the domestic zoo

Part of my work for the field report was to do a survey of common items that tourists would be looking for (i.e. matches, flashlights, food, etc.) and their price/availability in each community. For instance, if you need to stock up on Cheez Wiz, well…Eastmain is the place to be.

As far as fieldwork goes, Eastmain was a whole new ball game. It’s a larger community than Nemaska, and where most people were spending time together because of the gathering, in Eastmain people were busy at their jobs. They didn’t sit around on their front porches and wait to start conversations with a few fledgling anthropology students.

Of course, the purpose of our field work was to explore how tourism might be a possibility in the Cree communities; our role in Old Nemaska was to guage people’s reactions to having outsiders at the gathering. Now in Eastmain, our role was to talk to people who were involved in tourism planning. What were their goals? Could tourism have a positive effect on the economy without having a negative effect on the local culture?

There were a lot of meetings and discussions, some of them pulled together late at night, just as we were settling in for a cozy night’s sleep in Bubba. Interviews were often long and challenging. Political sentiments and emotions ran deep. These were the challenges unique to Eastmain.

On the upside? We got to spend our first night in a hotel. With electricity. And phones. And showers. Sometimes tourism research has its perks.

I love this photo. It was taken during the field school this summer, and one of the things about Northern Quebec that left the most significant impression was the unbelievable vastness of the nature that surrounded us. We were quite simply dwarfed by the sky, and this shot was my best attempt to capture that feeling.

There were the big things:

I drove up to New Brunswick in January and down to Pennsylvania in October. I saw Constantinople, Ephesus, Hagia Sophia and the Aegean Sea. I spent three weeks living in an RV and/or tent in Northern Canada, and I will never, ever complain about Port-a-Potties again. 

I said goodbye to the Mighty Pea, my brave little bunny. Goodbye to Beeper, our oldest companion and feline friend. Goodbye to Martin and to Chuck, the Mousey Boys.

Then there were the little things:

Snowstorms. Power outtages. Girl time. Barbecues. New priest. Floods. Field trips. Family nights. Bonfires. Sunrises. Summer tans. Kitty snuggles. Inside jokes. 

It was a pretty good year.