Indigenous Peoples and Demography

Per Axelsson is a Senior Researcher of the Centre for Sami Research at Umea University, Sweden. His research interests and recent publications focus on indigenous demography, the medical history and historical demography of the Sami and the settlers in northern Sweden during the time of colonization and also the history of polio during the twentieth century. He chairs the network Family/Demography within the European Social Science History Association. Peter Skold is Professor of History at Umea University and Director of the Centre for Sami Research. He is presently working on two major projects concerning the Sami demographic transition and the aging population. He also directs the Northern Studies program at Umea University. Recent publications focus on health issues and vulnerability among indigenous peoples (Annales de Demographie Historique and Journal of Circumpolar Health).

“This interesting collection looks at changes in population studies and examines indigeneity in contexts as different as Australia and Norway. It is particularly valuable with respect to two broad geographic categories: countries originally settled by British colonists, and states in northern Europe… the study of categorization and enumeration offers valuable insights on how ethnic boundaries are established, and how--inevitably--they are challenged and contested.”  ·  Choice“Using historical and demographical evidence, the contributors explore the creation and validity of categories for enumerating indigenous populations, the use and misuse of ethnic markers, micro-demographic investigations, and demographic databases, and thereby show how the situation varies substantially between countries.”  ·  International Journal of Anthropology“Taken as a whole, [this volume] offers a truly remarkable contribution to the field of indigenous demography. From the content point of view, this is an outstanding example of a dialog between demography, history, and anthropology in the amount of statistical data and analytical synthesis offered… Given the diversity of geographical approach, this volume will be of great interest to specialists in virtually any field of social sciences, politics, and economics.”  ·  Sibirica“As a fascinating set of accounts of the construction of ethnicity and indigeneity among (largely) historical census-takers in (largely) northern populations, it is a compelling read.”  ·  Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

• List of Figures, Maps and, Tables Acknowledgements Introduction Per Axelsson and Peter Skold Chapter 1. Fractional Identities: the Political Arithmetic of Aboriginal Victorians Len Smith, Janet McCalman, Ian Anderson, Sandra Smith, Joanne Evans, Gavan McCarthy and Jane Beer Chapter 2. Building Ethnic Boundaries in New Zealand: Representations of Maori Identity in the Census Tahu Kukutai Chapter 3. Counting Indians: Census Categories in Late Colonial and Early Republican Spanish America Steinar A. Saether Chapter 4. The Construction of Life Tables for the American Indian Population at the Turn of the Twentieth Century David J. Hacker and Michael Haines Chapter 5. The Aboriginal Population and the 1891 Census of Canada Michelle Hamilton and Kris Inwood Chapter 6. 'In the national registry, all people are equal' - Sami in Swedish statistical sources Per Axelsson Chapter 7. The Registers of the 'Sami tax' from 1600 to 1750, and their Usefulness for Reconstructing Population Development and Settlement Lars Ivar Hansen Chapter 8. Viewing Ethnicity From The Perspectives of The Individuals and Households - Finnmark During the Last Part of The Nineteenth Century Hilde L. Jastad Chapter 9.. 'Finn in Flux': 'finn' as a Designation in Norwegian Population Censuses of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries BjA rg Evjen Chapter 10. Testing and Constructing Ethnicity Variables in Late 19th Century Censuses Gunnar Thorvaldsen Chapter 11. Out of the Backwater? Prospects for Contemporary Sami Demography in Norway Torunn Pettersen Chapter 12. Indigenous Household Structure And Economy Among Lake Essei Iakuts 1926/27: The Mystery Of The Magnate Reindeer Herders David G. Anderson Chapter 13. Ethnodemographics and Identity of Indigenous People in the Central Taimyr Lowlands John Ziker Chapter 14. Russian Legal Concepts And Indigenous Peoples Demography Sergey V. Sokolovskiy Chapter 15. Ethnic Identity and Indigenous Populations in the Demographic Sources of the Eastern Baltic Littoral: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Andrejs Plakans Chapter 16. Who are the British? John MacInnes Epilogue: From Indigenous Demographics to an Indigenous Demography Per Axelsson, Peter Skold, John P. Ziker and David G. Anderson Index