Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay
Accounts of the adaptive responses of northern aboriginal peoples include examples of purposive modification and management of ecologically favorable areas to increase resource productivity. Practices include clearing of trees, burning of berry patches and construction of fish weirs. This paper exam...
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Resilience Alliance
2010
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03828-150422 https://doaj.org/article/316335800c0542a9bbcc2b2796e84ea9 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:316335800c0542a9bbcc2b2796e84ea9 2023-05-15T18:43:25+02:00 Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay Jesse S. Sayles Monica E. Mulrennan 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03828-150422 https://doaj.org/article/316335800c0542a9bbcc2b2796e84ea9 EN eng Resilience Alliance http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art22/ https://doaj.org/toc/1708-3087 1708-3087 doi:10.5751/ES-03828-150422 https://doaj.org/article/316335800c0542a9bbcc2b2796e84ea9 Ecology and Society, Vol 15, Iss 4, p 22 (2010) adaptation Cree environmental change flexibility indigenous resource use goose hunting James Bay landscape modification resilience resistance Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2010 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03828-150422 2022-12-31T11:28:58Z Accounts of the adaptive responses of northern aboriginal peoples include examples of purposive modification and management of ecologically favorable areas to increase resource productivity. Practices include clearing of trees, burning of berry patches and construction of fish weirs. This paper examines the adaptive capacity of the northern aboriginal community of Wemindji, east coast James Bay, in relation to long term landscape changes induced by coastal uplift processes. Associated changes are noticeable within a human lifetime and include the infilling of bays, the merger of islands with the mainland, as well as shifts in vegetative and wildlife communities. In response, generations of Cree hunters have actively modified the landscape using a variety of practices that include the construction of mud dykes and the cutting of tuuhiikaan, which are corridors in the coastal forest, to retain and enhance desirable conditions for goose hunting. We provide an account of the history, construction, and design of these features as well as the motivations and social learning that inform them. We reveal a complex and underappreciated dynamic between human resistance and adaptation to environmental change. While landscape modifications are motivated by a desire to increase resource productivity and predictability, they also reflect an intergenerational commitment to the maintenance of established hunting places as important connections with the past. Our findings support a revised perspective on aboriginal human agency in northern landscape modification and an enhanced role for aboriginal communities in adaptive planning for environmental change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Wemindji James Bay Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Wemindji ENVELOPE(-78.816,-78.816,53.000,53.000) Ecology and Society 15 4 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
adaptation Cree environmental change flexibility indigenous resource use goose hunting James Bay landscape modification resilience resistance Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
adaptation Cree environmental change flexibility indigenous resource use goose hunting James Bay landscape modification resilience resistance Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 Jesse S. Sayles Monica E. Mulrennan Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay |
topic_facet |
adaptation Cree environmental change flexibility indigenous resource use goose hunting James Bay landscape modification resilience resistance Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Accounts of the adaptive responses of northern aboriginal peoples include examples of purposive modification and management of ecologically favorable areas to increase resource productivity. Practices include clearing of trees, burning of berry patches and construction of fish weirs. This paper examines the adaptive capacity of the northern aboriginal community of Wemindji, east coast James Bay, in relation to long term landscape changes induced by coastal uplift processes. Associated changes are noticeable within a human lifetime and include the infilling of bays, the merger of islands with the mainland, as well as shifts in vegetative and wildlife communities. In response, generations of Cree hunters have actively modified the landscape using a variety of practices that include the construction of mud dykes and the cutting of tuuhiikaan, which are corridors in the coastal forest, to retain and enhance desirable conditions for goose hunting. We provide an account of the history, construction, and design of these features as well as the motivations and social learning that inform them. We reveal a complex and underappreciated dynamic between human resistance and adaptation to environmental change. While landscape modifications are motivated by a desire to increase resource productivity and predictability, they also reflect an intergenerational commitment to the maintenance of established hunting places as important connections with the past. Our findings support a revised perspective on aboriginal human agency in northern landscape modification and an enhanced role for aboriginal communities in adaptive planning for environmental change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jesse S. Sayles Monica E. Mulrennan |
author_facet |
Jesse S. Sayles Monica E. Mulrennan |
author_sort |
Jesse S. Sayles |
title |
Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay |
title_short |
Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay |
title_full |
Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay |
title_fullStr |
Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
Securing a Future: Cree Hunters' Resistance and Flexibility to Environmental Changes, Wemindji, James Bay |
title_sort |
securing a future: cree hunters' resistance and flexibility to environmental changes, wemindji, james bay |
publisher |
Resilience Alliance |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03828-150422 https://doaj.org/article/316335800c0542a9bbcc2b2796e84ea9 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-78.816,-78.816,53.000,53.000) |
geographic |
Wemindji |
geographic_facet |
Wemindji |
genre |
Wemindji James Bay |
genre_facet |
Wemindji James Bay |
op_source |
Ecology and Society, Vol 15, Iss 4, p 22 (2010) |
op_relation |
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art22/ https://doaj.org/toc/1708-3087 1708-3087 doi:10.5751/ES-03828-150422 https://doaj.org/article/316335800c0542a9bbcc2b2796e84ea9 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03828-150422 |
container_title |
Ecology and Society |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1766233818220462080 |