“Subsistence” is both a highly disputed theoretical concept within several social sciences' disciplines, an often used term in international debates and conventions on indigenous peoples' traditional hunting rights, and an integral part of indigenous peoples', communities' and organisations' campaigns for their rights to maintain traditional lifestyles.
The domestic and cash economies of the north are highly interrelated. As Wolfe and Walker (1987) reported, “a family's subsistence production is augmented and supported by cash employment of family members. The money generated in the commercial-wage sector of the economy enables families to capitalize in the subsistence sector. The combination of subsistence and commercial-wage activities provides the economic basis for the way of life so highly valued in rural communities.”
The international core questionnaire applied in the Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic, SliCA, offers opportunities to examine the importance of a mixed cash- and harvest herding based economy to living in the Arctic, relationships between traditional hunting, fishing and herding activities and activities in the market economy sector, the respondents' satisfaction with the actual composition of the various activities as well as the preferred composition and the relationship to the overall well-being and the individual.
This theme the importance of a mixed cash- and harvest herding based economy to living in the Arctic is one of five international analysis themes suggested by the indigenous peoples' representatives participating in SLiCA.
The analysis is based on more than 7,000 personal interviews with Inuit adults in Greenland, Canada, Chukotka, and Alaska.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
AMAP (2003). AMAP assessment 2003: Human Health in the Arctic. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo, Norway
Andersen, T., & Poppel, B. (2002). Living Conditions in the Arctic. Social Indicators Research 58:191–216
Andersen, T., Kruse, J., & Poppel, B. (2002). Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic: Inuit, Sámi and the Indigenous Peoples of Chukotka (SLiCA). Arctic 55(3) (September 2002):310–317
Dahl, J. (1989). The Integrative and Cultural Role of Hunting and Subsistence in Greenland, Etudes/Inuit/Studies 13(1):23–42
Duhaime, G. et al. (2002). Food Consumption Patterns and Socioeconomic Factors among the Inuit of Nunavik. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 41: 91–118
Duhaime, G., et al. (2004). Economic Systems. In: Arctic Human Development Report. Under the Auspices of the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council 2002–2004. Chapter 4, pp. 69–84, Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri
Duhaime, G., Duwailly, E., Halley, P., Furgal, C., Bernard, N., Godmaire, A., Blanchet, C., Myers, H., Powell, S., Bernier, S., & Grondin, J. (2007). Food Security in the Canadian Arctic. An Integrated Synthesis for an Action Plan. In: Duhaime, G. and Bernard, N. (eds.). Arctic Food Security
Gombay, N. (2003). Making a Living: Place and the Commoditisation of Country Foods in a Nunavik Community. A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Hertz, O. (1995). Økologi og Levevilkår i Arktis: Uummannarmiut [Ecology and Living Conditions in the Arctic: Uummannarmiut]. Christian Ejlers' Forlag. Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke
Hovelsrud-Broda, G.(1997).The Seal: Integration of An East Greenlandic Economy. A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Huntington, H.P. (1992). Wildlife Management and Subsistence Hunting in Alaska . University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA
Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) (1992). Principles and Elements for a Comprehensive Arctic Policy . Centre for Northern Studies and Research. Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Kassam, K.-A. (2004). Hunting, Subsistence. In: Mark Nuttall (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the Arctic, Routledge, New York
Krupnik, I. (1993). Arctic Adaptations: Native Whalers and Reindeer Herders of Northern Eurasia . Dartmouth College by University Press of New England, Hanover/London
Kruse, J. (1991). Alaska Inupiat Subsistence and Wage Employment Patterns: Understanding Individual Choice. Human Organization 50(4):317–326
Kruse, J., Poppel, B., Abryutina, L., Duhaime, G., Martin, S., Poppel, M., Kruse, M., Ward, E., Cochran, P., & Hanna, V. Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic, SLiCA. In: Møller, V., Huschka, D, and Michalos, A.C. (eds.) 2008. Barometers of Quality of Life Around the Globe. Springer Social Indicators Research Series. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
Lynge, F. (1998). Subsistence Value and Ethics . Address to the General Assembly of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Nuuk
Nuttall, M. (1992). Arctic Homelands: Kinship Community and Development in Northwest Greenland. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON, Canada
Poppel, B. (2006b). Den arktiske Levevilkårsundersøgelse, SLiCA — et komparativt og transnationalt project [Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic, SLiCA — a comparative and transnational project]. In: Hanne Petersen (ed.). Grønland i verdenssamfundet [Greenland in the International Community] . Forlaget Atuagkat/Ilisimatusarfik, Nuuk
Poppel, B. (2006b). Interdependency of subsistence and market economies in the Arctic. In: Glomsråd, Solveig og Iulie Aslaksen (eds.). The Economy of the North. Statistisk Sentralbyrå/ Statistics Norway, Oslo/Kongsvinger
Poppel, B. (2007). Nogle forskelle mellem levevilkår i byer og bygder — og input til en diskussion om bygdernes fremtid [Some differences between living conditions in Greenlandic towns and settlements — as well as input to the discussion about the future of the settlements] Samfundsøkonomen (April 2007) Nr. 1:19–24
Poppel, B., Andersen, T., & Lyster, P. (2000). Measuring ways of life and living conditions of indigenous peoples of the Arctic — Inuit as an example. Paper (C-Pa 6b) presented at the conference on Statistics, Development and Human Rights. Montreux, 4.-8.9.2000
Poppel, B., Kruse, J., Duhaime, G., & Abryutina, L. (2007). SLiCA Results . Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska, Anchorage. www.arcticlivingconditions.org
Rasmussen, R.O. (2000). Formal economy, renewable resources and structural change in West Greenland. In: Economie contemporaire. Present-Day Economy. Études/Inuit/Studies 24(1):41–78
Rasmussen, R.O. (2005). Socioøkonomisk analyse af fangererhvervet i Grønland [Socio-economic Analysis of the Greenland Hunters] . Prepared under contract to the Greenland Home Rule Government, Department of Fisheries and Hunting
Rasmussen, R.O. (2007). Fangererhverv, fiskeri og lokaløkonomi. [Hunting, fishing and local economies]. Samfundsøkonomen (April 2007) Nr. 1:25–28
Usher, J.P., Duhaime G., & Searles, E. (2003). The Household as an Economic Unit in Arctic Aboriginal Communities, and Its Measurement by Means of a Comprehensive Survey, Social Indicators Research 61: 175–203
Wenzel, G., Hovelsrud-Broda, G., & Kishigami, N. (eds.) (2000). The Social Economy of Sharing: Resource Allocation and Modern Hunter-Gatherers. Senri Ethnological Studies. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka
Wolfe, R.J. (1998). Subsistence Economies in Rural Alaska . Cultural Survival Quarterly 22:3. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Division of Subsistence, Juneau, Alaska
Wolfe, R.J. & Walker R.J. (1987). Subsistence Economies in Alaska: Productivity, geography, and development impacts. Arctic Anthropology 24:56–81
Wolfe, R.J. (1998). Subsistence Economies in Rural Alaska . Cultural Survival Quarterly 22:3. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Division of Subsistence. Juneau, Alaska. www.arcticliving conditions.org
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science + Business Media B.V
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Poppel, B., Kruse, J. (2009). The Importance of a Mixed Cash- and Harvest Herding Based Economy to Living in the Arctic – An Analysis on the Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA). In: Møller, V., Huschka, D. (eds) Quality of Life and the Millennium Challenge. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 35. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8569-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8569-7_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8568-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8569-7
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)