Resource Managers: North American And Australian Hunter-Gatherers

As environmental management becomes of increasing concern to both industrial and developing societies, it is instructive to look at the fundamental relationship between man and environment as exemplified by the hunter-gatherer cultures, in which resource management was and is vital to the very existence of human life. The authors of this book look at hunting and gathering societies in Australia and North America, searching for the essential, as distinct from local, manifestations of human-environment relations. They examine the availability of resources in relation to the requirements of stable and expanding human populations, explore the ontological and structural principles of ecological relations in these societies, and describe the rationale of geographic boundaries and control of access to resources within and across boundaries. A number of current theoretical issues are addressed: the use of fire as a tool for environmental management; the ecological consequences of seasonal mobility patterns; the functional basis for differing forms of control over resources; the social organization of production, including the symbolism of the sexual division of labor; the tactical exercise of jural rights in the use of resources; and the ecological consequences of religious beliefs. The book concludes with a summary of the case materials in terms of what they contribute to the understanding of hunting/gathering as an "economic" category and to the conflict over management of natural resources where societies of hunter-gatherers are encapsulated within industrial societies.

Table of Contents:
About the Series -- Introduction -- Mobility as a Factor Limiting Resource Use in the Columbia Plateau of North America -- Fire Technology and Resource Management in Aboriginal North America and Australia -- To Have and Have Not: The Ecology of Sharing Among Hunter-Gatherers -- The Control of Productive Resources on the Northwest Coast of North America -- Food-Named Groups Among Northern Paiute in North America's Great Basin: An Ecological Interpretation -- A Boundary Is to Cross: Observations on Yolngu Boundaries and Permission -- People with "Politicks": Management of Land and Personnel on Australia's Cape York Peninsula -- Always Ask: Resource Use and Land Ownership Among Pintupi Aborigines of the Australian Western Desert -- Production and Reproduction of Key Resources Among the Tiwi of North Australia -- A Conservation Ethic and Environment: The Koyukon of Alaska -- The Unity of Hunting-Gathering Societies: Reflections on Economic Forms and Resource Management

About the Author :
Nancy M. Williams, Eugene S. Hunn