Territory, territoriality and cultural change in an indigenous society : Old Crow, Yukon Territory ...

• Main Author: McSkimming, Robert James
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Kutchin; Old Crow; Yukon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0093409; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0093409

The purpose of the research is to examine the impact of cultural, economic, and environmental factors on territory and territoriality in Old Crow, Yukon Territory. It investigates both the social and spatial changes in the society. An historical sketch provides the circumstances which led Kutchin Indians of the northern Yukon to eventually attach themselves to trading posts. The changing nature of resource-use patterns and the relationship between 'land-use' territory and 'perceived' territory is compared. The thesis framework, then, is to present an evolution of territory and territoriality in an isolated indigenous society. The territory of Old Crow is defined as that which reflects native use and perception. Territoriality, on the other hand, is the behaviour of dominating, controlling, and defending a specific space. Through use of the ecological approach the relationship between occupied territory and the group's image of its territory is explored. At the same time the present conditions of Old Crow's ...