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Author Friesen, T. Max, 1961-

Title When Worlds Collide : Hunter-Gatherer World-System Change in the Nineteenth-Century Canadian Arctic / T. Max Friesen
Published Tucson : University of Arizona Press, [2013]
©2013

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Description 1 online resource (xv, 260 pages) : illustrations, maps
Series The archaeology of colonialism in native North America
Archaeology of colonialism in native North America.
Contents Introduction -- The world-system approach to intersocietal interaction -- Hunter-gatherer world-systems -- Background to the case study : archaeology and ethnohistory of the Mackenzie Delta Region -- Changing Inuvialuit world-systems : expectations -- The Qikiqtaruk archaeology project : excavations on Herschel Island -- The Qikiqtaryungmiur world-system in the autonomous zone -- The Qikiqtaryungmiur world-system in the contact periphery -- The Qikiqtaryungmiur world-system in the marginal periphery -- Summary and discussion
Summary Interactions between societies are among the most powerful forces in human history. However, because they are difficult to reconstruct from archaeological data, they have often been overlooked and understudied by archaeologists. This is particularly true for hunter-gatherer societies, which are frequently seen as adapting to local conditions rather than developing in the context of large-scale networks. This book presents a model for discerning interaction networks based on the archaeological record, and then applies the model to long-term change in an Arctic society. The author has adapted and expanded world-system theory in order to develop a model that explains how hunter-gatherer interaction networks, or world-systems, are structured - and why they change. He has utilized this model to better understand the development of Inuvialuit society in the western Canadian Arctic over a 500-year span, from the pre-contact period to the early twentieth century. As the author combines local archaeological data with more extensive ethnographic and archaeological evidence from the surrounding region, a picture emerges of a dynamic Inuvialuit world-system characterized by bounded territories, trade, warfare, and other forms of interaction. This world-system gradually intensified as the impacts of Euroamerican colonial activities increased. This intensification, the author suggests, was based on pre-existing Inuvialuit social and economic structures rather than on patterns imposed from outside. Ultimately, this intense interacting network collapsed near the end of the nineteenth century. This book offers a new way to comprehend small-scale world-systems from the point of view of Indigenous people. Its approach will prove valuable for understanding hunter-gatherer societies around the globe. -- Publisher's website
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-242) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Inuvialuit -- History -- 19th century
Inuvialuit -- Hunting
Inuvialuit -- Colonization
Ethnohistory -- Yukon -- Herschel Island
Hunting and gathering societies -- Yukon -- Herschel Island
Acculturation -- Yukon -- Herschel Island
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Acculturation
Ethnohistory
Hunting and gathering societies
Inuvialuit
Manners and customs
SUBJECT Herschel Island (Yukon) -- History -- 19th century
Herschel Island (Yukon) -- Social life and customs
Subject Yukon -- Herschel Island
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2012034299
ISBN 0816599939
9780816599936