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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/23942
Title: L'ethno écologie des Cris Waswanipis, ou comment des chasseurs peuvent aménager leurs ressources.
Other Titles: The Resource Management Programme of the Waswanipi Indians
Authors: Feit, Harvey A.
Department: Anthropology
Keywords: Ethno-ecology;Human Ecology;Local Resource Management;Aboriginal Rights;James Bay Hydro-electric Project;Hunting Strategies;Aboriginal Consent;Multiple-use Management;James Bay Cree;Waswanipi Cree
Publication Date: 1971
Publisher: Recherches amérindiennes au Québec
Citation: Feit, Harvey A. 1971. “L'ethno écologie des Cris Waswanipis, ou comment des chasseurs peuvent aménager leurs ressources.” Recherches amérindiennes au Québec 1 (4-5):84-93. [Reprinted in 1972 as “L’ethno-écologie des Cris Waswanipis” in La Baie James. C’est grave, grave, grave. Montreal: Éditions québécoises, la Société pour Vaincre la Pollution. Pp. 67-80.] (Original publication available at: http://recherches-amerindiennes.qc.ca/site/produit/la-baie-james-des-amerindiens-version-pdf-1971 - consulted 08/30/2018.).
Abstract: This paper on the human ecology of a sub-arctic Indian band is written to call attention to the way the Indians themselves use their environment, and to stress the need for Indians to be involved in the planning for new exploitation of the resources of the James Bay region. It is a common assumption that game animal hunters exercise little control over the resources on which they depend or the environments in which they live. But many biological and ethnographic studies show that it is possible to anticipate the consequences of particular hunting or harvesting patterns on a territory. It is therefore possible for hunters to control some of the critical parameters of the harvested populations on their hunting territories through their choice of resource utilization strategies. Hunters can then exercise some control over the distribution and reproduction of the animal populations which they harvest, and they may in some sense manage their resources. This paper indicates how one group of sub-arctic hunters, the Waswanipi Cree, utilize the resources available to them on their hunting territories. The paper summarizes parts of a detailed study and demonstrates the hypothesis that they are managing their resources in accordance with culturally distinct ethno-ecological system of knowledge. Governments and developers need to recognize that rational management of the resources of the region is already practised, and if these resources are affected it will be necessary that the Indian people themselves be represented on the planning bodies. The Indian people of the region must be allowed to articulate their own needs in decisions about regional development and help to evaluate the impact of the project on the region. Their agreement should be obtained before the resources which they are now using intensively and managing are affected.
Description: The published version of this article was translated into French by Rechesrches amérindiennes aux Québec for a special issue they prepared in the fall of 1971 shortly after the announcement of the James Bay Hydro-electric Project in April 1971. In a rare intervention by a scholarly journal they quickly responded to the need for a public debate, assembling articles by ethnographers, natural scientists, administrators, journalists and residents of the region, including reports of responses in Cree villages. My paper was reprinted the following year in a booklet by a citizens group assessing and protesting the hydro-electric project, la Société pour Vaincre la Pollution. The English version of this article which is also included here is from an unpublished English version of the Recherche améindiennes issue that was prepared by the Programme in the Anthropology of Development at McGill University. The article was a summary of parts of my PhD Thesis, then incomplete and in draft form. The thesis benefited from the comments and advice of Richard F. Salisbury, many of which were incorporated into this paper.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/23942
ISSN: 0318-4137
Appears in Collections:Anthropology Publications

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