Part II, Childhood in Two American Indian Tribes, Chapter 4, Fishermen along a Salmon River Summary and Analysis

The second American Indian tribe Erikson studies was a tribe of fishermen and acorn gatherers on the Pacific, the Yurok, whose mode of existence is diametrically opposed to the Sioux. They confined themselves to a small area and became very localized. They emphasize cleanliness rather than strength and fish for salmon. They have a ceremony of the fish dance as a supernatural practice. Erikson reports on their Yurok villages and conveys some intra-Yurok conflicts. The Yurok display an unsubdued, cynical attitude towards whites.

Yurok child psychiatry is carried on by old women. Erikson and his team encounter Fanny, an exemplar of Yurok psychiatry. Fanny argues that Yurok child neuroses are caused by seeing "wise people...