People of the Bays and Headlands: Anthropological History and the Fate of Communities in the Unknown Labrador

Unknown Labrador refers to the southeast coast of Labrador. This book fulfils the author's "promise to the people of southeastern Labrador to write a book about their history and way of life" (p. vii). This promise is critical to the understanding and evaluation of the book, which at times seems to narrate detail that is perplexing to an outsider, even one who is reasonably well-acquainted with Newfoundland culture and history. Nonetheless, the book makes an important contribution to the anthropology of peoples and cultures on the periphery of the world economic system. For much of its history, southeastern Labrador has been the colony of a colony. The author points out that the study "breaks new ground on a number of substantive issues: the role of Inuit enclaves in early European settlement; the relationship of early permanent settlement to the American fishery; the account of the nineteenth-century Settler adaptation and the reasons behind its disruption during this century; the critical account of the impact of the Grenfell Mission, The Labrador Development Company and the construction of military bases on Settler communities" (p. 6). This review will focus on those aspects of the book that are particularly relevant to the general anthropological reader. An interesting recurring theme comes to light with respect to economic development in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most us can recall the Come-by-Chance refinery fiasco, the cucumber greenhouse scheme and the more successful Churchill Falls project. These may be only latter-day descendants of the Labrador Syndicate (1909-30) scheme to build a 10-mile dam across the Strait of Belle Isle, linking southern Labrador with Newfoundland. "Atop the dam would be a rail causeway facilitating rail lines to St. John's. The dam would also deflect the cold Labrador current back into the Arctic, thereby enabling the Gulf Stream to warm the climate of Newfoundland, the maritimes and the northeastern United States" (p. 128). This is only an extreme example of a penchant for grand schemes that would instantly solve the problems of the region. Like all such schemes it had little concern or understanding for the people of the region. It remains to be seen how the Vosey Bay Nickel Mine turns out. After all, in the best of such grandiose development traditions, the mine started out as a search for diamonds in Labrador.