Book
A poison stronger than love: the destruction of an Ojibwa community
Yale University Press • New Haven • Published In 1985 • Pages:
By: Shkilnyk, Anastasia M..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this study, Shkilnyk documents the terrible consequences of an overly paternalistic and misguided government community development program. In 1963, the Department of Indian Affairs coerced 500 Ojibwas to abandon their isolated and spacious settlement and move to a cramped suburban-style housing complex. Closer to the highway, the new settlement was connected to the town of Kenora whose employment opportunities and business services would have a modernizing influence on the band, or so policy-makers thought. Wage work in town and a fall in fur prices broke up the traditional winter practice of trapping by extended families. In 1970, the discovery of mercury poisoning in the nearby lakes and rivers closed down commercial and sports fishing, which had been important sources of employment and income for the band. With all former productive avenues cut off, the Grassy Narrows Ojibwa became totally dependent on government jobs and welfare. Alcoholism became rampant. Cases of child neglect, juvenile delinquency, violent deaths, and suicide were far above national averages. Shkilnyk shows how provincial and federal governments failed to act responsibly to avoid liability.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Internal migration
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Food quest
- Environmental quality
- Housing
- Labor supply and employment
- Commercialized sports
- Ethnic stratification
- Public welfare
- Alcoholism and drug addiction
- Delinquency
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Ojibwa
- 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
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Regional Planner
- 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
- Ian Skoggard ; 1998
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1976-1979
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1873-1980
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Twentieth Century Ojibwa, Grassy Narrows, Ontario, Canada
- NotesAdditional notes
- Anastasia M. Shkilnyk ; foreword by Kai Erikson ; photographs by Hiro Miyamatsu
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-265) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 84040202
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Ojibwa Indians