“Our Journey,Our Choice,Our Future”: Huu‐ay‐aht First Nations’ Self‐Government enacted through the Maa‐nulth Treaty with British Columbia and Canada

In 2011, Huu‐ay‐aht First Nations became one of five Nuu‐chah‐nulth Nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island in Canada to implement the Maa‐nulth Treaty with the Province of British Columbia and Canada. Modern treaties are dense and lengthy legal documents that exhaustively set out the obligations of each signatory party. They are heavily criticised for being unjust extensions of colonialism that limit Indigenous self‐determination and transform homelands under settler colonial property regimes. Yet, some First Nations accept these agreements as their chosen path for self‐government in state structures. We document Huu‐ay‐aht First Nations’ decision‐making that resulted when the Maa‐nulth Treaty was implemented and replaced the Indian Act by analysing the Maa‐nulth Treaty and interviews conducted with Huu‐ay‐aht First Nations leadership. We demonstrate how ?iisaak (respect) and ?uu?a?uk (taking care of) guided Huu‐ay‐aht First Nations’ self‐government, while nesting this discussion in the complexities and critiques of modern treaties.     

Understanding the Sunni Realignment in Iraq with Complexity Theory

Concurrent to the surge of U.S. forces in Iraq between 2006 and 2008, Sunni tribesmen in the U.S. Marine‐controlled western Anbar province of Iraq experienced an “awakening” movement, which led them to side with U.S. and coalition forces. The Sunni Awakening demonstrates that individuals will often realign because of betrayal and opportunities for advancement. It also demonstrates that individual motives can have macrolevel social consequences. Complexity theory suggests that political factions will realign based on individual considerations that then develop into macrolevel movements. Complexity theory also combines both agency (in terms of microbehaviors) and structure (in terms of initial conditions). An important concept within the complexity literature is the idea of “critical mass.” Theories of self‐organization suggest that individual considerations aggregate to a point of critical mass to become macrolevel movements. In the case of Iraq, you had individuals who decided as individuals to align with the Americans, but the macrolevel Awakening movement did not gain momentum until enough individuals had joined the movement. This pattern suggests that complexity theory can be used as a framework for understanding how critical mass is achieved in realignment.     

Toward critical population anthropology

Handwerker, W. Penn, ed. Births and Power: Social Change and the Politics of Reproduction. Boulder: Westview Press, 1990. 227 pp. including chapter references. $27.50 paper.

Landers, John, and Vernon Reynolds, ed. Fertility and Resources. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. vii + 199 pp. including chapter references and index. $59.50 cloth.     

Genetics and African Cattle Domestication

Whether cattle domestication occurred independently on the African continent is among the most controversial questions in the Holocene archaeology of northern Africa. One long-established scenario, based upon early archaeological evidence, suggested that Africa’s earliest cattle derived from several introductions from Southwest Asia through the Nile Valley, or via the Horn of Africa. Based upon archaeofaunal remains retrieved in the late twentieth century, other archaeologists argued that an independent domestication of the African aurochs gave rise to Africa’s earliest domestic cattle. Up to now, the genetic data have also been controversial. This paper reviews the archaeological evidence and the scope of debate, and then focuses on the recent contributions of genetic research to clarifying these issues.     

Microblade technology and the rise of serial specialists in north-central China

Though present before the Last Glacial Maximum, microblade technology is uncommon in the lithic assemblages of north-central China until the onset of the Younger Dryas (12,900–11,600 calBP). While it is clear that microblades here and elsewhere were connected with mobile adaptations organized around hunting, the attendant assumption that they served primarily in hunting weaponry is not. The archaeological record of north-central China, including excavations at Pigeon Mountain (QG3) and Shuidonggou Locality 12 (SDG 12) in Ningxia Autonomous Region, and Dadiwan in Gansu Providence, and a handful of bone/antler tools slotted for microblade inserts, indicate a more direct linkage to mobility. These data suggest the rise of microblade technology in Younger Dryas north-central China was mainly the result of microblades used as insets in composite knives needed for production of sophisticated cold weather clothing needed for a winter mobile hunting adaptation akin to the residentially mobile pattern Binford termed “serial specialist.” Limited time and opportunities compressed this production into a very narrow seasonal window, putting a premium on highly streamlined routines to which microblade technology was especially well-suited.