Article

The Social Aspect of Huron Property1

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Abstract

OWNERSHIP patterns found among the cultures of the world have interested anthropologists almost as long as there has been a science of that name. However, most students have confined their attention to certain traditional questions, particularly the size and composition of the group in physical possession of land, capital goods, and items of personal use. This is not an adequate conception of the problem since not only the form of ownership patterns, but their interrelationships with other aspects of the culture, have been found to vary markedly between different societies. A full understanding of the institution of property therefore requires an investigation of the social setting in which it functions, or what Hallowell has called the "social aspect of property" (Hallowell 1955:238). The ownership rights of individuals or groups can be encompassed within the socially recognized power to acquire, use, dispose of, or destroy property. In no known instance is an owner given completely free rein in the exercise of these rights. There are usually numerous customs, not all directly related to legal ownership, which limit and direct the owner's behavior and determine his attitudes with respect to property. In other words, ownership in the social sense can best be understood as a more or less interrelated collection of culturally prescribed rights, duties, and beliefs concerning property.2 A systematic review of the material on the seventeenth-century Huron acquisition, use, and disposal of food and certain of the goods circulating in the fur trade (particularly wampum, furs, and small items of French manufacture) reveals an integration of these activities with aspects of culture not generally discussed in connection with property relationships in the anthropological literature. The resulting analysis is presented below to illustrate by a concrete example the manner in which such interrelationships may operate, and to suggest their broader applications in the study of property rights. Following an introductory discussion of Huron trade, the material is organized by the types of occasion on which substantial transfers of ownership took place-informal gift-giving, formal presentations, curing and burial ceremonies, theft, and gambling. In addition, two factors motivating the disposition of property, the sense of communal responsibility and the importance of generous gift-giving in determining social status and power, are discussed separately. HURON TRADE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

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... The principle subsistence, horticulture, allowed for larger, economically self-sufficient, agricultural settlements (Heidenreich 1978). Men hunted, fished, cleared new land, built lodges, left on trading and war expeditions, were responsible for safety and order, and created links with the outside world (Herman 1956;Champlain 1929;Heidenreich 1978;Anderson 1985;Trigger 1987). Women provided almost all the horticultural labor including, planting, hoeing, harvesting, pulling weeds, and chasing away pests (Herman 1956;Heidenreich 1978;Anderson 1985). ...
... Men hunted, fished, cleared new land, built lodges, left on trading and war expeditions, were responsible for safety and order, and created links with the outside world (Herman 1956;Champlain 1929;Heidenreich 1978;Anderson 1985;Trigger 1987). Women provided almost all the horticultural labor including, planting, hoeing, harvesting, pulling weeds, and chasing away pests (Herman 1956;Heidenreich 1978;Anderson 1985). They also gathered all the firewood and performed domestic work; such as, child care, making household goods (clothing, pottery, thread, fishing-nets), and preparing food (Champlain 1929;Heidenreich 1978;Anderson 1985). ...
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Current population health research has demonstrated that social and physical environmental factors impact people with health issues. This should also apply to earlier populations where the human condition was not entirely dissimilar to today. Examining a disease state in archaeological populations without the benefit of contextual information limits our understanding to biological expression; however, individuals are more than biological entities. People are biopsychosocial composites that are born, shaped, and embedded in social and physical environments. To understand impairment and disability consequences of skeletal manifestations of disease, bioarchaeological researchers must embrace this holistic view and not limit examinations to a restrictive biological lens that views every geographical and cultural group of varying circumstance equally. Using knee osteoarthritis as an example, this paper explores how population health constructs can identify barriers that can lead to disability. This exercise highlights the challenges of moving from knee osteoarthritis identification, through impairment assessment, to the conclusion of disability. With this approach, broadened frameworks to investigate not only impairment potential but also disability potential in archaeological populations are presented.
... Gambling as a means of healing illness was also practised by the Huron (Culin, 1907, pp. 107-111;Herman, 1956Herman, , pp. 1051Herman, -1053Trigger, 1990) and the Iroquois (Beauchamp, 1896;Salter, 1973). An early report from the Huron in the 18th century, cited by Culin (1907, pp. ...
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This paper discusses the diverse relationships between gambling and religion in various societies and at various times in history and suggests a theoretical model for how these relationships can be understood. It is argued that gambling and religion have certain elements in common: notions of the unknown, mystery, and fate, as well as imagery of suddenly receiving something of great value that changes life for the better. In many traditional cultures gambling has existed in concord with polytheistic and animistic religion; gambling and religion go well together precisely because of the elements they have in common. Monotheistic religions that claim authority in religious and transcendental matters, however, tend to denounce gambling, and this disapproval has been strengthened by a conception that gambling offers a wicked alternative to certain religious notions and experiences. The elements that gambling and religion share have thus become a source of conflict.
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Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing together research by an international and methodologically diverse team of scholars, it analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality. The volume illustrates how elites used exotic prestige goods to enhance and maintain their elevated social positions in society. Global in scope, it offers case studies of early societies and sites in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Mesoamerica. Deploying a range of inter-disciplinary and cutting-edge theoretical approaches from a cross-cultural framework, the volume offers new insights and enhances our understanding of socio-political evolution. It will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, conflict theorists, and ethnohistorians, as well as economists seeking to understand the nexus between imported luxury items and cultural evolution.
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Trade before Civilization explores the role that long-distance exchange played in the establishment and/or maintenance of social complexity, and its role in the transformation of societies from egalitarian to non-egalitarian. Bringing together research by an international and methodologically diverse team of scholars, it analyses the relationship between long-distance trade and the rise of inequality. The volume illustrates how elites used exotic prestige goods to enhance and maintain their elevated social positions in society. Global in scope, it offers case studies of early societies and sites in Europe, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Mesoamerica. Deploying a range of inter-disciplinary and cutting-edge theoretical approaches from a cross-cultural framework, the volume offers new insights and enhances our understanding of socio-political evolution. It will appeal to archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, conflict theorists, and ethnohistorians, as well as economists seeking to understand the nexus between imported luxury items and cultural evolution.
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