Indigenous Peoples and Demography: The Complex Relation between Identity and Statistics

Published by Berghahn Books 2011

Indigenous Peoples and Demography

The Complex Relation between Identity and Statistics

Edited by: Per Axelsson and Peter Sköld

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780857450036

Overview
Contents

About this book

When researchers want to study indigenous populations they are dependent upon the highly variable way in which states or territories enumerate, categorise and differentiate indigenous people. In this volume, anthropologists, historians, demographers and sociologists have come together for the first time to examine the historical and contemporary construct of indigenous people in a number of fascinating geographical contexts around the world, including Canada, the United States, Colombia, Russia, Scandinavia, the Balkans and Australia. Using historical and demographical evidence, the contributors explore the creation and validity of categories for enumerating indigenous populations, the use and misuse of ethnic markers, micro-demographic investigations, and demographic databases, and thereby show how the situation varies substantially between countries.

Author / Editor information

Per Axelsson is a Senior Researcher of the Centre for Sami Research at Umeå University, Sweden and a Wallenberg Academy Fellow. His current research focus on a longitudinal study of colonization, state and the health of Indigenous Peoples in Sweden, Australia and New Zealand, 1850-2000. Recent publications include Global Environmental Change, Global Health Action and Dynamis. He co-chairs the network of Family/Demography within the European Social Science History Association.

Peter Sköld is Professor of History at Umeå University and Director of Arctic Research Centre. His present research focuses on sustainable development and he leads a collaborative project with the University of Botswana. Recent publications focus on health issues, vulnerability and fertility among indigenous peoples (International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Global Health Action and Polar Geography).

Per Axelsson is a Senior Researcher of the Centre for Sami Research at Umeå University, Sweden and a Wallenberg Academy Fellow. His current research focus on a longitudinal study of colonization, state and the health of Indigenous Peoples in Sweden, Australia and New Zealand, 1850-2000. Recent publications include Global Environmental Change, Global Health Action and Dynamis. He co-chairs the network of Family/Demography within the European Social Science History Association.

Reviews

“This interesting collection looks at changes in population studies and examines indigeneity in contexts as different as Australia and Norway. It is particularly valuable with respect to two broad geographic categories: countries originally settled by British colonists, and states in northern Europe… the study of categorization and enumeration offers valuable insights on how ethnic boundaries are established, and how--inevitably--they are challenged and contested.” · Choice

“Using historical and demographical evidence, the contributors explore the creation and validity of categories for enumerating indigenous populations, the use and misuse of ethnic markers, micro-demographic investigations, and demographic databases, and thereby show how the situation varies substantially between countries.” · International Journal of Anthropology

“Taken as a whole, [this volume] offers a truly remarkable contribution to the field of indigenous demography. From the content point of view, this is an outstanding example of a dialog between demography, history, and anthropology in the amount of statistical data and analytical synthesis offered… Given the diversity of geographical approach, this volume will be of great interest to specialists in virtually any field of social sciences, politics, and economics.” · Sibirica

“As a fascinating set of accounts of the construction of ethnicity and indigeneity among (largely) historical census-takers in (largely) northern populations, it is a compelling read.” · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Maps and Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Per Axelsson and Peter Sköld Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Fractional Identities: The Political Arithmetic of Aboriginal Victorians Len Smith, Janet McCalman, Ian Anderson, Sandra Smith, Joanne Evans, Gavan McCarthy and Jane Beer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2 Building Ethnic Boundaries in New Zealand: Representations of Maori Identity in the Census Tahu Kukutai Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
3 Counting Indians: Census Categories in Late Colonial and Early Republican Spanish America Steinar A. Saether Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
4 The Construction of Life Tables for the American Indian Population at the Turn of the Twentieth Century J. David Hacker and Michael R. Haines Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
5 The Aboriginal Population and the 1891 Census of Canada Michelle A. Hamilton and Kris Inwood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
6 ‘In the National Registry, All People Are Equal’: Sami in Swedish Statistical Sources Per Axelsson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
7 The Registers of the ‘Sami Tax’ from 1600 to 1750, and Their Usefulness for Reconstructing Population Development and Settlement in Northern Nordland, Norway Lars Ivar Hansen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
8 Viewing Ethnicity from the Perspective of Individuals and Households: Finnmark during the Late Nineteenth Century Hilde L. Jåstad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
9 Finn in Flux: ‘Finn’ as a Category in Norwegian Population Censuses of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Bjørg Evjen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
10 Testing and Constructing Ethnicity Variables in Late Nineteenth-Century Censuses Gunnar Thorvaldsen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
11 Out of the Backwater? Prospects for Contemporary Sami Demography in Norway Torunn Pettersen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
12 The Mystery of the Magnate Reindeer Herders: Household Structure and Economy among Lake Essei Iakuts, 1926/7 David G. Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
13 Microdemographics and Indigenous Identity in the Central Taimyr Lowlands John P. Ziker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
14 Russian Legal Concepts and the Demography of Indigenous Peoples Sergey V. Sokolovskiy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
15 Indigenous Populations, Ethnicity and Demography in the Eastern Baltic Littoral in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Andrejs Plakans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
16 Who Are the British? John MacInnes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Epilogue: From Indigenous Demographics to an Indigenous Demography Per Axelsson, Peter Sköld, John P. Ziker and David G. Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Notes on Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 354
Keywords: Anthropology (General); Sociology

eBook

Published: August 1, 2011
ISBN: 9780857450036