Marius Barbeau, Canadian ethnographer and academic (d. 1969)
Charles Marius Barbeau, (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969), also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology. A Rhodes Scholar, he is best known for an early championing of Québecois folk culture, and for his exhaustive cataloguing of the social organization, narrative and musical traditions, and plastic arts of the Tsimshianic-speaking peoples in British Columbia (Tsimshian, Gitxsan, and Nisga'a), and other Northwest Coast peoples. He developed unconventional theories about the peopling of the Americas.
Barbeau is a controversial figure as he was criticised for not accurately representing his indigenous informants. In his anthropological work among the Tsimshian and Huron-Wyandot, for instance, Barbeau was solely looking for what he defined as "authentic" stories that were without political implications. Informants were often unwilling to work with him for various reasons. It is possible that the "educated informants," whom Barbeau advised his students to avoid, did not trust him to disseminate their stories.
1883Mar, 5
Marius Barbeau
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Events on 1883
- 16Jan
United States Civil Service Commission
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed. - 20May
1883 eruption of Krakatoa
Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people. - 17Aug
National Anthem of the Dominican Republic
The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional. - 20Oct
Treaty of Ancón
Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific. - 3Nov
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American Old West: Self-described "Black Bart the poet" gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves a clue that eventually leads to his capture.