Adaptation through bricolage: Indigenous responses to long‐term social‐ecological change in the Saskatchewan River Delta, Canada

• Published in: The Canadian geographer 2018-12, Vol.62 (4), p.437-451
• Main Authors: Abu, Razak, Reed, Maureen G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; adaptive capacity; Autochtones; Bricolage; Capacity building approach; capacité d'adaptation; Communities; Community; Decision makers; Decisions; delta de la rivière Saskatchewan; Ecology; Households; Indigenous; Indigenous peoples; Livelihood; Native peoples; Norms; Reciprocity; Rivers; Saskatchewan River Delta; Social interactions; social‐ecological systems; systèmes socioécologiques
• ISSN: 0008-3658; 1541-0064
• DOI: 10.1111/cag.12469

Social and ecological change in Canada's north challenges Indigenous communities to develop responses that secure the continuation of their livelihoods. Although there is significant evidence that effective response and adaptation opportunities exist in Indigenous communities, understanding of how such locally developed adaptations are constructed remains limited. This paper develops and applies the concept of bricolage to demonstrate how Indigenous societies build their adaptive capacity to address long‐term social‐ecological change. Our concept bridges institutional and productive forms of bricolage to explain how individuals and households make conscious decisions and adjustments to retain their livelihoods. The results of long‐term engagement with residents of Cumberland House, Saskatchewan through field observations, oral histories, and semi‐structured interviews demonstrate that Indigenous peoples improvise, hybridize, contest, and negotiate existing practices to create different kinds of adaptive arrangements. We find, further, that whereas certain livelihood practices have changed, cultural norms such as respect and reciprocity have remained. Our findings strengthen the argument that Indigenous peoples are well‐positioned to take direct roles in adaptation; hence, decision makers should consider them equal partners in adaptation decisions and learn from locally developed responses to focus adaptation planning on the relevant needs of Indigenous communities. Adaptation par le bricolage : les réponses des Autochtones aux changements socioécologiques à long terme dans le delta de la rivière Saskatchewan, au Canada Les changements sociaux et écologiques dans le nord du Canada représentent un défi pour les communautés autochtones qui doivent trouver des réponses assurant le maintien de leurs moyens de subsistance. Même s'il y a une abondance de preuves en vertu desquelles il existe des réponses efficaces et des possibilités d'adaptation dans les communautés autochtones, la compréhension de la façon dont de telles possibilités d'adaptation développées localement sont structurées demeure limitée. Cet article élabore et applique le concept de bricolage pour démontrer la façon dont les sociétés autochtones structurent leur capacité d'adaptation pour répondre aux changements socioécologiques à long terme. Notre concept relie les formes institutionnelles et productives du bricolage pour expliquer la façon dont les individus et les ménages prennent des décisio