Bankslanders : economy and ecology of a frontier trapping community ...

• Main Author: Usher, Peter Joseph
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2011
• Subjects: Arctic; Banks Island; Sachs Harbour; white fox
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0104005; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0104005

Fur trapping, for generations the chief source of income for native people in northern Canada, has seriously declined in recent years. An outstanding exception is the community of Sachs Harbour, Banks Island, N. W. T., where several thousand white fox pelts are harvested annually by 15 to 20 trappers. The thesis analyzes two topics: the cultural ecology of the colonization of Banks Island as a trapping frontier, and the economic geography of trapping and hunting there. Its purposes are to investigate the ecological, economic and social basis of trapping, to understand trapping as an adaptive strategy in particular historical circumstances, and to analyze it as a viable resource system. The study is based on 14 months of field research in the Western Arctic, chiefly at Sachs Harbour, N.W.T. The primary research method was participant observation, although most quantitative data were obtained through semi-formal interviews. Archival research provided additional historical information and statistics. The ...