Before the roads, before the mines : Denesułiné memories, narratives, and the legacy of a northern hunting society / Robert Jarvenpa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jarvenpa, Robert, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chipewyan Indians--Social conditions.

Chipewyan Indians.

Chipewyan Indians--History.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 253 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2024]

Summary:

"In Before the Roads, Before the Mines: Denesułiné Memories, Narratives, and the Legacy of a Northern Hunting Society, ethnographer Robert Jarvenpa examines how the energy and extraction industries in Canada's subarctic north threatens destruction of traditional southern Denesułiné (also known as the Kesyehot'ine or "Popular House People") cultural practices, religion, land, and sovereignty near the Churchill River headwaters in northern Saskatchewan, Canada"-- Provided by publisher.

"Before the Roads, Before the Mines is a narrative-based ethnohistory of a Denesułiné community, also known as the Chipewyan, Kesyehot'ine, or Poplar House People. The discovery of high-grade uranium deposits in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, in the mid- to late 1970s ushered in an era of mining and roadbuilding that would largely replace the traditional livelihoods of these subarctic hunter-fishers with wage labor in mines, construction, and related industries. The advent of new communications technologies and consumer goods, and a road to the outside world, created ruptures in the social fabric of the community. Robert Jarvenpa highlights the historical experiences of middle-aged and older individuals who vividly recall a time before the roads and mines-when young and old alike spoke the Denesułiné language and when entire families lived in a seasonally nomadic fashion in the bush. They continually invoke the past in the problematic present, a ritualized form of communication integral to resisting or adapting to the erosive changes of a rapidly industrializing resource-extraction frontier. Jarvenpa showcases the spoken words of the Denesułinés as a means of documenting and interpreting their historical past in the face of contemporary peril as the subarctic permafrost recedes and multinational corporations eye Indigenous lands for their minerals. "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Black Rock, Thunder Beings, and Demons

1. In the Beginning

2. The Hunting Life or Coming of Age in the Bush

3. Hardship

4. Crees Among Us

5. The Dogs

6. Traders and the Trading Frontier

7. Out of the Inferno

8. The Bushman Cometh

9. Savage Storm

Conclusion: Bridging the Past and the Present.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781496239747

1496239741

OCLC:

1416745100