Prof. Colin H. Scott

Tel: (514) 398-4291
E-Mail: cscott1@po-box.mcgill.ca

Research Interests:

One of my major research interests has been the way that social metaphors of respect, reciprocity and communication among hunting peoples serve as paradigms for environmental knowledge. How do indigenous cosmologies shape and conjoin the ethical and instrumental aspects of action in hunting and resource management, and how are they reciprocally shaped by this experience? Equally, I have been interested in the politics of this knowledge, and of the tenure and resource management arrangements that flow from it, as central governments and metropolitan developers make claims against indigenous peoples ownership and jurisdiction over their lands, seas, and resources.

I have pursued these interests among coastal James Bay Cree of northern Quebec for more than twenty years, and more recently among Torres Strait Islanders in northern Queensland. My research in both areas is being developed in contexts of ongoing indigenous claims. Hence, I am also grappling with the role and potential of ethnological notions of cultural identity, continuity, tradition and change as they bear on the discursive restructuring of these contexts. I am involved in broadly comparative and collaborative investigation of these issues as Director of the AGREE (Aboriginal Government, Resources, Economy and Environment) research program, a multi-disciplinary, inter-university initiative headquartered at McGill.

Selected Papers:

"Property, Practice and Aboriginal Rights among Quebec Cree Hunters," in James Woodburn, Tim Ingold and David Riches, eds., Hunters and Gatherers -- Property, Power and Ideology, Vol. 2, London, Berg Publishers Ltd., pp. 35-51, 1988.

"Ideology of Reciprocity between the James Bay Cree and the Whiteman State," in Peter Skalnik, ed., Outwitting the State, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Transaction Publishers, pp. 81-108, 1989.

"La rencontre avec les Blancs d'après les récits historiques et mythiques des Cris de la Baie James," Récits autochtones de l'arrivée des Européens. Recherches Amérindiennes au Québec 22(2-3):47-62, 1992.

"Political Spoils or Political Largesse? Regional Development in Northern Quebec, Canada and Australia's Northern Territory," Canberra, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research/Australian National University, 1992.

"Custom, Tradition and the Politics of Culture in Aboriginal Self-Government," in Noel Dyck and James Waldrum, eds., Anthropology, Public Policy and Native Peoples in Canada, Montreal, McGill-Queen's University Press, pp. 311-333, 1993.

"Science for the West, Myth for the Rest? The Case of James Bay Cree Knowledge Construction," in Laura Nader, ed. Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiries into Boundaries, Power and Knowledge, London, Routledge, pp. 69-86, 1996.

(with Monica Mulrennan) "Land and Sea Tenure at Erub, Torres Strait: Property, Sovereignty and the Adjudication of Cultural Continuity," Oceania 70(1999):146-176.

(with Monica Mulrennan) "Mare Nullius: Indigenous Rights in Saltwater Environments," Development and Change, 31(2000):681-708.

Selected Consultancy Reports:

(with Peter Hutchins, Cristina Scattolin, and Richard Cuciurean) Aboriginal Custom and Tradition within the Context of Canadian Constitutional Principles and Government Practice, Ottawa, Self-Government Sector, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1988.

(with James Morrison) The Quebec Cree Claim in the Hannah Bay/Harricanaw River Drainage in Ontario: Report of the Ontario Claim Research Project, Nemaska, Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec, 1993.

Great Whale Environmental Assessment Community Consultation: Final Report for Wemindji and Eastmain, 2 vols., Nemaska, Grand Council of the Crees (of Québec)/Cree Regional Authority, 1994.

Anthropological Report on Native Title Claims Pertaining to Erub (Darnley Island) and its Surrounding Cays and Islets - Edgor (Nepean), Ob (Tobin Cay), Merad (Underdown Islet), Maizab Kaur (Bramble Cay) and Rebes (Black Rocks), Native Title Office, Torres Strait Regional Authority, Thursday Island, Queensland, 2001.

Native Title in Torres Strait Seas: Anthropological Report for Erub, Native Title Office, Torres Strait Regional Authority, Thursday Island, Queensland, 2002.

Native Title in Torres Strait Seas: Anthropological Report for Mer, Native Title Office, Torres Strait Regional Authority, Thursday Island, Queensland, 2002.

Books:

Aboriginal Autonomy and Development in Northern Quebec and Labrador, Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 2001.

(with Harvey Feit) The Income Security Program for Cree Hunters: Ecological, Social and Economic Effects, Montreal, Programme in the Anthropology of Development, 1992.

Same Flesh, Same Spirit: Visions of Reciprocity in Wemindji Cree Hunting, monograph in progress.

© 2001, Anthropology Department, McGill University
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/anthro/
Last update : October 6, 2003