Full Description
This book examines ways of conserving, managing, and interacting with plant and animal resources by Native American cultural groups of the Pacific Coast of North America, from Alaska to California. These practices helped them maintain and restore ecological balance for thousands of years. Building upon the authors' and others' previous works, the book brings in perspectives from ethnography and marine evolutionary ecology. The core of the book consists of Native American testimony: myths, tales, speeches, and other texts, which are treated from an ecological viewpoint. The focus on animals and in-depth research on stories, especially early recordings of texts, set this book apart. The book is divided into two parts, covering the Northwest Coast, and California. It then follows the division in lifestyle between groups dependent largely on fish and largely on seed crops. It discusses how the survival of these cultures functions in the contemporary world, as First Nations demand recognition and restoration of their ancestral rights and resource management practices.
Contents
- 1. Commons and Management. - 2. Looking to the Sea: Economics and Ecology in the Pacific Northwest. - 3. Looking to the Land: Terrestrial Ecology. - 4. Traditional Cultural Areas. - 5. Social and Cultural-Ecological Dynamics. - 6. Traditional Resource Management. - 7. White Settler Contact and Its Consequences. - 8. The Ideology Behind It All. - 9. Animism and Rationality: North vs "West". - 10. Respect and Its Corollaries. - 11. Teachings and Stories. - 12. The Visual Art. - 13. Conclusions. - 14. Appendix 1: Indigenous California. - 15. Appendix 2: Wider Connections. - 16. Appendix 3: The "Wasteful" Native Debunked.
