Background
Downs, James Francis was born on December 20, 1926 in Pasadena, California, United States. Son of James Griffith and Martha (Switzer) Downs.
(This case study of the Washo Indians of western Nevada an...)
This case study of the Washo Indians of western Nevada and the eastern Sierra slopes of California is one of those rare events in the vast professional literature on the American Indian where a picture of a single tribal culture as a whole is presented. Though Washo culture in its traditional form has virtually ceased to exist at all, its disappearance was gradual enough and its relatively full appearance recent enough so that Professor Downs has been able to put the memories of the older Washo together with known history and knowledge of the culture area to form a coherent and dynamic reconstruction of the traditional Washo way of life. But he never forgets history. There is a sense of time in the book, which is so often lacking in attempts to reconstruct traditional cultures. Even as the traditional patterns of subsistence techniques, of rituals and religion of kinship and social organization are described, the reader anticipates the dramatic changes in the Washo world to be wrought by the coming of the white man. Each stage of readjustment brought about by this event is analyzed. The Washo are not seen in isolation, but as part of the development of the region and its economy. They interact with and are interdependent with whites in the earlier stages of contact. But then the needs of the white man's economy change and there is no longer any place for most of the Washo. The Washo adapt to this circumstance, as they have adapted to previous conditions. In doing so they exhibit some continuities with the past and their traditional culture and at the same time adopt new patterns of behavior. This is not a happy world for the Washo. For some poverty and uselessness sap their vitality and destroy motivation, but the Washo identity is retained, and the Washo continue to cope with life as it is.
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(With a blend of description and theory, this classic case...)
With a blend of description and theory, this classic case study by James F. Downs (1923-1999) focuses on the pastoral aspects of Nez Ch'ii society and culture. The tribe still holds to a pastoral herding ecology that has characterized some of the Navajo for at least 250 years. Downs outlines the important themes of the culture (including the importance of females, the inviolability of the individual, the prestige of age, and the reciprocity principle), and discusses, in detail, the relationships between the Nez Ch'ii families and their sheep herds as well as their relationship to the dominant culture surrounding them. Title of related interest from Waveland Press: Simonelli, Crossing between Worlds: The Navajo of Canyon de Chelly, Second Edition (ISBN 9781577665472). Visit waveland.com for a complete list of modern and classic ethnographies on Apache, Comanche, Crow, Navajo, Papago, Pueblo, Shoshone, Sioux, and other American Indian cultures.
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anthropologist educator journalist
Downs, James Francis was born on December 20, 1926 in Pasadena, California, United States. Son of James Griffith and Martha (Switzer) Downs.
Bachelor, University California, Berkeley, 1958. Master of Arts, University California, Berkeley, 1960. Doctor of Philosophy, University California, Berkeley, 1961.
Assistant professor University Rochester, New York, 1961-1963. Associate professor California State University.A., 1962-1963, University Arizona, Tucson, 1963-1969. Professor University Hawaii, Hilo, 1969-1980.
Senior instructional technologist, program manager University Research Corporation, Maryland, 1986-1990. Director Thunderbird Japan Center Thunderbird American Graduate School International Management, Arizona, 1992-1999. Chairman Center for Cross-Cultural Education Training Research, University Hawaii, 1970-1974.
Co-principal investigator Tibetan Research, National Science Foundation, 1966-1968. Principal investigator Navajo Research, National Institute of Mental Health, 1961-1962. Consultant cross-cultural business organizations, since 1982.
Visiting scholar Tokyo University Foreign Studies, 1986-1987.
(This case study of the Washo Indians of western Nevada an...)
(With a blend of description and theory, this classic case...)
(Anthropology)
Warrant officer United States Navy/United States Naval Reserve, 1944-1947, 50-51, 74-75, 78-81. Member American Anthropol. Association (board directors 1978), Society International Cultural Training and Research (board directors 1977), National Association for Practice Anthropology (president 1978), National Turfwriters Association (associate), Foreign Corrs.
Club. Japan.
Married Gay Sterling, 1961 (divorced 1970). Children: Christian James, Martha Joy Wedgeworth, Mark C. Married Shizuko Watabe, November 25, 1992.
Stepchildren: Maki Watabe, Ai Watabe.