The subject of hunter-gatherer territoriality is still a matter of some debate in the anthropological literature. It has been asserted that territorial systems involving perimeter defence and exclusive use rights by fixed membership groups are rare among hunters and gatherers. It has also been suggested that there is an association between this form of land tenure and the evolution of complex society. Since the problem is a developmental one, archaeology, with its developmental and temporal perspective, should be able to contribute to an understanding of this phenomenon. Unfortunately, little attempt has been made to identify material correlates of territorial land use. This thesis seeks to facilitate the development of an archaeologically operational definition of hunter-gatherer territoriality. Toward this end a number of propositions are formulated which postulate relationships between territoriality and various classes of archaeologically observable data. In a comparative/contrastive format the propositions are then applied to data derived from two hunting and gathering societies, the Gitksan and Chilcotin peoples of British Columbia, the one highly territorial, the other with a flexible land use strategy of loosely defined borders and unrestricted access to resources. The study is ethnoarchaeological in that the data base against which the propositions are evaluated, is derived from ethnographic, archival, and archaeological sources. A number of kinds of material patterning related to Gitksan territoriality are identified. Whether the kinds of patterning identified here can be successfully recovered and interpreted in an archaeological context awaits the application of these findings to an archaeological data base. The degree to which the material expression of territorial land use identified in this study are typical of territorial hunters and gatherers in general, also needs to be demonstrated. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, August, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

The development of and changes in human social organization have been a concern of anthropological research since the inception of the discipline. A perspective that focuses on the interaction between exogenous (ecological and historical) variables and social organization is argued for herein. This study tests the idea that inheritance patterns reflect both land use and sociohistorical factors. Further, it is suggested that after their move into the American Southwest, the inheritance of agricultural land was influential in the development, although not necessarily the origins, of matrilineality among the Navajo. Data were obtained on land tenure practices in Canyon de Chelly and its major tributary, Canyon del Muerto, historically important centers of Navajo agriculture. Detailed interviews with 93% of the Navajo families owning land in the canyons provided information on land use and inheritance patterns since the 1880s. Data from over 400 cases of land transfers were analyzed. Historical documents and archaeological studies also provided information on Navajo settlement patterns, changes in farming practices and environmental fluctuations since the mid-1700s. Within the past fifty years, and probably longer, topographic and physiographic differences between Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto have contributed to variations in land use within the canyon system. Ditch irrigated feed crops are now only grown in Canyon del Muerto, and they are commonly used by families involved in market oriented cattle ranching. Further, as a result of erosion problems, the production potential of some canyon areas, as well as the quantity of arable land, is declining. Not all families are able to meet the increasing need for labor and capital intensive practices that could maximize agricultural production on their canyon land, but it remains a highly valued resource. This research indicates that since the 1880s agricultural land in Canyon de Chelly has been transferred more frequently along matrilineal lines, and the explanations for the differences in land tenure patterns between the canyons over time relate both to ecological and socio-historical variables. In conclusion, it is argued that the complexity found within this canyon system reflects a heterogeneity common to any culture, but which anthropologists tend to overlook.

This study addresses the question of the nature of indigenous people's connection to the land, and the implications of this for articulating these connections in legal arenas where questions of Aboriginal title and land claims are at issue. The idea of 'place' is developed, based in a phenomenology of dwelling which takes profound attachments to home places as shaping and being shaped by ontological orientation and social organization. In this theory of the 'senses of place', the author emphasizes the relationships between meaning and power experienced and embodied in place, and the social systems of property and territory that forms indigenous land tenure systems. To explore this theoretical notion of senses of place, the study develops a detailed ethnography of a Coast Salish Aboriginal community on southeast Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Through this ethnography of dwelling, the ways in which places become richly imbued with meanings and how they shape social organization and generate social action are examined. Narratives with Coast Salish community members, set in a broad context of discussing land claims, provide context for understanding senses of place imbued with ancestors, myth, spirit, power, language, history, property, territory and boundaries. The author concludes in arguing that by attending to a theorized understanding of highly local senses of place, nuanced conceptions of indigenous relationships to land which appreciate indigenous relations to land in their own terms can be articulated.

No description available.

The Stikine and Iskut Rivers in northwest British Columbia form one of the last pristine wilderness river systems in North America. B.C. Hydro and Power Authority has, as part of its longterm development strategy, plans to dam the rivers some time early in the next century. These plans are opposed by the Tahltan Indians for whom the Stikine-Iskut Basin is an ancestral home and by numerous environmental organizations. This thesis analyzes the interaction of these opposition groups in light of the general literature on the Indian land claims and environmental movements. This is accomplished in four chapters. The first chapter analyses Indian response to internal colonialism through both the maintenance of the native economy and the land claims movement and examines the history of the North American environmental movement in terms of reformist and deep environmentalism. The two movements are found to differ substantially over issues such as land use control and resource development. The second chapter traces Tahltan and environmentalist attachments to the Stikine, outlines B.C. Hydro's plans and describes how B.C. Hydro's planning activities would themselves generate controversy. The third chapter discusses and compares Tahltan and environmentalist opposition to B.C. Hydro's plans. The Tahltan opposition is expressed in two forms, both through the persistence of the Tahltan economy, the adherents to which are not represented in a fully funded formal organization and the more predominant Association of United Tahltans. The environmentalist opposition is falls mainly in the reformist stream of environmentalism. The predominant form of Tahltan opposition and the environmentalists are shown to have markedly different objectives. The thesis concludes that the case of the Stikine indicates that there are many obstacles to alliances between the formally defined land claims movement and environmentalists. The most prominent of these obstacles is federal comprehensive claims policy which encourages resource-extractive development by providing for resource royalties in claim settlements. However, the findings from the Stikine also indicate there are numerous points of common interest between Indians committed to the native economy and environmentalists. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

In this thesis I have set out to examine the historic change in the primary unit of Kwakiutl property tenure as it reflects the changing character of social relations between the members of this society. In order to follow this particular development the units of Kwakiutl social organization have been situated within the history of the period under scrutiny. This study commences with the speculative reconstruction of Kwakiutl social organization just prior to direct European contact. The namima is presented here as a property holding descent group with an inalienable attachment to an exclusive estate composed of specific territories, supernatural powers, and prerogatives. As a unit of economic production and consumption the namima was able to derive all of its material sustenance from this estate. The relations between individuals and the degree of access to the fruits of the harvest were organized according to the hierarchical order within each of these descent groups. The Kwakiutl became involved in the fur trade before the end of the 18th century as European entrepreneurs extended their trans-continental network. The wealth gleaned from this trade was integrated into the Kwakiutl economy to the enhancement of the existing social order. European settlement on the Northwest coast introduced the option of participation in the wage economy. This economy offered individual Kwakiutl men and women the experience of creating wealth outside of the traditional economic unit. Individuals began to seek status on the basis of their achievements. This change exemplified the new mode of relations. Individuals who had previously related as members of a descent group were now distinguished on the basis of their acquired wealth. While namima members of high birth maintained their title to traditional properties, these properties no longer, figured significantly in the native economy. In the 1880's the Department of Indian Affairs imposed units of property tenure upon the Kwakiutl without regard for the traditional native units. The populations identified within each administrative units were forced to recognize the imposed structure in order to represent their interests. In the years following 1830, then, the namima declined as the primary unit of Kwakiutl property tenure. The Kwakiutl redefined the units of social interaction as the character of social relations changed due to the introduction of new forms of wealth and land tenure. Today the namima is a specialized concept shared by a few Kwakiutl elders, anthropologists, and several Kwakiutl individuals involved in cultural revitalization. As the Kwakiutl acquire greater political and administrative independence in the near future it is certain that the namima will continue to be redefined. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Who uses the forage resources under a communal land tenure system? Using data from a Mexican Indian community with a history of communal land tenure extending prior to the Conquest, the research explores and attempts to answer this question. The analysis is based on 1970 socio-economic data for 533 households, secondary sources, and 1987 field observations in a community of Zapotec farmers in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. The factors influencing who uses the communal resources include livestock ownership, wealth ranking, migration history, and participation in the local labor market. Although all members of the community have the right to graze animals on the commons, only a fraction of the wealthier households exercise this right. Consequently grazing pressure is minimized (reduced) compared to the potential grazing pressure that otherwise would be exerted if all the members of the community were to exercise their rights to use the forage resources at the same time.

This study deals with the changing dynamics of land use systems in an aboriginal community of British Columbia, namely the Lil'wat Nation, by employing the concept of property as an analytical tool. The focus on the concept of property clarifies the role played by the authority and institutions as regulators and decision-making factors in land use management. The description of the relationship between property and various transitions in aboriginal life constitutes the main contribution of this research project. The methodology used in this descriptive study is a combination of the participantobserver method and archival data collection. Issues around authority are discussed in terms of the power relationship between Canada and the Lil'wat Nation. Several historical events explain the way in which political and economic imperatives have shaped the relationship between the Lil'wat Nation and Canada, as well as the internal power relationship within the aboriginal community. It is found that the rapid and important changes in the decision-making situation (i.e., context of institution change) have significantly affected the land use projects on reserve grounds. Those changes include: high rate of population growth, extension of a money economy through forestry and agricultural activities, and exercise of various outside interests on reserve lands. Also, it is found that a number of governmental initiatives created and perpetuated a state of dependency and dissension among the aboriginal community. Since land use practices cannot be viewed in isolation, this study emphasizes the importance of political reform and sharing of authority. Also, some strategies for Lil'wat's selfdetermination are identified and the urgency to develop community-based economic projects is stressed.