An Ethnohistorical Approach to Pioneer Farmers of Saskatchewan
Date
1977-09-29
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Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This thesis is concerned with pioneer farmers in the "Parkland"
region of Saskatchewan, Canada, during the years 1905 to 1940. Since
this topic has received very little attention from ethnologists, the
first objective is to describe pioneer life. With a basic orientation
to cultural ecology, and using the farm as the unit of study, the
description focuses on the methods of setting up and operating a pioneer
farm, and providing a living for the pioneer family. This description
takes the form of Julian Steward's (1955) "culture core": those aspects
of a culture most closely related to subsistence activities and economic
arrangements.
There were three major environmental and technological limitations
within which the pioneer had to operate: the climate, the
vegetation, and the sources of power. The climate imposed limitations
in the form of occasional over-abundant rainfall, and more commonly,
through early fall frosts. These frosts severely limited the growing
season, and thus the varieties of crops that could be grown. The native
vegetation slowed the process of setting up a viable farm operation
because of the heavy aspen forest that had to be cleared, usually by
hand. The sources of power for traction were oxen (at first) and later,
horses. Both of these restricted the range of choices a pioneer farmer
had, with respect to crops sown, acreages farmed, hours worked, and so on.
A major theoretical concern of this thesis is an investigation
of the peasant concept, and the extent to which it applies to pioneer
farmers. Considering the range of concepts found in the literature on
peasants, it is concluded that pioneers indeed can be labelled "peasants",
but the application of that label means little more than that they were
agriculturalists who produced for subsistence as well as for the market
and who were part of a larger society. To consider one aspect of the
peasant concept, the theory of the peasant economy suggested by Chayanov
(1966) and Franklin (1965), is more useful. They believed that the
peasant type of production differs from capitalist and socialist
production because of the differences in the use of labour. This
theory can be used to analyze the changes in Saskatchewan farming from
the earliest pioneer days to the present. Many Saskatchewan farmers
(both pioneers and some "modern" farmers) tend to think in the same
terms as peasants, and the increasing size of Saskatchewan farms and
the increasing use of large machines are logical results of peasant
thinking.
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Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Archaeology and Anthropology
Program
Archaeology and Anthropology