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Concept à la mode depuis quelques décennies, l’écotourisme s’est érigé comme le produit phare des parcs nationaux en régions forestières. Avec la création en 2007 du «Parc Amazonien de Guyane », les Wayana, comme les autres communautés traditionnelles autochtones, n’ont pas échappé au discours lié au développement durable de leur territoire ainsi qu’à la question de l’écotourisme. Mais quelle est la réalité d’un tel concept dans le contexte du tiers sud guyanais, enclavé, dominé par des identités culturelles fortes et marqué par une activité aurifère clandestine et criminelle ? Cette étude s’intéresse particulièrement à la dynamique culturelle et aux tentatives de maintien d’une identité culturelle, dans une société en pleine transition. Afin d’étudier le changement social et culturel, j’ai observé le mode de vie des indiens de l’intérieur de la Guyane tel qu’il se présente aujourd’hui en référence à ce qu’il était hier. Il ressort de notre étude que bien qu’attirés par la modernité, les indiens dépendent toujours des ressources de la nature et se préoccupent de maintenirleur identité. Les moyens de prélever les ressources ont certes évolué, mais ils demeurent au fond non agressifs àl’environnement et à la biodiversité parce que, ces sociétés ont opéré elles-mêmes des choix qui leur permettent de minimiser leur impact négatif sur l’environnement. Il y a donc dans ces sociétés une préoccupation de gestion durable des ressources. On le perçoit aisément dans l’agriculture itinérante, dans la pêche à la nivrée où, après exploitation et prélèvement de la ressource, la zone exploitée est laissée à l’abandon pour sa régénération. La recherche d’un compromis endogène entre un mode de vie traditionnel et un mode de vie moderne est significative à l’observation et à l’analyse de l’évolution de la structure de l’habitat amérindien. Optant aujourd’hui de plus en plus pour un habitat avec parois, cloisonné et recouvert non plus d’une simple toiture végétale mais de tôles ondulées, les Wayana ne renoncent pas pour autant au carbet-hamac, ni à la prohibition des déjections en terre ferme, c’est-à-dire le lieu où vivent les hommes. Les Indiens, dans leur tradition, utilisent les cours d’eau comme des lieux d’aisance. Notre étude montre que cette coutume est répandue chez tous les indiens de l’intérieur de la Guyane parce qu’elle va au-delà d’une simple préoccupation hygiénique et physiologique. Dans ce système culturel, cette coutume n’est pas déterminée systématiquement par l’environnement naturel. Elle obéit avant tout à une logique écologique propre à ces microsociétés, puis à une nécessite de distinguer nettement deux univers : l’univers des animaux et l’univers des hommes. Ainsi, dans lalogique interne des Wayana, ce sont des animaux sauvages qui font leurs déjections à même le sol, tandis que l’homme pour se distinguer a choisi de faire des cours d’eau ses lieux d’aisance privilégiés. Mais, face au changement imposé par le monde extérieur (sédentarisation, croissance démographique, prestations sociales..), la cohérence interne du modèle social et culturel des Wayana est plus que menacé. Dès lors, la mise en oeuvre de l’écotourisme s’apparente à une confrontation de logiques ; un ensemble de logiques exogènes, véhiculé par ses développeurs et ses promoteurs, et unensemble de logiques endogènes véhiculé par les populations autochtones traditionnelles en cohérence avec leur vision holistique du monde, aboutissant soit à des formes de compromis, soit à des formes d’antagonismes objectant toute forme de négociation. / A fashionable concept for some decades, « ecotourism » has been selected as the leading product for National Parks and large forests areas. With the opening, in 2007, of the “Amazonian park of Guyana “, the “Wayana”, like other local traditional communities, have not escaped from theories related to sustainable development as well as the “ecotourism”. But what reality stands behind such a concept in the southern part of Guyana, geographically isolated, and under the influence of strong cultural identities and a clandestine and criminal gold extraction activity. The current study tries to understand the cultural movement and their ambition to maintain a cultural identity, in a society in complete transition. In order to study the social and cultural changes, the author has observed the Indians way of life in the heart of Guyana today, as opposed as to how it was yesterday. Our study points out that, although very interested by the modern world, Indians still depend on natural resources and are concerned with the preservation of their identity. Their ways of using resources have certainly evolved, but they remain basically respectful of the environment and biodiversity because these societies function in order to minimize any negative impacts on their environment. These societies are therefore concerned with the management of their resources in a durable way. It’s easily perceivable in the itinerant agriculture, also in the fishing “à la nivrée”, where the area is left unexploited for regeneration after resources have been used. The search for an endogen compromise between a traditional way of life and a modern one is quite significant when one observes and analyzes the evolution of the Amerindian habitat. Opting more and more for buildings with partitions and separations, not just covered with basic vegetable roofs but with metallic material, the “Wayana” have not abandoned the use of “carbet-hamoc”, nor of open air toilets where the population live. Indians, traditionally, use streams as toilets. Our study shows that this custom is the same for all Indians living in the interior territories of Guyana, because it goes beyond a simple hygienic and physiological concern. In their cultural system, this rule is not systematically imposed by the natural environment. It’s governed above all by an ecological logic, pertinent to these micro societies, followed by the necessity to clearly identify two different worlds: the animal world and the human world. According to internal “Wayana” logic, it is only wild animals that use the ground for their excretions, whilst human beings, in order to distinguish themselves, use streams. But, facing changes brought about by the external world (sedentary life, demographic expansion, social care…), the internal coherence of the social and cultural model of the “Wayana” is in jeopardy. Installing a culture of “ecotourism” therefore seems to confront logics: one set of exogenous logics brought on by its promoters and another set of endogenous logics maintained by the autochthon traditional populations fitting with their holistic vision of the universe, leading either to some form of compromise or to antagonist attitudes opposed to any type of negotiation.

Memento Mori, Latin for “remember thy death,” implores us to be mindful that death is both inevitable and inescapable. What of the records created during the process of dying and about death? Based upon wide-ranging archival research into primary documents, this thesis explores the rich sources of both official, public records, and personal, private ones, relating to mortality on the small-town Canadian frontier before 1950. The community of Red Lake, Ontario, which was established on the frontier as the result of the Red Lake gold rush of 1926, is the subject of a case study. Rather than merely cataloguing sources, this thesis illustrates that by adapting aspects from such archival appraisal methodologies as macroappraisal and documentation strategy, one is able to make available to researchers a wider range of sources relevant to the themes of dying and death. Specifically, by employing a documentation strategy methodology to identify and illuminate the records of human activities surrounding the functions of dying and death, archivists can offer to researchers the opportunity to locate relevant records wherever they may physically be. Since this is an Archival Studies thesis, it does not provide an historical analysis of dying and death, but is an archival study of the types of records related to the theme of mortality on the Canadian frontier: how those records were created, their character, and their capture and preservation in a small community. This thesis is organized into three chapters and a conclusion. Chapter One explores some relevant trends in the secondary literature of three fields: archival appraisal and description, small town or local development on the frontier, and dying and death as human activities. Chapter Two sets the context in which the thesis analyzes mortality on the frontier by outlining the relevant history of the Red Lake District of Northwestern Ontario and its pioneers. The focus is especially on the gold-mining boom years from the mid-1920s until shortly after the Second World War. The heart of the thesis, Chapter Three, is a case study of the various records creators, human activities, and resultant records related to mortality. It is organized according to three phases or functional categories surrounding dying, death, and memorialization. The conclusion summarizes the usefulness of the case study, in light of the literature review in Chapter One. It also suggests areas of further research, including aspects not covered herein, of the records of dying and death on the Canadian frontier. The documentation strategy, adapted from the original methods employed by archivists Helen Samuels and Richard Cox, was found to work best when deployed as a research and descriptive tool for exploring and documenting the records of mortality, more so than its original purpose as an acquisition tool. The strategy has wide-ranging usefulness discovering and then describing a “virtual” documentation universe relating to record-generating human functions and activities. / February 2008

Memento Mori, Latin for “remember thy death,” implores us to be mindful that death is both inevitable and inescapable. What of the records created during the process of dying and about death? Based upon wide-ranging archival research into primary documents, this thesis explores the rich sources of both official, public records, and personal, private ones, relating to mortality on the small-town Canadian frontier before 1950. The community of Red Lake, Ontario, which was established on the frontier as the result of the Red Lake gold rush of 1926, is the subject of a case study. Rather than merely cataloguing sources, this thesis illustrates that by adapting aspects from such archival appraisal methodologies as macroappraisal and documentation strategy, one is able to make available to researchers a wider range of sources relevant to the themes of dying and death. Specifically, by employing a documentation strategy methodology to identify and illuminate the records of human activities surrounding the functions of dying and death, archivists can offer to researchers the opportunity to locate relevant records wherever they may physically be. Since this is an Archival Studies thesis, it does not provide an historical analysis of dying and death, but is an archival study of the types of records related to the theme of mortality on the Canadian frontier: how those records were created, their character, and their capture and preservation in a small community. This thesis is organized into three chapters and a conclusion. Chapter One explores some relevant trends in the secondary literature of three fields: archival appraisal and description, small town or local development on the frontier, and dying and death as human activities. Chapter Two sets the context in which the thesis analyzes mortality on the frontier by outlining the relevant history of the Red Lake District of Northwestern Ontario and its pioneers. The focus is especially on the gold-mining boom years from the mid-1920s until shortly after the Second World War. The heart of the thesis, Chapter Three, is a case study of the various records creators, human activities, and resultant records related to mortality. It is organized according to three phases or functional categories surrounding dying, death, and memorialization. The conclusion summarizes the usefulness of the case study, in light of the literature review in Chapter One. It also suggests areas of further research, including aspects not covered herein, of the records of dying and death on the Canadian frontier. The documentation strategy, adapted from the original methods employed by archivists Helen Samuels and Richard Cox, was found to work best when deployed as a research and descriptive tool for exploring and documenting the records of mortality, more so than its original purpose as an acquisition tool. The strategy has wide-ranging usefulness discovering and then describing a “virtual” documentation universe relating to record-generating human functions and activities.

Memento Mori, Latin for “remember thy death,” implores us to be mindful that death is both inevitable and inescapable. What of the records created during the process of dying and about death? Based upon wide-ranging archival research into primary documents, this thesis explores the rich sources of both official, public records, and personal, private ones, relating to mortality on the small-town Canadian frontier before 1950. The community of Red Lake, Ontario, which was established on the frontier as the result of the Red Lake gold rush of 1926, is the subject of a case study. Rather than merely cataloguing sources, this thesis illustrates that by adapting aspects from such archival appraisal methodologies as macroappraisal and documentation strategy, one is able to make available to researchers a wider range of sources relevant to the themes of dying and death. Specifically, by employing a documentation strategy methodology to identify and illuminate the records of human activities surrounding the functions of dying and death, archivists can offer to researchers the opportunity to locate relevant records wherever they may physically be. Since this is an Archival Studies thesis, it does not provide an historical analysis of dying and death, but is an archival study of the types of records related to the theme of mortality on the Canadian frontier: how those records were created, their character, and their capture and preservation in a small community. This thesis is organized into three chapters and a conclusion. Chapter One explores some relevant trends in the secondary literature of three fields: archival appraisal and description, small town or local development on the frontier, and dying and death as human activities. Chapter Two sets the context in which the thesis analyzes mortality on the frontier by outlining the relevant history of the Red Lake District of Northwestern Ontario and its pioneers. The focus is especially on the gold-mining boom years from the mid-1920s until shortly after the Second World War. The heart of the thesis, Chapter Three, is a case study of the various records creators, human activities, and resultant records related to mortality. It is organized according to three phases or functional categories surrounding dying, death, and memorialization. The conclusion summarizes the usefulness of the case study, in light of the literature review in Chapter One. It also suggests areas of further research, including aspects not covered herein, of the records of dying and death on the Canadian frontier. The documentation strategy, adapted from the original methods employed by archivists Helen Samuels and Richard Cox, was found to work best when deployed as a research and descriptive tool for exploring and documenting the records of mortality, more so than its original purpose as an acquisition tool. The strategy has wide-ranging usefulness discovering and then describing a “virtual” documentation universe relating to record-generating human functions and activities.