indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Enable an agent to distinguish the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, record community-grounded accounts of their identities and circumstances, and determine appropriate representation, engagement and information use.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 11 layers · 16 findings · 26 questions
Peoplehood and regional boundaries Distinguishes the regional grouping from its constituent peoples and from external classifications.
Regional inclusion
Records the basis and limits of inclusion in the Pacific Northwest Coast category.
Attributed regional membership
Record inclusion as an attributed, contextual relationship rather than an identity assigned by the agent.
- How does the people describe its relationship to the Northwest Coast regional category, and which community source supports that account? provenance
- Where do community accounts and external cultural-area boundaries differ, especially at coastal and interior transitions? boundary
Names and referents
Separates people's names from language labels, local communities and administrative entities.
Contextual name resolution
Preserve the referent, preferred spelling and historical context of each name without assuming synonymous labels identify the same collective.
- Does this name identify a people, a local community, a language grouping, a governing institution or an externally defined aggregate? definition
- Which community source establishes the preferred name and explains any historical or externally imposed alternatives? provenance
Lands, waters and stewardship Represents relationships to coastal places, islands, waterways and resources with appropriate territorial specificity.
Territorial relationships
Distinguishes community-described territories from settlements, administrative areas and legal determinations.
Territorial account and disclosure
Record whose territorial account is represented, which relationships it describes and what geographic detail may be disclosed.
- Which lands, islands, rivers and marine areas does the community identify as relevant, and how does it describe those relationships? definition
- Which overlapping relationships, disputed boundaries or sensitive locations require qualification or omission from a public map? boundary
Seasonal access and care
Captures community-specific accounts of harvesting, movement and responsibility for places and resources.
Resource-specific stewardship
Investigate locally relevant relationships to resources such as salmon, shellfish or cedar without assuming every people shares the same practices.
- Which seasonal activities, resources and stewardship responsibilities does this community identify as relevant to its coastal relationships? definition
- Whose authorization and which community protocols apply before documenting, visiting or participating in the identified activity? action
Governance, kinship and representation Distinguishes political institutions, community affiliations and context-specific authority.
Political and institutional authority
Records institutions and their mandates while separating community legitimacy from external recognition.
Authority by subject
Identify who is authorized for the specific matter, including any distinct roles of elected, hereditary or other community-defined institutions where applicable.
- Which institution or role has authority for this proposed engagement, and what community source establishes its mandate? provenance
- How do the relevant community authorities relate to Canadian or United States administrative recognition without being reduced to those categories? boundary
Kinship and collective affiliation
Allows locally defined houses, clans, families or other affiliations to be represented only where appropriate and permitted.
Community-defined social units
Use community terminology for social affiliations and associated responsibilities rather than importing a uniform Northwest Coast kinship scheme.
- Which collective affiliations does the community consider relevant, and how are they distinct from citizenship, residence and governing institutions? definition
- What information about affiliation or inherited responsibilities may an agent record, and whose permission is required? action
Languages, cultural authority and knowledge Connects linguistic and cultural relationships to the authorities and permissions governing their description and use.
Language and cultural specificity
Maintains distinctions among language relationships, named traditions and community-specific practices.
Locally attributed cultural descriptions
Attribute descriptions of languages, ceremonies, art forms and oral traditions to the appropriate communities and sources.
- Which language names and varieties does the community use, and where do those relationships cross or diverge from people's and institutional boundaries? boundary
- If a source describes potlatches, crest imagery or other regionally associated practices, which particular community and context does its account cover? provenance
Access, reuse and return
Records permissions and appropriate referral paths for knowledge, recordings and cultural belongings.
Purpose-specific cultural permissions
Distinguish access from permission to reproduce, translate, generate derivatives or use material in AI systems, and identify authorities for return-related inquiries.
- Who can authorize the proposed use of this story, image, recording or cultural description, and what restrictions accompany that authorization? action
- When a collection item or recording raises a return or repatriation question, which community-designated authority should receive the inquiry? action
Historical context and living continuity Separates historical accounts from present conditions and records change through community-defined priorities.
Historical source context
Places archival and ethnographic descriptions in their dates, purposes and community-specific contexts.
Dated and situated accounts
Make the circumstances and limits of historical descriptions visible before using them to characterize a people.
- Who produced this account, when, for what purpose, and with what documented community participation? provenance
- Which community-specific evidence is needed before connecting a present condition to displacement, imposed schooling, restrictions on ceremonies or other historical interventions? provenance
Community-defined present and future
Records contemporary priorities and conditions without using cultural continuity as a test of legitimacy.
Community-led assessment
Use community-defined indicators for matters such as language transmission, territorial access or cultural programs, retaining their limits and dates.
- Which indicators does the community consider appropriate for assessing its stated priorities, and what population, period and collection method do they cover? measurement
- What actions or partnerships has the community invited, and which current source establishes the scope of that invitation? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Society, people and institutions
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- SOC
- Domain
- SOC.PER
- Other names and narrower kinds
- Haisla people
What it is Filled
Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are the distinct Indigenous nations and communities whose ancestral territories lie along the northwestern coast of North America, conventionally grouped within a cultural region extending from southeastern Alaska through coastal British Columbia into Washington and Oregon.
In scope
- Community-grounded identification of peoples included in the regional category, with disputed or contextual boundaries recorded
- Relationships among peoplehood, community names, languages, kinship affiliations and political institutions
- Relationships to coastal, island, riverine and marine territories, including access and stewardship
- Authority to represent communities and authorize access to knowledge or cultural materials
- Community-defined continuity, changing circumstances and priorities
Out of scope
- Individual biographies, personal ancestry assessments and determinations of individual Indigenous identity
- Complete models of particular nations, tribal governments or intergovernmental organizations
- Full linguistic descriptions of individual languages
- Object-level catalogues of artworks, belongings, archaeological materials or museum collections
- Independent legal adjudication of territorial title, membership, harvesting rights or recognition
- A general model of all Indigenous peoples of North America
Why it exists Filled
Enable an agent to distinguish the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, record community-grounded accounts of their identities and circumstances, and determine appropriate representation, engagement and information use.
Distinguishing features Filled
- The referent is a regional grouping of distinct peoples; a record describing one unified government, language or membership system has collapsed its granularity.
- Inclusion requires an evidenced relationship to the Northwest Coast regional category and the people's own account of identity; present-day residence near the Pacific coast is insufficient.
- A language name, settlement name, administrative designation and people's name must remain distinguishable even when a source uses them interchangeably.
- Shared cultural practices cannot alone establish that a people belongs to the category, and absence of a presumed regional trait cannot alone exclude it.
- Historical ethnographic descriptions must be distinguishable from contemporary community descriptions and cannot automatically define present identity or authority.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Treat the many distinct nations as one people or a single culture.
- Reproduce, sell or display crests, songs, stories or ceremonial objects in ways the owning nation has not permitted.
- Present stereotypes or romanticized images as fact.
- Infer a person's Indigenous identity from appearance or name.
Only with a human decision
- Using or publishing material that a nation regards as sacred or restricted.
- Decisions about ancestral remains or objects held in collections.
May
- Describe the nations of the region, their histories and cultures from sources the nations themselves recognize.
- Refer to each nation by the name it uses for itself.
- Direct questions about cultural protocols to the nations' own institutions.
Moral aspects Filled
- These nations survived dispossession, bans on ceremonies such as the potlatch and residential schools; accounts must not erase that.
- Cultural property such as crests and stories belongs to specific families and nations.
Who is affected
- The nations and their members
- Elders and knowledge keepers
- Indigenous youth
Owners Filled
Steward
The nations themselves, through their own governments and institutions.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q15571255 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.indigenous-peoples-of-the-pacific-northwest-coast
- Wikidata: Q210561 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q210561)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- Regional inclusion basis: Community-supported inclusion; source-defined inclusion; contested inclusion; unresolved, with source and date
- Names and naming contexts: Community-preferred names, language and orthography, historical names and external labels, each linked to its referent and context
- Territorial and water relationships: People or community linked to named lands, waters and places, with relationship type, source, time and disclosure restrictions
- Representative authority: Institution or authorized role linked to a people, subject matter, decision scope and applicable protocol
- Language relationships: Community-attested relationships to named languages or varieties, including preferred terminology and permitted documentation
- Knowledge-use permission: Publicly shareable; permission required; restricted; permission withdrawn; unknown, scoped to material and proposed use
- Continuity and change assessment: Community-described conditions and priorities, dated and attributed; assessment unavailable
Plane SOC: no invented physical properties.
Recognition not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Membership in these distinct Indigenous peoples cannot be reliably established from appearance, clothing or other visual cues.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Resolve a regional or historical label to the relevant peoples and institutions while retaining ambiguity and naming provenance.
- Compare accounts of regional inclusion, territorial relationships and shared practices without converting differences into a single authoritative narrative.
- Identify community-designated contacts and protocols for a proposed consultation, research project or use of cultural material.
- Determine whether a proposed description, map or reuse of knowledge needs additional permission or should remain undisclosed.
- Connect regional observations to nation-specific models and community-controlled sources.
- Flag outdated descriptions and unresolved authority questions for community-informed review.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Misappropriation of designs and stories harms communities economically and culturally.
- Generalized descriptions erase differences between nations and languages.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations General Assembly, 2007.
Context of use required Filled
- This regional grouping is encountered in histories, cultural collections, education and discussions of Indigenous rights along the northwestern coast of North America.
- It provides geographic context while encompassing distinct nations with their own names, languages, governments and traditions.
- Engagement and representation require attention to the particular community and its own account of identity and authority.
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q210561: indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast - general description of the item
Open questions
- Which peoples should be linked to this registry entry, and how should disagreements between community self-description and external Northwest Coast classifications be represented?
- Which community-controlled sources establish preferred names and clarify relationships among peoples, local communities, language groupings and political institutions?
- Which territorial relationships can be represented publicly, and which require restricted detail or multiple attributed accounts?
- Which authorities and protocols apply to consultation, cultural knowledge reuse and return inquiries for each constituent people?
- Which contemporary priorities and indicators are community-endorsed, and where is available evidence too dated or externally framed to support an assessment?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q210561/spec.json