Chippewa Social Atomism

Autor: Victor Barnouw
Rok vydání: 1961
Předmět:
Zdroj: American Anthropologist. 63:1006-1013
ISSN: 1548-1433
0002-7294
DOI: 10.1525/aa.1961.63.5.02a00080
Popis: BERNARD F. JAMES, and more recently Harold Hickerson, have criticized the use of the term "atomistic" in relation to Chippewa (or Ojibwa) social organization. According to James, "atomism" has never been adequately defined (1954:283, 286), a point reiterated by Hickerson (1960:102 fn.). Both, however, seem to understand the word well enough to deny its appropriateness to the pre-reservation Chippewa. Still, there is some confusion, for James refers to "the 'atomistic' nature of Chippewa personality" (1954:283), while I, at least, have always used the term "atomistic" in relation to social structure and not in characterizing a personality type. In the following pages I will, first of all, define the term "atomism" as I have used it and will defend its applicability to the Chippewa. I will also take issue with Hickerson's thesis concerning the Feast of the Dead, which he thinks shows that the early Chippewa (or Saulteur) had a strong political unity and economic cohesion in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The principal point concerning "atomism" is this: in an atomistic society it is not difficult for the component units to break away and exist apart from the larger society of which they are a part. There is little social integration or centralization; political authority is weak, and there are not many mechanisms for reinforcing larger-group social solidarity. Many hunting-gathering groups, such as the Chenchus of India (von Fuirer-Haimendorf 1943:59-60), the Great Basin Shoshoneans (Steward 1955:101-121), and the Eskimo of Greenland (Mirsky 1937:64-65) are atomistic in this sense, especially in areas where ecological conditions favor dispersal. But agricultural societies may also be atomistic. Consider, for example, this description of Dafla and Miri communities in Assam, which practiced slash-and-burn agriculture
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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