Where Happiness Dwells: A History of the Dane-zaa First Nations

Robin Ridington · Jillian Ridington

ಫೆಬ್ರವರಿ 2013 · UBC Press

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The Dane-zaa people have lived in BC’s Peace River area for thousands of years. Elders documented the people’s history and worldview in oral narratives and passed them on through storytelling. Language loss, however, threatens to break the bonds of knowledge transmission.

At the request of the Doig River First Nation, anthropologists Robin and Jillian Ridington present a history of the Dane-zaa people based on oral histories collected over a half century of fieldwork. These powerful stories span the full length of history, from the story of creation to the fur trade, from the arrival of missionaries to modern land claim cases. Elders document key events as they explain the very nature of the universe.

The Dane-zaa were one of the last nations to experience the effects of colonialism. Where Happiness Dwells not only preserves their traditional knowledge for future generations, it also tells the inspiring story of how they learned to succeed in the modern world.

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Robin Ridington is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of British Columbia and has worked with the Dane-zaa First Nations since the 1960s. Jillian Ridington is an ethnographer and researcher who has worked with the Dane-zaa First Nations since 1978. Their books about the Dane-zaa include Robin's Trail To Heaven: Knowledge and Narrative in a Northern Native Community, and a co-authored book, When You Sing It Now, Just Like New: First Nations Poetics, Voices and Representations.