Robert B. Anderson

Oil and gas and the Inuvialuit people of the Western Arctic

Purpose – To learn how Inuvialuit people feel about the oil and gas activities on their land.Design/methodology/approach – Interviews were administered to a stratified sample, on Inuvialuit land. Participants included: Inuvialuit elders; entrepreneurs; public servants; employees of the private sector; managers of oil companies; unemployed persons; housewives; the mayor of Inuvik; and the first aboriginal woman leader in Canada.Findings – It was reported that oil and gas industry activities are having a positive impact on the regional economy, creating indirect as well as direct financial benefits for the Inuvialuit among others. However, some residents qualified their support saying that they are in favour of continued activity only if benefits filter to them as opposed to being enjoyed only by oil companies and migrant employees. Concern was also expressed for the environment and for the threat that development brings to wildlife upon which people rely on as a food source.Research limitations/implication...

A Multidisciplinary Theory of Entrepreneurship as a Function of Cultural Perceptions of Opportunity

This paper flows from our evaluation of some 90 works exploring the entrepreneurship and enterprise activities Indigenous people around the world. The authors of these works discuss the contemporary economic activities of Indigenous peoples from a variety of perspectives, including anthropology, development studies, education, entrepreneurship, ethnic studies, geography, management, sociology and political science. By studying theses works we seek to determine if entrepreneurship among Indigenous people differs from entrepreneurship in mainstream western economies; and if it does, how and why.

Taos Pueblo: an indigenous community holding on to Promethean values

Purpose – This paper aims to give an account – using photographs as well as words – to describe a North American indigenous community that is retaining pre‐contact Promethean values.Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts as its approach ethnographic literature and field interviews coupled with extensive photography.Findings – Entrepreneurship may be linked to Promethean values, a characteristic of Pueblo Indians who were imaginatively original, long before the arrival of Europeans. Since ancient times, the use of irrigation in agriculture allowed the Pueblo Indians to reside in permanent houses; these two features – sophisticated farming and settlements – resulted in these indigenous people being unlike their nomadic neighbours. Farming – as opposed to hunting – was the backbone of the Pueblo economies, and theocratic government developed to control land and water usage; complex religious ceremonies became prerequisites to harvests. Religion taught discipline, and religious values remain important...