Hunters in the barrens: the Naskapi on the edge of the White Man's world

Henriksen, Georg

Book

Hunters in the barrens: the Naskapi on the edge of the White Man's world

Memorial University of Newfoundland • (12) • Published In 1973 • Pages: 11, 130

By: Henriksen, Georg.

Abstract
This study of the Davis Inlet Naskapi explores the discontinuities between their life in winter hunting camps and their summer life in a village dominated by a missionary and, to a lesser extent, a government storekeeper. He details the annual round, comparing hunting and social life in camps with the social life in the village where the economy is a mixture of fishing and welfare income. He argues that the traditional values focused on sharing of game, allowing good hunters to exchange products of the hunt for prestige and ensuring an equal distribution of food among the group. In contrast, the monetized economy has disrupted traditional patterns and values, leading to conflict and confusion. The author's analysis of interpersonal relations includes intragroup group relations as well as individual relations with the missionary and the storekeeper.

Hunting and trapping

Community structure

Cultural participation

Functional and adaptational interpretations

Acculturation and culture contact

Innu