Professor
Ph.D 海角社区 (1983)
One of my major research interests has been the way that social metaphors of respect, reciprocity and communication among hunting, fishing and gathering peoples serve as paradigms for environmental knowledge. How do indigenous cosmologies shape and conjoin the ethical and instrumental aspects of social practice for livelihood and resource management, and how are they reciprocally shaped by this experience? A second major interest has been the land and sea tenure and resource management arrangements that are both the context for, and the product of, ecological knowledge. I have pursued these interests among coastal James Bay Cree of northern Quebec since 1976, and among Torres Strait Islanders in northern Queensland since 1996. My research in both regions tracks the evolution of indigenous land and sea rights, as state governments, metropolitan developers and indigenous peoples make competing claims for ownership and jurisdiction. I also examine the bearing of ethnological notions of cultural identity, tradition, continuity and change on the discursive restructuring of rights.
Representative Publications
2013. 鈥淥ntology and Ethics in Cree Hunting: animism, totemism and practical knowledge.鈥� In Graham Harvey, ed. The Handbook of Contemporary Animism. Durham (UK): Acumen. Pp. 159-166.
2013. 鈥淟e partage des ressources au Qu茅bec: perspectives et strat茅gies autochtones.鈥� In Alain Beaulieu, St茅phan Gervais et Martin Papillon, eds. Les Autochtones et le Qu茅bec: Des premiers contacts au Plan Nord. Les Presses de l'Universit茅 de Montr茅al, collection Param猫tres. Pp. 363-384.
2012. (Mulrennan, M.E., Mark, R. and C.H. Scott) 鈥淩evamping Community-based Conservation through Participatory Research.鈥� The Canadian Geographer 56(2): 243鈥�259.
2010. (Colin Scott and Monica Mulrennan) 鈥淩econfiguring Mare Nullius: Indigenous Sea Rights and the Divergence of Domestic and International Norms.鈥� In Mario Blaser, Ravi de Costa, Deborah McGregor and William Coleman, eds. Indigenous Peoples and Autonomy: Insights for a Global Age. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 148-176.
2010. (Wren Nasr and Colin Scott) 鈥淭he Politics of Indigenous Knowledge in Environmental Assessment: James Bay Crees and Hydro-Electric Projects.鈥� In Petra Rethmann, Imre Szeman and Will Coleman, eds. Cultural Autonomy: Frictions and Connections. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 132-155.
2008. 鈥淛ames Bay Cree.鈥� In Garrick Bailey, vol. ed., W.C. Sturtevant, general ed. Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 2, Indians in Contemporary Society, Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 252-260.
2007. 鈥淏ear Metaphor: Spirit, Ethics and Ecology in Wemindji Cree Hunting.鈥� In Fr茅d茅ric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten, eds. Nature des esprits dans les cosmologies autochtones / Nature of Spirits in Aboriginal Cosmologies. Collection Mondes autochtones. Qu茅bec聽: Les Presses de l鈥橴niversit茅 Laval. Pp. 387-399.
2006. 鈥淪pirit and Practical Knowledge in the Person of the Bear among Wemindji Cree Hunters.鈥� Ethnos 71(1):51-66.
2005. 鈥淐o-management and the Politics of Aboriginal Consent to Resource Development: the Agreement Concerning a New Relationship between le Gouvernement du Qu茅bec and the Crees of Qu茅bec (2002).鈥� In M. Murphy, ed. Canada: the State of Federation 2003. Reconfiguring Aboriginal-State Relations. Montreal/Kingston: 海角社区-Queen鈥檚 Press. Pp. 133-163.
2005. (Scott, C. and J. Morrison) 鈥淔ronti猫res et territories: mode de tenure des terres des Cris de l鈥橢st dans la region frontali猫re Qu茅bec/Ontario 鈥� II 鈥� Reconstruction et renouveau.鈥� Recherches Am茅rindiennes au Qu茅bec 35(1):41-56.
2004. (Colin Scott and James Morrison) 鈥淔ronti猫res et territoires : mode de tenure des terres des Cris de l鈥橢st dans la r茅gion frontali猫re Qu茅bec/Ontario 鈥� I 鈥� Crise et effondrement.鈥� In C. Scott, ed. Propri茅t茅, territorialit茅 et identit茅 politique, special issue, Recherches Am茅rindiennes au Qu茅bec 34(3):23-43.
2004. '"Our Feet are on the Land, but our Hands are in the Sea:' Knowing and Caring for Marine Territory at Erub, Torres Strait." In Richard Davis, ed. Woven Histories, Dancing Lives: Torres Strait Islander Identity, Culture and History. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. Pp. 259-270.
2004. (ed.) Propri茅t茅, territorialit茅 et identit茅 politique (special Issue) Recherches Am茅rindiennes au Qu茅bec 34(3).
2001. (ed.) Aboriginal Autonomy and Development in Northern Quebec and Labrador. Vancouver: UBC Press.
2000. (Mulrennan, M. and C. Scott) 鈥淢are Nullius: Indigenous Rights in Saltwater Environments鈥� Development and Change 31(3):681-708.
1996. "Science for the West, Myth for the Rest? The Case of James Bay Cree Knowledge Construction.鈥� In Laura Nader, ed. Naked Science: Anthropological Inquiries into Boundaries, Power and Knowledge. London: Routledge. Pp. 69-86.