The Lynx Point People : The Dynamics of a Northern Athapaskan Band (Athabascan, Dene, Dehcho, Slavey, Jean Marie River)

208 Pages·1961·12.464 MB·English

by  June Helm

NUNC COCNOSCO EX PARTE
THOMAS). BATA LIBRARY
TRENT UNIVERSITY

CANADA
DEPARTMENT OF NORTHERN AFFAIRS AND NATIONAL RESOURCES
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA
Bulletin No. 176
Anthropological Series No. 53
THE LYNX POINT PEOPLE: THE DYNAMICS
OF A NORTHERN ATHAPASKAN BAND
BY
June Helm
Issued under the authority of
The Hon. Walter Dinsdale, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources
Ottawa 1961
Price: $3.00
92504-0—1J
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(l.l'b no. /76
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Cat. No. R93-176
ROGER DUHAMEL, F.R.S.C.
QUEEN’S PRINTER AND CONTROLLER OF STATIONERY
OTTAWA, 1961
11
CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE. v
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter I
THE REGION 7
Chapter II
THE ECOLOGY AND ECONOMICS OF LYNX POINT 14
The household. 14
Daily routine. 14
Women’s household activities. 15
The seasons. 16
Introduction. 16
Late spring and summer. 17
Autumn.
Winter and early spring
The security quest.
Mode and standard of living
Economic problems
Summary.
Chapter III
THE WORLD OF LYNX POINT 44
The community. 44
The history of the community.. 45
The community today. 48
Kinship. 55
Kinship terminology 55
66
Marriage and residence patterns.
The use of kinship terms, teknonymy, and the extent of acknowledgment of
68
kin connections.
Behavioural expectations in kinship 70
The nuclear family and the household 72
72
Marriage.
Property and inheritance 73
Relations within the nuclear family 74
Socio-economic relations within the community 79
Socio-economic relations between individuals of different nuclear families. .. 80
Economic relations between the individual and the communal body 84
86
Interpersonal relations
86
Behavioural norms in social interaction
92
Sociable relations and recreation
97
The New Year Celebration
107
Social control.
114
Relations with the supernatural
114
The church.
117
Aboriginal survivals
121
Review: The worlds of Lynx Point
iii
Chapter IV
Page
THE LYNX POINT VENTURE 125
Introduction 125
History of events 125
Review of events and activities. . 137
New or altered socio-economic relations.. 140
The uniqueness of the Venture. 140
Ranking and interpersonal relations. 142
The Lynx Point Venture in action. 147
Activities involving group co-ordination 147
Summation of special roles and behaviour 160
Innovation and decision 163
The etiology of the Lynx Point Venture. 165
Introduction. 165
The traditional cultural base 166
Immediate impetuses. 177
The personal equation ■ 178
Summation. 190
BIBLIOGRAPHY 191
Tables
Table 1. Big game taken in a nine-month period. 33
2. Generalized schedule of fur price fluctuations. 40
3. Estimate of an average catch and income from furs. 41
4. Lynx Point slave kinship terminology. 58-60
5. The kinship statuses of partners at Lynx Point. 80
6. Major capital goods of the Lynx Point Venture. 138
Illustrations
Figure 1. Map of the Mackenzie River region, Canada. 6
2. Schematic map of Lynx Point. 46
3. Kinship relations at Lynx Point 50
4. Spatial arrangement of households. 51
5. Households and their kin composition. 53
6. Bifurcate merging terminology in ego’s and parent’s generations.. 65
7. Affinal relative terminology. 65
8. Ranking and interpersonal relations among the men of Lynx Point. 143
iv
PREFACE
This study was made possible by Grants-in-Aid from the Indian
Research Committee of the Canadian Social Science Research Council and
from the Council proper. I should like to take this opportunity to express
my appreciation of this aid—to the Council; to the members of the Indian
Research Committee; and to Dr. T. F. Mcllwraith, Chairman of the Com¬
mittee, who was most helpful and encouraging throughout the project. The
National Museum of Canada was generous in its contribution of vital field
equipment. I am most grateful to Dr. F. J. Alcock, then Chief Curator of the
National Museum, and to Dr. Douglas Leechman and Mr. Marcel Rioux,
then of the Division of Anthropology, for their aid and interest in the project.
Special mention must be accorded R. S. MacNeish, archaeologist at the
National Museum, who first gained entry into the community studied and
who made manifold contributions to the success of the project. Teresa
Carterette, co-worker in the field, pursued the work alone through the winter
of 1951-52 at some personal and financial sacrifice. My comprehension of
Lynx Point life has benefited greatly from our many discussions in which
the insights and understandings of Teresa Carterette emerged. My profit from
the field association with her is equalled only by the pleasure.
More than he ever knew, personal contacts with the late Professor
Robert Redfield of the University of Chicago, and the example of his
illuminating intellect, disciplined and humane, have been a deep source of
guidance and encouragement in this, as in all my work.
So many residents of Fort Simpson were so unfailingly kind and helpful
to us that I cannot name them or their acts individually. But our gratitude
for the warm rooms and well-cooked meals that were so graciously offered
us during our visits to Fort Simpson will remain.
Finally, it is with deepest gratitude and affection that I name the major
contributors to the success of the field work—The Lynx Point Dene, who
overcame their anxiety and timidity of us as mola to proffer help and, I
think, friendship to us as human beings.
v
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