Negotiating the nature of nature : a cultural models approach to meaning, motivation and cooperative resource management in the Yukon ...

• Main Author: Washbrook, Kevin
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: First Nations; Yukon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0087805; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0087805

Yukon land claims settlements mandate that First Nations and the territorial government cooperatively manage renewable resources. As these groups are brought together in decision making, developing an understanding of culturally specific constructions of the non-human world and the ways in which these motivate managers will be necessary if conflict in management is to be avoided. This paper explores the usefulness of a cognitive approach for clarifying the ways in which shared cultural models for the environment motivate individuals to pursue different actions in resource management. In the Yukon, important, motivating models for First Nations and non-First Nations individuals appear to be, respectively, that Nature is a set of social relationships and Nature is a system akin to the economy. The influence of these models upon resource management is examined through the case study of an interaction over catch-and-release fishing regulations. Understanding the operation of these models in the north, where ...