Hunting, human-animal relations, and exchange theory in anthropology, a talk by Paul Nadasdy.
Many hunting peoples conceive of hunting as a process of reciprocal exchange between hunters and other-than-human persons. To date, anthropologists have tended to view such accounts of hunting as symbolic/metaphorical. In this presentation Paul Nadasdy argues that our refusal to allow for the possibility that aboriginal accounts of hunting might be literally accurate as well has foreclosed important avenues of inquiry into the nature of human-animal relations. This in turn has prevented anthropologists studying hunter-gather societies from bringing a new and unique perspective to bear on the study of reciprocity more generally. Drawing primarily on the literature of northern hunting peoples and on his own research in Canada’s Yukon Territory, Nadasdy argues that an analysis of human-animal relations as a form of reciprocal exchanges may be warranted and indicates some of the potential advantages to such an approach.
This talk was presented March 2, 2006, in the Anthropology/Sociology Colloquium Series.
An audio recording of this talk is now avaiable for download through the Forests and Oceans for the Future Seminar Series. You can subscribe with the following URL.
http://www.ecoknow.ca/podcasts/rss.xml
Or, you can download the file directly by clicking the following link: www.ecoknow.ca/podcasts/anso_paul_nadasdy.mps