Prophecy and Power Among the Dogrib Indians
June Helm
Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press, 1994. pp 173.
Book Note, Thomas Parkhill
Prophecy and Power Among the Dogrib Indians is useful for glimpsing the complex interrelationship of traditional Dogrib religion with Christianity; the relationship of scholar
and consultant; the interactions between appropriated religious ideas and those more
traditional instances of religious thinking and behaviour; getting and using religious Power;
the role of Power in games of chance and in healing; and the study of Dogrib religious
traditions generally. The book is in two parts which are related but also "relatively self-
contained" [xii]. Part One describes three styles of prophecy among the Dogrib people of
the area between Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes in the Northwest Territories by
following three Dogrib prophets from 1967 through 1971. These prophets functioned in a
Roman Catholic Christian context, and although they related their "revelatory experiences"
in three very different indigenous styles, all conformed to a theology which would not
have given most parish priests cause for concern. The second part, called "Ink'on," consists
of Vital Thomas' (Helm's consultant who lived in Rae) stories organized so as to highlight
different aspects of ink'on. According to Helm, "the word ink'on denotes a human being
who is powerful, an other-than-human being that is powerful, and a powerfulness itself."
While its meaning varies according to context, ink'on is always "lodged in, comes from, is
exercised by some being," human or other-than-human [77]. Although his writing appears
in only two paragraphs [156-57], Vital Thomas' words and ideas form much of the
substance of this book. Helm's paid consultant for seventeen years, Thomas' early
education in a Roman Catholic mission school and his subsequent work as a guide and
"special constable" with the RCMP enabled him to be an intermediary between the Dogrib
people and Helm. Much of the authority of this book comes from Thomas' position in his
community, from his long-term professional relationship with Helm, and from her status as
a senior scholar in anthropology.
back to "Some Research-Related Work"