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Xwelíqwiya The Life of a Stó:lō Matriarch

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Xwelíqwiya is the life story of Rena Point Bolton, a Stó:lō matriarch, artist, and craftswoman. Proceeding by way of conversational vignettes, the beginning chapters recount Point Bolton’s early years on the banks of the Fraser River during the Depression. While at the time the Stó:lō, or Xwélmexw, as they call themselves today, kept secret their ways of life to avoid persecution by the Canadian government, Point Bolton’s mother and grandmother schooled her in the skills needed for living from what the land provides, as well as in the craftwork and songs of her people, passing on a duty to keep these practices alive. Point Bolton was taken to a residential school for the next several years and would go on to marry and raise ten children, but her childhood training ultimately set the stage for her roles as a teacher and activist. Recognizing the urgent need to forge a sense of cultural continuity among the younger members of her community, Point Bolton visited many communities and worked with federal, provincial, and First Nations politicians to help break the intercultural silence by reviving knowledge of and interest in Aboriginal art. She did so with the deft and heartfelt use of both her voice and her hands.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Our Lives: Diary, Memoir, and Letters

Call Number

312 pages

Publisher

Canada : AU Press., 2013

Collation

-

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781927356562.01

Classification

312 pages

Content Type

text

Media Type

computer

Carrier Type

online resource

Edition

-

Subject(s)

Indigenous Studies, Memoir

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

Rena Point Bolton,Richard Daly

Other Information

Cataloger

Arin

Source

-

Validator

-

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