Documents found
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3361.More information
This paper describes and analyses the introduction of reindeer herding in Amadjuak, on Baffin Island, in 1921. The operation involved several Saami families and Inuit, hired at the last moment to help the Saami and take over reindeer herding. But the operation resulted in a failure and all the reindeer died, many of them eaten by wolves and dogs. Using archival sources – and more particularly the journal of the Hudson's Bay Company agent – as well as oral sources, the authors evoke the reasons explaining this dramatic experience. They emphasize the difficulty of transforming hunters into herders, these two activities being connected with quite different perspectives of the relationships between human beings and animals. Finally they stress the fact that among Inuit, the caribou is often associated with the deceased and with spirits (ijirait), a connection that is never made with respect to the reindeer imported by the qallunaat.
Keywords: Inuits, Saamis, élevage du renne, caribou, Amadjuak, Inuit, Saami, reindeer herding, caribou, Amadjuak, Inuit, Saami, cría de renos, caribú, Amadjuak
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3362.More information
The water sciences are now entering a process of accelerated development. Numerous factors can explain this rapid evolution : a) the important investments in measuring systems that now allowed the characterization of water properties, b) the considerable expansion of mathematical and systemic approaches to the interpretation of data, c) the recent progress in interface tolls for computer modeling and the subsequent diversification of simulation models and the remarkable development in water chemistry, biology and toxicology that followed, have all largely contributed to the actual broadening of the theoretical and applied knowledge base on water. Furthermore, the scientific and technical efforts unfolded in order to explain social problems related to water shortages and to find sustainable solutions have also contributed to the diversification and deepening of this wide knowledge base. In this article, taking into consideration the deepening and diversification of the related knowledge base, we question ourselves on the evolution of water sciences in the future. We first underlined the socioeconomic problems that can be solved either by the application of actual knowledge, its refinement by learning from applications, or by the development of new technical ability for the interpretation of hydrological phenomena. We then distinguished between the activities undertake to solve scientific problems justified by long term social benefits (the science push) from those that aim to find solutions to important socioeconomic problems (the social needs for scientific knowledge). We then look at the different factors that help the achievement of research enterprises and explain the effect of those factors on the orientation of scientific projects. Doing this, we formulate the hypothesis that it is the search for solutions of socioeconomic problems that, on the basis of actual scientific ability, that will be the prime factor for the evolution of water sciences in the future, its dynamic and orientation. Finally, we propose a general approach that can help the understanding of the evolution of water sciences. This model represent the dynamic of scientific initiatives as affected by two attracting poles : the first pole is related to the needs for scientific knowledge for water management problems (i.e. the rational and engineering approach to water problems), and the second being the needs for the specific knowledge required for public administration of water (i.e. the policy and political approach to water problems).In general, we may conclude that the water sciences can be conceived as the scientific constructs generated by the application of particular scientific basic knowledge to water and its relations with natural and human systems. Those scientific constructs on water and its systemic interactions with terrestrial and human systems develop from this process are not as well structured as the sub-domains that emerge under traditional domains like biophysics, biochemistry, basic hydrology, political economy, or so. They are coherent sets of inter-disciplinary constructs elaborated to explain or predict complex natural processes or systems of relations between human and nature, mostly in response to real or perceived social needs. Is this to say that the scientific works on water will not succeed in the establishment of well-structured scientific subdomains like hydrology for example ? In spite of the evident progress, natural water and its relation with nature and human systems will remain for a long time applications domains of the fundamental knowledge that have been developed in the basic or applied sciences. Those applications will certainly produced new theories or original basic knowledge with high explicative or predictive values. In this manner, the object of the applications (water) and its context (natural and human systems) are the prime determinant of knowledge development, while in comparison, in basic sciences, it is the knowledge per se and its related instrumental capacities that mostly determine its own evolution. The development rhythm of technical and scientific knowledge on water is strongly influenced by the attention that society brings upon the resource. In the future, social preoccupations about water should increase considerably in light of its growing scarcity and the collective obligations to cope with higher probabilities of related extreme events. The type of knowledge that should developed will depend upon the specific approaches to social problem solving retained by political and administrative authorities, while in turn, those approaches will be influenced by research and development done in the field of management and public administration of water.
Keywords: Sciences de l'eau, futur, prospective, hydrologie, biologie, chimie, sociologie, économie, géographie, gestion, administration publique, discipline, connaissance, Hydrology, water sciences, future, prospective, hydrochemistry, hydrobiology, economy, sociology, management sciences, public administration, research needs, knowledge
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3363.More information
AbstractContemporary research in geography in Quebec appears to be divided between social and cultural geography. A similar tendency has been observed in France by Christine Chivallon. In each nation there is, however, a tendency towards reconciling the two per-spectives. Many social geographers deal with questions of representation and identity, and cultural geographers do not hesitate to refer to the social in their study of place. In Quebec, especially, both geographies show a similar interest in the spatial encounter of populations with unequal access to power, within a framework concerned with the issue of the nation. A comparative analysis of recent work conducted by two young geographers interested in the relationships of the social and the cultural, one French, the other from Quebec, shows how their trajectories meet, despite differences due to the particular context in which their knowledge is produced. This convergence reminds us of the evolution which led to the emergence of the new cultural geography in English-speaking countries in the 1980s. Would French-speaking geog-raphers from France and Quebec be in the process of creating a new social geography on both sides of the Atlantic?
Keywords: Géographie sociale, géographie culturelle, France, Québec, territoire, nation, savoir géographique, nouvelle géographie sociale de langue française, Social geography, cultural geography, France, Quebec, place, nation, geographical knowledge, new French-speaking social geography
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3364.More information
This article suggests some ways to revisit the intellectual contribution of a pillar of American political sociology. Already critical early in his career to Parsonian functionalism, then dominating American sociology, Charles Tilly (1929-2008) devoted his active life to the elaboration of an intrinsically historical political sociology, aware of the complexity of its object. We consider this sociology from three angles: we recall the critics that it faced since the 1970s, we present an outline of most of its empirical applications, and we evaluate its ontological foundations.
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3365.More information
Historians contribute to the collective memory but, because of their use of methodical investigations, their input is different from other contributors. Although they may be engaged citizens, historians must maintain a necessary distance. This is difficult to do in Francophone minority communities. Being marginalised in various ways, the latter are constantly seeking justice and recognition. In their struggles, Francophone minority leaders refer constantly to the community's deep roots in their location and to their heroic struggles. They believe or want to believe that there was always unanimity within the “community”.This article's goal is to understand the relationship between memory and history in Francophone minority settings. To achieve this, the author relies on the work of foreign and Canadian historians who have studied the question and provides recent examples. Partly analytical, the article is also a testimony based on the author's own experiences in French Ontario.
Keywords: mémoire, histoire, francophonie, minorités, équilibre, memory, history, francophone, French, minorities, equilibrium
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3366.More information
For several years now, the business environment has been undergoing major changes that amplify uncertainty. This implies that strategic decisions are made without any assurance that the expected results will be achieved. This uncertainty gives rise to many risks, including the risk of making bad decisions that could disrupt the company's activities and compromise its survival. To reduce these consequences, risk management is increasingly becoming a strategic capability to be deployed. However, we note that few SMEs are actively engaged in this process, even though it can have beneficial effects on their performance. Our study aims to shed light on this observation by examining the factors that encourage active risk management in SMEs and the consequences for their overall performance. The results of a survey conducted among 500 Quebec manufacturing SMEs show that the mobilization of active risk management practices strengthens their overall performance. This mobilization is influenced by organizational capabilities and entrepreneurial orientation. So, to maintain their performance in the long term, SME managers are called upon to strengthen risk management practices by relying on their organizational capabilities and by being proactive, innovative and risk-takers.
Keywords: Incertitude, Gestion des risques, Performance, PME manufacturières, Uncertainty, Risk Management, Performance, Manufacturing SMEs, Incertidumbre, Gestión de riesgos, Desempeño, PyME manufactureras
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3367.More information
Food sovereignty scholars are increasingly re-conceptualizing sovereignty by accounting for its diverse expressions across space according to specific histories, identities, and local socio-ecological realities and dynamics. In grappling with the multiple bases of sovereignty, attention has been directed toward Indigenous food sovereignty in North America. Specifically, food scholars are examining how the regeneration of Indigenous food harvesting and sharing practices shapes movements for decolonization and self-determination. While this is a crucial and much-welcomed intervention, much more is needed to understand the diverse Indigenous political and legal orders and authorities that shape how multiple Indigenous food sovereignties are lived every day across diverse landscapes. In this contribution, I examine how Anishinaabe people in and beyond the Treaty 3 territory in Ontario, Canada, protect and renew their food harvesting grounds, waters and foodways through everyday acts of resurgence that are rooted in their law of mino bimaadiziwin.
Keywords: souveraineté alimentaire des Autochtones, autodétermination des Autochtones, décolonisation, résurgence, capitalisme colonial, nation anishinaabe, Indigenous food sovereignty, Indigenous self-determination, decolonization, resurgence, colonial capitalism, Anishinaabe nation
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3368.More information
In a multi-criteria approach to risk in SMEs, the health of the entrepreneur is rarely discussed. Literature remains particularly battered on psychosocial risk factors inherent to non-subordinate workers, the main explanatory models based on remaining employees only. The purpose of this article is to propose a first exploration of stressors on the activity of SME manager. To do this, a joint survey was conducted among French SME managers (n = 357). A longitudinal phase categorized semantically their professional events perceived as more negative. A cross phase was then evaluated the stress intensity associated with events experienced during the longitudinal phase and their probability of occurrence. Finally a hierarchical classification was performed. The result of this study is a typology of the 30 stressors SME manager, which is divided into four main classes. The methodological rigor of this inventory of stressors makes it useful for future confirmatory research. It also provides a scale of measurement of the main risk factors for mental health.
Keywords: Dirigeant de PME, Risques psychosociaux, Stresseurs, Santé au travail, Business-owner of SMEs, Psychosocial risks, Stressors, Occupational health, Los gerentes de las PyME, Riesgos psicosociales, Factores de estrés, Salud en el trabajo
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3369.More information
Taking as case study the city of Ibadan, in south-west Nigeria, at the end of the colonial period (1947-1957), the author focuses on the analysis of women's collective mobilizations. They represent a privileged point of view to study the kind of organisation Nigerian women gave themselves in order to negotiate greater independence in both the socio-economic and political spheres. The author draws attention more specifically to the complexity of these negotiations when they involved calling into question the gender attributions of that period, namely the concept of femininity, based on the social role of housewives, mothers and wives. The study of women's strategies and speeches shows the fields where they were able to overcome difficulties and acquire the desired visibility and the fields where they had to bend to social rules still too deeply rooted to be overthrown.
Keywords: mobilisations féminines, organisations féminines, mouvements collectifs, Nigéria (Afrique), éducation, politique
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3370.More information
AbstractThe social and cultural changes during the last decades have strongly shaken the notion of modernity. It is in this context that the concept of multiple modernities was developed to describe the contemporary situation. Should this notion, like globalization, be put to the test ? In order to re-evaluate the concept of multiple modernities this article is drawn from themes described in length by its author over the past years : first, the place occupied by Nation-States and Revolutionary-States in the contemporary world and the social, classic and new movements (related to religious fundamentalism and to post-modern, post-materialist and multi-cultural movements) while looking closely at their inter-actions in particular in the second half of the XXth century. The conclusion from this analysis is obvious : no matter how different they may be, the movements that characterize the world of the present assimilate, over their criticism of classic modernity — and of the Western World —, the actual themes of this modernity. In their own terms they adopt fundamental truths and themes to be found in the discourse of modernity and take part in the emergence of new manifestations of this discourse.