essay

The microeconomics of southern Chipewyan fur trade history

Subarctic fur trade : native social and economic adaptationsVancouverPublished In 1984 • Pages: 147-183

By: Jarvenpa, Robert, Brumbach, Hetty Jo.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of the rapidly changing material adaptations of the Chipewyan Indians in the late fur trade economy of north central Canada during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In essence, this work combines archival materials (e.g., fur trade business accounts and journals) with other forms of evidence (archaeological data and interviews with native informants) "…in explaining how people coped with the material conditions of local ecosystems and the political economy of the Euro-Canadian fur market" (p. 147). Some of the major topics discussed in the text, all of which relate in some manner to the trade between Chipewyans and the fur companies, are: major trade routes, the annual cycle of trading exchange, the caloric intake of imported vs. native foods, socio-cultural change, and a profile of the trading transactions of four Chipewyan traders.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Nutrition
Traditional history
Acculturation and culture contact
Sociocultural trends
Annual cycle
Commercial facilities
External trade
Retail marketing
Travel
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Chipewyans
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Arctic and Subarctic
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 1999
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1979-1981
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
late nineteenth - early twentieth centuries
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Isle a la Crosse region, Upper Churchill River area, Saskatchewan, Canada
NotesAdditional notes
Robert Jarvenpa and Hetty Jo Brumbach
Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-183)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
84238746
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Chipewyan Indians