Abstracts
Abstract
Some two decades ago, Asen Balikci (1989) and David Riches (1990) questioned whether research on Inuit, despite production of a voluminous literature, had made any contribution to theoretical issues in anthropology. On their heels, Burch (1994) asked very much the same about Hunter-Gatherer Studies. The thesis of the present paper is that research on Inuit economy has, in fact, contributed importantly to a rethinking of the shape and content of subsistence. Once described as encompassing the most basic economic activities, it is now understood as a cultural adaptation. This has import because few hunter-gatherer societies can be portrayed as they were at the time of the Man the Hunter symposium (Lee and DeVore 1968). Rather, today, hunter-gatherers, from the Arctic to Australia, experience near-constant contact with market economies and a reality in which money plays a critical part in their livelihoods. It is in this regard that research on Inuit, as noted by Sahlins (1999), has conceptually contributed both to Hunter-Gatherer Studies and to anthropology.
Résumé
Il y a deux décennies, Asen Balikci (1989) et David Riches (1990) se demandaient si la recherche sur les Inuit, en dépit de la production d’une abondante littérature, avait contribué aux débats théoriques en anthropologie. Burch (1994) leur emboîte le pas en questionnant plus largement la pertinence des études sur les chasseurs-cueilleurs. La thèse centrale de cet article est que la recherche sur l’économie inuit a, en fait, largement contribué à redéfinir ce qu’est la subsistance. Autrefois décrite comme regroupant les activités économiques les plus élémentaires, la subsistance est aujourd’hui comprise comme une adaptation culturelle. Cela a aussi mis en lumière le fait que peu de sociétés peuvent être décrites telle qu’elles l’étaient dans Man the Hunter (Lee et DeVore 1968). Au contraire, aujourd’hui les chasseurs-cueilleurs de l’Arctique à l’Australie sont en contact quasi-constant avec les économies de marché et avec une réalité où l’argent joue un rôle crucial dans leurs modes de vie. C’est à cet égard que la recherche sur les Inuit, comme l’a noté Sahlins (1999), a contribué conceptuellement à la fois aux études sur les chasseurs-cueilleurs et à l’anthropologie.
Appendices
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