Wayne Allen, a doctoral candidate in sociocultural anthropology, recently returned from 15 months of ethnographic field research on the Dene Athabaskan in Canada's Northwest Territories. His research was funded by a Fulbright grant and a University of California Humanities Fellowship. Wayne's fieldwork is exciting not only because of its potential scholarly contribution, but also as an example of how anthropologists can work in cooperation with the people they study. Equally impressive were the hardships he and his family endured during the long, harsh winter of the Canadian North.

The Dene, like many other Athabaskan groups, migrated into the North late in prehistory. Nevertheless, they quickly adapted to the difficulties of living in Northern Canada where temperatures can fall below -30 degrees occur in winter months. Prior to contact with Europeans, the Dene subsisted by hunting, fishing, and gathering. Since the establishment of Hudson Bay trading posts in the region over 200 years ago, however, the Dene have participated in a mixed economy. Lucrative fur trade with Europeans and later with Canadians at one time provided significant revenues for the Dene. Recently, however, this source of income has waned due to lowered fur demands in response to animal rights protests against the fur industry. This critical situation has almost put an end to Dene fur trapping, creating an uncertain economic future.

Wayne's research has focused on the issue of resource sustainability in kin-based communities. Particularly, he is examining the validity Garret Harding's "tragedy of the commons" in light of Dene behavior. Harding argued that there is a naturally tendency for self-interested individuals to over-exploit communal property. inevitably resulting in the environmental degeneration. Wayne proposes that Harding's theory might not apply to small scale societies where there are "traditional" kin-based resource management practices to prevent over-exploitation. Accordingly, kinship ties mitigate over-exploitation by inhibiting selfish resource procurement by withholding other benefits of kin reciprocity. Nevertheless, Wayne predicts that the incorporation of traditional people into the market economy will break down kin-based controls resulting in more frequent "tragedies of the commons".

Wayne has also conducted a significant amount of applied anthropology, or participatory action research as it is called in Canada. Participatory action research recognizes Native Canadian political and cultural self-determination by incorporating Native people's decisions in the design and implementation of research projects conducted in their communities. Within this perspective, Wayne assisted the Dene in the organization of a community resource management program to manage cultural and natural resources within their territory. The purpose of the program is to empower the Dene in the face of the rapid cultural change sweeping across native communities throughout the North. In this way, the Dene will be able to maintain their traditional lifeways and environment to confront the future on their own terms. Wayne has also worked with the Dene on the creation of a cultural resource center and an electronic media database on Dene cultural and natural resources. This center, in Ft. Good Hope, will be an important facility where Traditional Dene culture can be taught to younger generations.

Currently, Wayne is in the final stages of writing his dissertation, which he plans to complete by July 1995. Additionally, he has applied for several academic positions around the country.

Submitted by Matt Syrett & Doug Kennett

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