1. Objectifs

Intentions :
This «article examines the interaction of band and family levels of territorial organisation, with emphasis on the Crees of Eastern James Bay – today a federation of 11 communities in the regional territory of Eeyou Istchee, 10 of which fall within the provincial boundaries of Quebec […].» (p. 90)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Le corpus est composé de sources écrites datant des premiers contacts entre la communauté Cris et les européens (ex : Les Relations des Jésuites). L’auteur a également mobilisé des travaux ethnographiques du début du XXe siècle, des documents produits par la Cree Trappers’ Association, et fait appel à la littérature scientifique.

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

In this article, the author reviews «what is known about [Cree] territorial organisation from a historical trajectory beginning with earliest contact with Europeans and moving through a series of adaptations to the fur trade and more recent industrial resource extractive activities in Eeyou Istchee.» (p. 90) He shows that «the reproduction and continuity of Cree society relies in several respects on the family hunting territory system, an indispensable institution for the contemporary mixed economy, where hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering are major sources of high-quality, relatively low-cost food, nutrition and medicine. [Family territories are] the social matrix within which Cree knowledge of their environment endures – this knowledge can be transmitted only from generation to generation and adapts to changing circumstances through participation in the community of life on the land. Cree land users, and especially those charged with responsibility as family territory leaders, are the eyes and ears of the land, vital to conservation throughout a range of Aboriginal, historical and contemporary circumstances. In the culturalised landscape of the family territory, stories are connected to places, and Cree social history is to a significant extent configured in the experience of families on their territories.» (p. 102)