Anthropological advocacy? Frank Speck and the mapping of Aboriginal territoriality in eastern Canada, 1900--1950

An analysis of Frank Speck's anthropological representations of Aboriginal territoriality in northeastern Canada indicates a direct connection between anthropology and advocacy during the early part of the 20th century. In situating Speck's work on the Family Hunting Territory Complex within the context of Aboriginal treaty and resource issues in Canada during the late 19th and early 20th century, this analysis examines how Speck's representations of Aboriginal territoriality challenged the strict management and regulation of Aboriginal traditional territories and resource use by the Canadian government. This thesis is not an intellectual biography. It is an examination of the practical conditions and the working assumptions associated with the production, accumulation and distribution of anthropological knowledge connected to the multiple domains of Speck's representation of Aboriginal territoriality. I argue that Speck was a participant in a much larger political struggle that included the active engagement of Aboriginal peoples. I also situate Speck's representations of Aboriginal territoriality within the broader field of ethnographic activity that existed prior to the emergence of the discipline and Speck's contributions to the discipline. I examine the tensions of colonialism and Aboriginal-non-Aboriginal relations inherent in the archives, texts and the networks of knowledge production associated with this disciplinary history and the practical relations and encounters that contributed to the production of anthropological knowledge associated with Speck's representations of Aboriginal territoriality.