Economic status and role of hunters in a modern Inuit village

Abstract The cash revenues and imputed incomes from country food harvests were calculated from interviews with eight full-time hunting and ten wage-earning Inuit for 1984 at Holman, Northwest Territories. Using a substitution value of Can$10.56/kg ($4.79/lb) for country food harvests, the combined i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Record
Main Authors: Smith, Thomas G., Wright, Harold
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1989
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s003224740001038x
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S003224740001038X
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Summary:Abstract The cash revenues and imputed incomes from country food harvests were calculated from interviews with eight full-time hunting and ten wage-earning Inuit for 1984 at Holman, Northwest Territories. Using a substitution value of Can$10.56/kg ($4.79/lb) for country food harvests, the combined income (cash + imputed food value) of the two groups was very similar. Full-time hunters produced country food at $1.01/kg ($0.46/lb). while wage earners spent $5.7 I/kg ($2.59/lb) on their harvest. Full-time hunters harvested surpluses of food which would feed another fourpeople outside their immediate family. Wage earners ended the year with almost twice the cash balance of full-time hunters, whose main monetary revenuecomes from guiding trophy hunters. The precarious cash economy of the full-time hunters who provide a significant part of the food for the village should be a subject of concern and attention when considering the future well-being of the northern economy.