'Cree Cultural Identity and Economic Development' Nov. 5

Story posted October 30, 2009

KregEttenger.jpg
Photo courtesy of the University of Southern Maine.

Cultural/applied anthropologist Kreg Ettenger will give the illustrated lecture "Tourism in Eeyou Istchee: Cree Cultural Identity and Economic Development in Quebec" at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 5, 2009, in Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center.

The Cree or Eeyou people of northern Quebec have engaged for decades in a struggle with the state over land, resources, and political sovereignty. They have also wrestled with the issue of cultural change and identity as their economy has shifted away from land-based subsistence to wage employment within settled, modern communities.

Tourism development is a recent strategy designed to provide income to families and communities while helping them preserve links to the land and traditional heritage.

Ettenger's talk will give an overview of tourism development in the region, its challenges, and how it could support or undermine Cree efforts to preserve their cultural identity and heritage.

Kreg Ettenger is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Southern Maine. He has worked in the Cree communities of northern Quebec since 1994 on projects including land claims, impact studies, oral history documentation and training, and the establishment of protected areas. He has also taken undergraduate students to the region for archaeology and ethnographic field courses.

The presentation is open to the public and admission is free. For more information call 725-3396.

Ettenger's Bowdoin talk is co-sponsored by the Environment Studies Program and the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.

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