Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Hutterite colonies specialize in diversifi ed agricul-
ture, raising feed, food, and livestock on up to 10,000 acres.
Hutterite men often barter with neighboring farmers to fi x
machinery, trade goods, and lend help. The minister and
other male leaders in the colony work with lawyers and
bankers to keep the colony corporation operating smoothly
and profi tably. The most economically successful colonies
have created products used in agriculture that they produce
in their shops and sell to other farmers. One colony pro-
duces stainless steel animal feeders, and another markets its
own animal feed. Some colonies also invest hundreds of
thousands of dollars in computerized milking systems for
their dairy operations, computerized systems for feeding
and raising hogs, or even in livestock processing plants.
Groups of Mennonites migrated from the East Coast
of the United States in search of rural farmland. Geographer
Dawn Bowen traced the migration of Mennonites, fi nding
their desire to farm in rural areas leading them to the north-
ern reaches of Alberta, Canada, to turn forestlands into
farmlands and as far away as Bolivia to fi nd a place where
they can farm, form their own schools, and practice their
religion without pervasive pressures from popular culture.
Rurality enables local cultures to defi ne their own space, to
create a place, town, or rural landscape that refl ects their
values, and to practice customs relatively unfettered.
Historically, the economic activities of American
Indian tribes, such as whale or bison hunting, salmon fi sh-
ing, or growing wild rice, were the focal point of daily life,
and numerous customs and festivals revolved around it. In
the early 1800s in North America, Plains Indians tribes
migrated during the year based on the bison; they made
tools, shelter, and clothing out of the bison, and held dances
and ceremonies that surrounded the bison hunt. When a
local culture discontinues its major economic activity, it
faces the challenge of maintaining the customs that
depended on the economic activity and, in turn, sustaining
its culture. Today, when a local culture decides to reengage
in a traditional economic activity or other cultural custom, it
can no longer decide in isolation. The tribe must navigate
through varying opinions among its members, limitations
imposed by governments, and perceptions of other cultures.
The Makah American Indians
In the late 1990s, the Makah American Indians of Neah
Bay, Washington, did what environmentalists considered
unthinkable: they reinstated the whale hunt. The Makah
hunted whales for 1500 years, but the United States gov-
ernment stopped them in the 1920s because the gray whale
had become endangered. In 1994, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) removed the east-
ern North Pacifi c gray whale from the endangered list.
In 1999, when the Makah reinstated the whale hunt,
tribal members interviewed by journalists spoke to their
traditional culture as their reason for returning to the
whale hunt (Fig. 4.6). They needed to return to their past,
Figure 4.6
Neah Bay, Washington.
Makah American Indians show
their support for the return of the
whale hunt.
© Dan Levine/AFP/
Getty Images.
