(Reprint 1) DAWNLAND DIASPORA: Wabanaki Dynamics for Survival.

Presented 1997 at 29th AlgnConf (Thunder Bay, ON)
Published 1998 as pp.211-224 of Pot29AC ISSN 0031-5671 Winnipeg, MB
David H Pentland, Editor.

Abstract: Herein, two dynamic themes are shown to be interwoven. To study the Wabanaki peoples more meaningfully, scholars have had to abandon a static model of native society and culture in order to appreciate the adaptive fluidity that allowed Wabanaki survival. To survive five centuries of encounter with intruders, Wabanakis have relied on flexibility, especially in patterns of social organization and residence that truly deserve the name diaspora. Wabanaki dispersals were not perceived positively by scholars until they dispensed with the static approach. Consequently, what had seemed negative dislocations now appear as positive relocations, for both individuals and groups.

(Reprint 2) PENOBSCOT COUNTRY: Disagreement Over Who Lived There in the 17th Century Needs Resolving — If Possible.

Presented 1977 at 9th AlgnConf (Worcester, MA)
Published 1978 as pp.47-54+Refs in Pot9AC ISBN 0-7709-0043-7 Ottawa, ON
William Cowan, Editor.

Abstract: Modern “experts” disagree over whether to accept or reject the statements of 17th-century “experts” regarding which Amerindian people(s) then lived on Maine’s lower Penobscot River-and-Bay. Each approach has its own inherent problems, but the ethnic identification of certain key historical leaders, as well as the general picture of native sociopolitical organization, cannot be ascertained clearly until some scholarly working agreement is reached. While the problem is only tangential to questions pertaining to the Maine Indian land-claims case, it is of practical significance in that further scholarly work is hindered by lack of attention (heretofore) to trying to resolve this issue meaningfully. This paper tries to start such a dialogue between viewpoints.

[PLEASE NOTE: Reprint 1 (1998) tells how this disagreement ended!]