Peer-reviewed
Winter Hunger, Winter Myths: Subsistence Risk and Mythology among the Klamath and Modoc
Oral tradition is one means by which traditional societies preserve and transmit information about subsistence risks and coping strategies. This paper addresses subsistence risk, information processes, and oral tradition among the Klamath and Modoc, two closely related Native peoples of Oregon and California. Ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and ecological evidence of subsistence risks and coping strategies among the Klamath and Modoc in late precontact and early postcontact times are discussed. References to subsistence risks and coping strategies in Klamath and Modoc mythology are then examined, revealing that subsistence stress is an explicit theme in 28 documented Klamath and Modoc myths. The narratives emphasize reciprocal exchange as an ideal means of coping with hunger and affirm a range of other coping strategies—skilled hunting and fishing, storage, diversification, mobility, resource conservation, and supernatural agency—some of which are not referenced in ethnography or ethnohistory. The traditional context of Klamath and Modoc myth narration elucidates how this mythology preserved and transmitted survival information over time and space. These findings suggest that myth analysis, combined with ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and ecological data, can strengthen the theories and models we use to explore subsistence risks and survival strategies in past cultural contexts
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