Demographic and kinship analysis of depopulation in small populations
Date
1990
Authors
Morgan, Janice Lynn
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Abstract
During the post-contact period, between 1822 and 1867, Bishop Venaminoff recorded demographic information about the Aleuts in the Russian parish records. Albert B. Harper used these Russian Orthodox Church records to calculate post-contact life expectancies for Aleut populations.
This thesis uses a computer simulation, based on Harper's data, to test whether Aleut population losses due to European epidemics could possibly have caused changes in general demographic rates, in household composition and in kinship. The goal of this study was to investigate demographic changes at both the macrolevel and the micro-level. Demographic studies that have dealt with depopulation in the New World from European contact have focused on the changes indigenous populations have experienced at the macro-level, such as changes in measures of population structures. In addition to discussing changing patterns of demographic rates at the macro-level, this thesis examines possible changes in household composition and in kinship relationships.
A computer simulation was used to test whether the hypothesis that large scale population reductions, as simulated by increasing infant mortality levels, would cause changes in general demographic rates, in household composition and in kinship. Analysis shows that major changes could have taken place at the family level, such as reductions in the chances of knowing older kin, a reduction in the number of the elderly within the society and a reduction in dependency ratios. These smaller scale demographic changes may impact on the overall success of a population and should be examined in conjunction with the larger scale population changes.