English 201: RA-SubjRef: Research Assignment--Subject-Specific Reference Work

Research Assignment - RA-SubjRef
Cards for an Article in a Subject-Specific Reference Work

type of info to include

The way the card should look

Student Initials, RA#, Bib code to match note-bib cards

Citation (MLA)

Type of source. Name of library (or source), and call number if not in your personal library

Credentials: author and/or translator (where credentials found). Bias, perspective, slant . You can refer to other note cards for more information

Summary of the whole source, its usefulness to your particular project

JMH, RA-SubjRef, Kroeber

Kroeber, A. L. Handbook of the Indians of California. NY: Dover, 1976. Originally published by Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C., in 1925 as Bulletin 78 of the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution. 995 pages, 8-1/2" by 5-1/4" [Note: all lines but line one of the citation should be indented, unlike this item]

Subject-specific Reference Book, a classic source of information about California Indians. Personal library

Kroeber was professor of anthropology at UC Berkeley when he published this book; he is considered "the foremost figure of his generation in American anthropology" (Book blurb). Kroeber's mention of the "superior race" in his preface (vi) reveals bias toward Western or European culture.

Summary: This 995-page book (5-3/8 x 8-1/2)--resulting from a 15-year research project--classifies the indigenous peoples of California and reports on their social structures, folkways, religion, material culture, linguistic resources and relations, and demographics. According to the blurb, this book is considered "indispensable for every student of the American Indian." Good for facts on color symbolism, duality.

Student Initials, RA#, Bib code to match note-bib cards and page number

Subject Heading (SH), file name you create to designate the subject matter of the note card (summary of content of the note)

Introduction to Direct Quotation (Note q. marks at beginning and end and parenthetical page reference). Note also the practice of giving credentials.

Interpretation of and commentary on the quoted material, including personal notes for personal research

JMH, RA3, Kroeber 717

COLOR AND DIRECTIONS: LINEARITY FOR THE DIEGUEÑO

According to A. L. Kroeber, professor of anthropology at UC Berkeley and one of the top experts on California Indians when he was doing his research in the early part of the 20th century, "The Diegueño are the only tribe in California as yet know to possess a system of color-direction symbolism. This is: East, white; south, green-blue; west, black; north, red. It is interesting that there is little if any idea of a circuit of the directions or fixed sequence of colors, as in the Southwest. The Diegueño thinks of two pairs of directions, each with its balance of colors, white-black or red-blue." (717)

The color symbolism described by Kroeber suggests more linearity in thinking among the Diegueño than among other tribes in the American southwest (Pueblo, Hopi, Navajo, etc.). If the pattern conforms to duality rather than to circularity, maybe the stories will emphasize conflicts over resolutions. The east-west, white-black pairing probably derives from the experience of rising and setting sun. But why are red and green identified with the north-south orientation? Look for stories and songs with these colors. What associations are there for red? for green? Or is it all arbitrary and individualized (a cigar is just a cigar, etc.)? I'll need to check work on this topic conducted by researchers since Kroeber's work to determine if any other California tribe (or non-California tribe) possesses this color-direction system--and then continue to develop ideas about the significance of the system.