Houses, cabins and tents: the housing of the Innu people of Sheshatshiu, Labrador, Canada.
Since their forced sedentarization during the fifties, the Innu people of Sheshatshiu, Labrador, Canada uses different types of housing. Those are related to diverse strategies on the use of their territory. This paper identifies and describes different types of accommodations: Euro-Canadian style houses in Sheshatshiu, and cabins and semi-cabins and tents around Labrador’s roads and outposts. While Sheshatshiu’s houses are a consequence of an external imposition, the use of cabins, semi-cabins and tents fits a hunter lifestyle. Cabins, semi-cabins and tents are made according to distinct uses of the territory: to escape from the reality of the life in Sheshatshiu, to have access to game, and to symbolically reaffirm Innu’s identity.
Key words: Innu people, housing, territorial use, Labrador.
Author:
Carolina Tytelman
Doctorando, Departamento de Antropología, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Damián Castro
Doctorando, Departamento de Antropología, Memorial University of Newfoundland.
e-mail: carolinat@mun.ca, damianc@mun.ca
Recieved: April 19th, 2009 Accepted: November 24th, 2010