The Kusan people: a systematic cultural history

Abstract

The present study answers the question: If a community loses their language, culture. and environment how are they still able to preserve and maintain their Identity? In the first chapter the rationale, justification, purpose, and methodology are presented. The Hanis-Miluk, or Coos community, which traditionally inhabited the Coos Bay area of the southern Oregon coast, is Introduced, and the thesis and schema regarding their survival and how to best study their systemic processes are elaborated. Chapter Two presents the historical background of the Coos people; Including geographic and ecological systems, prehistory of the human population and their cultural makeup, and a detailed description of the Coos lifestyle from prehistoric to modern times. Chapter Three examines the experience of the Coos culture previous to contact with the Anglo-Europeans and subsequent developments which have influenced cultural identity in historic times. Also considered are the means whereby the community preserved some of Its past and adapted to the demands of modern existence, and how the foundational elements of Coos identity Interact in such a way as to produce the present-day community. Chapter Four presents the conclusions and implications of this study regarding methodology, the Coos community's place In modern America, and intercultural understanding.