María Nieves Zedeño will present the historical trajectories and intersections of cooperative practices and ordering strategies among late prehistoric communal bison hunters (direct ancestors of the Blackfoot) in the northwest Plains (1200-300 BP). The discussion will focus specifically on the rise of large-scale bison harvests and the relationship between hunting technology and group cooperation at various scales (kin, band, supra-band). As well, it will delve on the implementation of strategies for managing surplus production for consumption, storage, and exchange. The historic and ethnographic records of bison hunters in the region will be tapped to unpack the role of gender in the structure of individual, kin, and non-kin cooperative practices and ordering strategies along the economic, ritual, and political realms of social life.

The Michigan Anthropology Colloquia Series presents speakers on current topics in the field of anthropology.