Hunters in the Barrens - by Georg Henriksen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This comprehensive study of the Naskapi Indians of Labrador is based on an anthropologist's life with them between 1966 and 1968, when families still followed the traditional pattern of hunting on the barrens during the winter and returning to their costal settlements in the summer. Now the Naskapi live in coastal settlements; no longer in possession of their own culture, they have become sedentaries under white tutelage. This description of two antithetical worlds provides valuable insights for anyone interested in contemporary native rights issues.

Review Quotes

"Valuable as an example of the anthropology of development and modernization prevalent in northern Canada at the time, the book transcends this genre in the acuity of its ethnographic analysis and beautifully captures a moment - Henriksen began fieldwork in 1966 - when Mushuau Innu were making the transition to permanent communities... This book is important for Algonquian and circumpolar specialists, as well as for students wishing to understand dynamics of hunting societies in modernity. It has also become significant as a historical record both of the Innu people and of anthropology in northern Canada." - Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute