"A SPLENDID TOUR DE FORCE" Northeast Anthropology

mmbkcvr.jpg (240721 bytes) THE MI'KMAQ:

RESISTANCE, ACCOMMODATION,

AND CULTURAL SURVIVAL 

(Harcourt Brace Publishers, 1996)

   The Mi'kmaq chronicles the endurance of a tribal nation - its ordeals in the face of colonialism and its current struggle for self-determination and cultural revitalization. Inhabiting the northern Atlantic seaboard, Mi'kmaqs were among the first Indians in North America to encounter Europeans, and this book details the historical dynamics that have marked their culture over the last 500 years.
"Until recently, no volume [on the Mi'kmaq] existed which had been specifically designed for anthropology courses at the university level. This void has now been filled in a most exemplary fashion by The Mi'kmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival. . . . The author, Harald Prins, is an established scholar and a university professor with a background in cultural anthropology, archaeology, and ethnohistory, who spent a decade assisting the Aroostook band of Mi'kmaqs to successfully obtain federal recognition for their land claim in the State of Maine. Along the way, he acquired an unexcelled grasp of the literature dealing with Mi'kmaq ethnography and ethnohistory. . . . Prins possesses a gifted and sonorous waywith words. He regales us with an anthropological pageant whose singular sounds and sights arouse curiosity, compel attention, and unceasingly carry the reader along. Another pleasing note is the absence of political correctness." Northeast Anthroplogy
FROM THE FOREWORD, by George & Louise Spindler, Eds, Case Studies in Anthropology:

Those who read these pages will glimpse the full nature of the calamities visited upon the Mi'kmaq by the coming of the Europeans. First came the epidemics of smallpox, measles, and influenza that decimated their populations by as much as 90 percent. But the epidemics were just the beginning. As the country of the Mi'kmaq began to fill with Europeans, the relations of the Mi'kmaq to their own land and to their animal kin (as they conceived of them) were profoundly disturbed. Exploitation of fur-bearing creatures broke all customary restraints on the taking of animal life, so that whole areas were "cleaned out" of these animals. Mi'kmaq dependency upon imported European goods, including brandy, grew apace, and the Mi'kmaq were increasingly alienated from their lands as European settlement continued.

The "Europeans" who landed on America's shores were not a homogenous people. The most important division was between the French and the English. In their struggle against the more numerous English, the French found the Mi'kmaq and other tribes to be most useful allies. They courted the Mi'kmaq with presents and privileges to retain their support. In contrast to the English, they forged a relationship with the Mi'kmaq that was often mutually beneficial. Further, French attitudes toward Indians in general were more acceptant. At any rate, as a consquence of the colonial wars, the fate of the Mi'kmaq was decided by treaties made in Europe.
One can scarcely comprehend the disasters that Europeans wrought upon the Mi'kmaq and other indigenous peoples of the eastern seaboard. Once the Europeans established a foothold, much of what followed seems inevitable, given the cultural and sociopolitical gulf between Indians and Europeans and European power. But conditions were exacerbated by the fundamental racism and ethnocentrism of all Europeans, particularly the English. They regarded everything native as brutish, foolish, or immoral. This attitude is deep in Anglo-Saxon culture and remains a powerful factor in mainstream-Indian relations in Canada and the United States - where Mi'kmaqs still exist. Most now live in small population clusters on scattered reserves, some as small as a few acres.

Reading beyond historical chronology, this book describes how the cultural consciousness of contemporary Mi'kmaqs is shaped not only by their own oral traditions but also by knowledge of the past as documented by twenty generations of European observers. Representing opposite sides of the encounter, the text offers many direct quotations from Mi'kmaqs and outsiders, enabling the reader to appreciate the different, sometimes conflicting, points of view.

The author is an ethnohistorian and action anthropologist who spent ten years working on a successful native rights case, helping one Mi'kmaq group gain federal recognition and a financial settlement to establish a land base in northern Maine. Like other tribal nations trying to free themselves from the shackles of internal colonialism, Mik'maqs have come to appreciate the practical significance of historical information. Until recently, they quarried their past for great stories, which provided them with a mental escape and emotional comfort in troubled times. Today, they seek knowledge about what happened in their past as a source of cultural identity and as an instrument of justice.

It seems a miracle that the Mi'kmaq should survive this long-term apocalypse, but survive they did. They are currently enjoying both a burst in population and a revitalization of their culture as well as their sociopolitical status.

This case study is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of North America or in Indian-white relations.

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