Papers presented at the Second Annual Conference of the Canadian Ethnology Society held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1975 are offered in two volumes. This first volume includes those which were delivered in the “Myth and Culture” and “The Theory of Markedness in Social Relations and Language” sessions. The second contains those from the “Contemporary Trends in Caribbean Ethnology”, “African Ethnology”, “Anthropology in Canada”, “The Crees and the Geese”, “Early Mercantile Enterprises in Anthropological Perspectives” and “Volunteered Papers” sessions.
Papers presented at the Second Annual Conference of the Canadian Ethnology Society held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1975 are offered in two volumes. The first volume includes those which were delivered in the “Myth and Culture” and “The Theory of Markedness in Social Relations and Language” sessions. This second contains those from the “Contemporary Trends in Caribbean Ethnology”, “African Ethnology”, “Anthropology in Canada”, “The Crees and the Geese”, “Early Mercantile Enterprises in Anthropological Perspectives” and “Volunteered Papers” sessions.
Focusing upon the Mission Métis of Lac la Biche, the author examines the use of French, Cree, and English as a means of garnering insight into the mechanisms of western Canadian Métis cultural and linguistic variation. He concludes that the relationship of the people to their environment is inextricably bound to an understanding of their language and culture and that the delineation of cultural boundaries is, therefore, a highly complex matter.
The original people of the Hudson Bay lowlands, often known as the Lowland Cree and known to themselves as Muskekowuck Athinuwick, were among the first Aboriginal peoples in northwestern North America to come into contact with Europeans. This book challenges long-held misconceptions about the Lowland Cree, and illustrates how historians have often misunderstood the role and resourcefulness of Aboriginal peoples during the fur-trade era. Although their own oral histories tell that the Lowland Cree have lived in the region for thousands of years, many historians have portrayed the Lowland Cree as relative newcomers who were dependent on the Hudson's Bay Company fur-traders by the 1700s. Historical geographer Victor Lytwyn shows instead that the Lowland Cree had a well-established traditional society that, far from being dependent on Europeans, was instrumental in the survival of traders throughout the network of HBC forts during the 18th and 19th centuries.
“[Stephen] offers fresh insight into the path a historic fur trading business took to become one of Canada’s most recognizable retailers.” —Literary Review of Canada In Masters and Servants, Scott P. Stephen reveals startling truths about Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) workers. Rather than dedicating themselves body and soul to the Company’s interests, these men were hired like domestic servants, joining a “household” with its attendant norms of duty and loyalty. The household system produced a remarkably stable political-economic entity, connecting early North American resource extraction to larger trends in British imperialism. Through painstaking research, Stephen shines welcome light on the lives of these largely overlooked individuals. An essential book for labor historians, Masters and Servants will appeal to scholars of early modern Britain, the North American fur trade, Western social history, business history, and anyone intrigued by the reach of the HBC. “Blacksmiths, bookkeepers, loggers, tanners, coopers, cooks, sail-makers, interpreters, surveyors, clergy, the list goes on as Stephen marches us through the lives of the early Hudson’s Bay worker.” —The Ormsby Review “Overall, the book reflects the work of a historian comfortable with the hard work of archival research and with an eye for detail and insightful quotations. In many respects, it does for Hudson’s Bay Company employees what Carolyn Podruchny’s Making the Voyageur World did for employees of the Montreal-based fur trade companies in recreating their values, worldview, and distinctive work environment.” —Michael Payne, Prairie History
The Eastern Subarctic has long been portrayed as a place without history. Challenging this perspective, History in the Making: The Archaeology of the Eastern Subarctic charts the complex and dynamic history of this little known archaeological region of North America. Along the way, the book explores the social processes through which native peoples “made” history in the past and archaeologists and anthropologists later wrote about it. As such, the book offers both a critical history and historiography of the Eastern Subarctic.
A discussion of two types of Beothuk canoe, a multi-purpose variety and one intended specifically for ocean travel, and their relationship to watercraft used by other North American Native groups.
An archival and ethnographic account of Coast Tsimshian feast traditions with emphasis on their role as forms of discourse shaped by idiosyncratic textual conventions.
An examination of the varied uses of local flora by the Saskatchewan Woods Cree; for example, in medicine, food, and construction. The results are subsequently compared with similar information pertaining to the Chippewa, Mistassini Cree, Attikamek, Alberta Cree, and Slave.
