<p> This study documents and theorizes the processes behind the coalescence of ancestral Huron-Wendat populations on the north shore of Lake Ontario. A multiscalar analytical approach is employed to examine settlement aggregation at the regional, local and community levels. The study draws upon cross-cultural models of coalescent societies and the archaeology of communities while being theoretically situated within an historical-processual approach. </p> <p> The settlement data presented demonstrate that during the fifteenth century AD, small, previously distinct communities came together into large village aggregates. Through an examination of settlement relocation sequences and the occupational histories of individual villages, the transformations in social and political organization that accompanied this process are examined. Differences between site sequences suggest that while it is possible to identify similar processes in coalescence, the actual experience of coming together varied at the local level due to particular historical contingencies. </p> <p> A major contribution of the study is a detailed analysis of one village relocation sequence involving the aggregation of several small village communities at the Draper site, during the late fifteenth century. In the early sixteenth century, this coalescent community relocated to establish the Mantle site, the largest Iroquoian village excavated to date in the Lower Great Lakes. A detailed analysis of the occupational history of the Mantle site is presented here. The results point to the increasing integration of the community over time. A comparison of the built environments and other features of the Draper and Mantle sites elucidate practices that directly address the lived experience of coalescence. These community-level processes are ultimately situated in, and form the basis for, the broader sociopolitical realignments that characterized the Late Precontact Lower Great Lakes. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: Coalescence is a distinctive process of village aggregation that creates larger, socially cohesive communities from smaller, scattered villages. This dissertation asks: how do individual and collective social relationships change throughout the process of coalescence, and how might these relationships contribute to the social cohesiveness of a coalescent community? Coalescent communities share characteristics that reveal the relationship between collective action and collective identities in their social dynamics. Collective identity is a shared sense of oneness among members of a group. It can be understood as the product of two processes: categorical and relational identification. Categorical identification is a shared association with a specific category, such as an ethnic group or a religious association. Relational identification is the product of direct, interpersonal interaction. The potential for a group to engage in collective action is linked to the intensity (prominence as compared to other aspects of identity) and scale (social unit and size of group) of categorical and relational identification. Patterns in the intensity and scale of categorical and relational identification are used to trace changing social dynamics through the process of community coalescence. The case study is a sequence of four sites that were successively occupied by the same Ancestral Wendat (Iroquoian) community over a period of 150 years in south-central Ontario. The intensity of categorical identification is assessed by measuring the consistency of decorative styles among pottery vessels. The intensity of relational identification is assessed by measuring production variability among ceramic pots and pipes using microscopic characterization. The analyses reveal a correlation between the intensity and scale of categorical and relational identification and village-scale social cohesion and collective action. Village-scale categorical identification was less intensive during the period of initial aggregation, with a subsequent increase in intensity observed at fully coalesced sites where evidence of social cohesion and village-scale collective action is present. As coalescence progressed, the intensity of relational identification at the village scale decreased. This evidence suggests that changing dynamics of categorical and relational ties among community members were intertwined with the development of social cohesion and the increased potential for village-scale collective action at the culmination of coalescence. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2018

Ce mémoire de maîtrise propose une réflexion sur les choix et mesures pris en termes de représentation et d'interaction dans les musées ethnographiques à partir d’une étude de cas, le Musée Huron-Wendat à Wendake, au Québec. L'objectif est d'analyser et comprendre ces pratiques muséologiques destinées à exprimer une identité autochtone locale. L’étude souhaite également démontrer comment les publics s’identifient et interagissent avec les discours culturels et politiques spécifiques du musée. Une attention particulière est accordée à l'étude du changement de paradigme muséal d'un espace d'autorité à un lieu inclusif. La mission des professionnels du musée concernant le concept de représentation sera analysée, ainsi que leur travail sur les notions d'accessibilité et de participation avec et pour le public. En se basant sur l'étude de terrain et la littérature scientifique, ce mémoire s'engage à questionner les notions prédominantes d'identité, de continuité et d'unité, dans le contexte de la nouvelle muséologie et du postcolonialisme. / This master thesis is an analysis of the current specific actions on representation and interaction taken in contemporary ethnographic museums. The aim is to highlight museology pathways used to represent local Indigenous culture and to explore how the public is involved with and relates to these specific discourses on heritage. Special attention will be devoted to the study of the shift of museums from authoritative places of education to socially inclusive spaces. The mission of heritage professionals in terms of representation will be analysed, as well as their work on the notions of accessibility and involvement for and with the public. The Huron-Wendat Museum in Wendake, Québec, serves to investigate these museum practices. Drawing from thorough fieldwork and extensive secondary literature, this master thesis will further probe the prevailing notions of identity, continuity and unity of the new museology in a postcolonial context.

Cette recherche vise à offrir un portrait de la pratique de l’aménagement urbain d’une communauté autochtone, Wendake, selon un cadre d’analyse tenant compte du contexte colonial dans lequel elle a évolué et évolue toujours. L’imposition de la juridiction de la Couronne fédérale sur les terres indiennes et les politiques subséquentes de la Loi sur les Indiens font partie d’un cadre politique colonialiste de peuplement qui est toujours bien en place, tel que démontré par le pouvoir limité de gestion sur la planification urbaine de leurs communautés qu’exercent les conseils de bande en vertu de la Loi sur les Indiens, ainsi que par les règles du ministère des Affaires autochtones et du Développement du Nord du Canada, qui posent de sévères contraintes à toute volonté de développement ou d’amélioration. / This research describes specific urban planning practices in the aboriginal community of Wendake, while acknowledging the colonial context in which they were created and are still exercised. It argues that the imposition of Crown jurisdiction on Indian land and the subsequent Indian Act policies are part of a settler colonialist framework that is still largely at play, as demonstrated by the limited management power that band councils do have over their communities’ urban planning according to the Indian Act, and by the rules set out by the Canadian Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, which pose severe constraints on any development or improvement measures.