Wayne Suttles
Encyclopedia
Wayne Suttles was an American anthropologist
and linguist
.
He was the leading authority on the ethnology and linguistics of the Coast Salish
people of the Northwest Coast
of North America.
at the University of Washington, Suttles in 1951, was first the to be awarded a Ph.D. in anthropology at that institution. He did ethnographic
work with Northwest Coast people, especially the Coast Salish, beginning in the mid-1940s and linguistic work beginning in the mid-1950s. His publications on the Coast Salish, including his interpretation of the relationship between culture and environment and the nature of the social network, have had a significant influence on both ethnographic and archaeological work in the region. As editor of Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, of the Handbook of North American Indians, Suttles was instrumental in making scholars active in different kinds of research aware of each others’ work. He also testified as an expert witness in several legal cases relating to Native rights in both Washington State and British Columbia, the most important of which was R. v. Sparrow, which established Native fishing rights across Canada. His 2004 grammar of the Musqueam language was a milestone in Salish studies.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
.
He was the leading authority on the ethnology and linguistics of the Coast Salish
Coast Salish
Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...
people of the Northwest Coast
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
of North America.
Biography
As a student of Erna GuntherErna Gunther
Erna Gunther was an American anthropologist who taught for many years at the University of Washington in Seattle.Gunther's work on ethnobotany is still extensively consulted today.-Biography:...
at the University of Washington, Suttles in 1951, was first the to be awarded a Ph.D. in anthropology at that institution. He did ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
work with Northwest Coast people, especially the Coast Salish, beginning in the mid-1940s and linguistic work beginning in the mid-1950s. His publications on the Coast Salish, including his interpretation of the relationship between culture and environment and the nature of the social network, have had a significant influence on both ethnographic and archaeological work in the region. As editor of Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, of the Handbook of North American Indians, Suttles was instrumental in making scholars active in different kinds of research aware of each others’ work. He also testified as an expert witness in several legal cases relating to Native rights in both Washington State and British Columbia, the most important of which was R. v. Sparrow, which established Native fishing rights across Canada. His 2004 grammar of the Musqueam language was a milestone in Salish studies.
Selected works
- (2004) Musqueam Reference Grammar. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
- (1998) The Ethnographic Significance of the Fort Langley Journals. pp. 163–210 in The Fort Langley Journals, 1827-1830, Edited by Morag Maclachlan. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
- (1987) Coast Salish Essays. Vancouver: Talonbooks; Seattle: University of Washington.
- (1974) The Economic Life of the Coast Salish of Haro and Rosario Straits. New York: Garland.