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TitleSubarctic Indian trappers and band society: The economics of male mobility
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1977
AuthorsJarvenpa, R.
Volume5
Issue3
Pagination223-259
PublisherHuman Ecology
Publication Languageen
Keywordsfur trapping, locational analysis, subarctic societies
Abstract

The spatial organization of economic production in contemporary subarctic Indian society is illustrated by an analysis of geographical mobility and commercial fur trapping among the English River Chipewyan of Patuanak, Saskatchewan. Quantitative comparison reveals the positive linear relationship between selected "performance" variable (numbers of animals captured and cash income) and "locational" variables (trapping area size, distances traveled between settlements and bush camps, and distances between neighboring trappers) for a population of 76 male trappers. At present, trapping performance varies positively with trapping area size and linear distance from the largest settlement. Variable social adaptations in the trapping work force are in part the result of complex compromises and adjustments between traditional familycamp organizations and emerging all-male partnerships. However, the relationship between size and structure of trapping teams, degree of team interaction, and economic efficiency requires further investigation. Finally, the formal analysis of productivity is reappraised in terms of community definitions of trapping success.

Locational Keywords

Paluanak, Saskatchewan.

Active Link

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/478572132

Group

CEMA

Citation Key24571

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