 | Spirits of our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions Subjects: Makah Indians -- Ethnic identity; Makah Indians -- Hunting; Makah Indians -- Social life and customs; Whaling -- Social aspects -- Northwest Pacific; Following the removal of the gray whale from the Endangered Species list in 1994, the Makah tribe of northwest Washington State announced that they would revive their whale hunts; their relatives, the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation of British Columbia, shortly followed suit. Neither tribe had exercised their right to whale - in the case of the Makah, a right affirmed in their 1855 treaty with the federal government - since the gray whale had been hunted nearly to extinction by commercial whalers in the 1920s. The Makah whale hunt of 1999 was an event of international significance, connected to the worldwide struggle for aboriginal sovereignty and to the broader discourses of environmental sustainability, treaty rights, human rights, and animal rights. It was met with enthusiastic support and vehement opposition. Charlotte Cote is associate professor of American Indian studies at the University of Washington. |
