroeber’s lifelong guru of Antrhopology?
Franz Boas, who Kroeber meet at Columbia University in 1892. Kroeber was among Boas’s first Ph. D. students at Columbia and one of his favorites.
How did Franz Boaz and Kroeber feel about race and equality?
Boaz and Kroeber did not believe in Social Darwinism and the supremacy of race and gender. They we’re convinced by there own research that culture not biology mattered most. They believed that all races were fully human and deserved equal rights and opportunity in modern life. (Pg. 178 -179)
