Socio-Spatial Organization and Decision-Making Processes: Observations from the Chipewyan

Abstract

This article is broadly concerned with the spatial or locational principles governing hunter-gatherer society. Toward this end, the settlement-community hierarchy of the southern Chipewyan Indians is interpreted as a framework for resolving the conflicting advantages and disadvantages of nucleation and dispersion, for regulating information flow, and for maintaining organizational flexibility and options in decision making. Recent ethnoarcheological research reveals a socio-spatial organization based on three recurring stages or phases: (1) concentrated summer band, (2) winter staging community, and (3) dispersed winter hunting encampment. Parallels with other Northeastern Athapaskan groups are noted, and the issue of cultural syncretism in socio-spatial forms is raised.