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Title: | The Future of Hunters Within Nation-states: Anthropological Theories and Practices, and James Bay Cree |
Other Titles: | Feit, Harvey A. 1978. “The Future of Hunters Within Nation States; and the Theory and Practice of Anthropologists,” paper pre-circulated for the Conference on Hunters and Gatherers, June 27-30, 1978, Paris. Pp. 9. |
Authors: | Feit, Harvey A. |
Department: | Anthropology |
Keywords: | Power and Dependency Theories;Local Autonomy Practices;Colonial Governance;Indigenous Movements;Anthropological Theory and Practice;History of Anthropology;Hunting and Gathering Societies;James Bay Cree |
Publication Date: | 1981 |
Citation: | Feit, Harvey A. 1981. “The Future of Hunters Within Nation-states: Anthropological Theories and Practices, and James Bay Cree,” manuscript, pp. 35. |
Abstract: | The central question that arises today from the developments occurring within hunting and other non-industrial societies concerns the nature and diversity of the transformations which occur when societies become less isolated and must increasingly relate to and respond to nation state political and bureaucratic structures and to international economic institutions. In increasingly diverse ways hunting and other peoples themselves are actively playing a determining role in the transformations they themselves are undergoing. Some hunting peoples have adopted new means by which to seek to restructure their relationships with state and market institutions in terms of their continued and enhanced autonomy. Anthropologists are being called upon in such situations to play new roles, roles that often require them not only to criticize the societies in which their own professional work is embedded, but to go beyond such critiques to evaluate / discover / create means by which other societies can achieve their own futures in the face of large-scale political and economic interventions. It is a situation in which anthropological understanding and theory must be both applied and developed in the same process. These issues are discussed here primarily with examples drawn from recent research with a hunting people of the Canadian north, the James Bay Cree. This paper is composed of four parts: (1) a brief resume of recent developments in the Canadian north; (2) a critical analysis of previous anthropological assessments of the changes being undergone by hunting societies in the light of recent data on Cree hunters in Quebec; (3) an account of the nature of the dependences encountered by the Cree in interaction with the state; and (4) an account of some new and innovative responses initiated by the Cree designed to enhance their autonomy in the face of present changes. The paper concludes that many anthropological theories of change involve assumptions that local changes originate primarily externally, and more particularly that local-level responses are simply reactive, the local population having neither the power nor the means to generate unique or effective responses. But it is clear from the analyses presented here that societies have not been simply passive in the face of external changes, and that many have sought to set and met important objectives. We need to move from the single-focus study of dependency, to a wider framework that, without abandoning such study, also includes study of the means of action by which effective practices of autonomy may be sustained and created among the constraints causing dependence. |
Description: | An original version of this paper was pre-circulated for the 1978 Conference on Hunters and Gatherers held in Paris, June 27-30 as, “The Future of Hunters Within Nation States; and the Theory and Practice of Anthropologists.” One thread of discussions at this conference was led by anthropologists working closely with several Indigenous peoples in Canada, Australia and the United States who were facing large scale resource developments or making substantial claims for recognition of their land rights and governance. This led to the inclusion of an additional session at the conference on the implications of these developments. The paper presented here is an expanded post-conference version. The conference discussions also profoundly shaped the major theme of the published volume that was developed from the conference. A version of this paper appeared in that volume as: “The Future of Hunters Within Nation States: Anthropology and the James Bay Cree,” in Politics and History in Band Societies, Eleanor Leacock and Richard Lee, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Pp. 373-417. A copy of my pre-conference paper is included with this MacSphere entry. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/24504 |
Appears in Collections: | Anthropology Publications |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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FEIT_Future_Hunters_in_States-Ms_1981.pdf | 336.03 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open | |
FEIT_Future_Hunters_In_States_Paris_Conf_Paper_1978.pdf | 295.28 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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