Social representation of traditional Aboriginal space, compared with non-Aboriginal territory: The example of the forests in the Mauricie region of Québec, 1534-1934
Examining the environmental history of the forest with reference to collective representations of it is certainly somewhat unusual. Yet this is the approach we propose in this article on territoriality. Representations are the images, perceptions, even the ideas that develop in people’s minds at different times in history. In the context of the present article, they are considered through a comparison of two collective imaginations: the first being that of Aboriginal peoples, the other, that of non-Aboriginal colonial society. We also discuss the question of changes to the landscape, given that the relationship to the environment in different societies conditions their different views on territoriality. Our article begins by stressing the initial Aboriginal concept of territoriality, then goes on to explore the context under which colonial society integrates the image of territory and transforms the environment in its own representation of the forest.