UqaluraitJohn Bennett, Susan Diana Mary Rowley Uqalurait presents a comprehensive account of Inuit life on land and sea ice in the area now called Nunavut, before extensive contact with southerners. Drawing on a broad range of oral history sources - from nineteenth-century exploration accounts to contemporary community-based projects - the book uses quotes from over three hundred Inuit elders to provide an 'inside' view of family life, social relations, hunting, the land, shamanism, health, and material culture. For the first time, the reader encounters Inuit culture and traditional knowledge through the voices of people who lived the life being described. Based on a larger research project developed under the guidance of six Inuit from across Nunavut, Uqalurait consists of thousands of quotations organised thematically into cohesive chapters. The book describes the seasonal rounds of four different groups, capturing the fact that while Inuit across Nunavut had much in common, there was also much to distinguish them from each other, living as they did in many small groups of people, each with its own territory and identity. Given the recent creation of Nunavut and the current focus of attention on the Arctic due to climate change, Uqalurait is a timely source of insight from a people whose values of sharing and respect for the environment have helped them to live contentedly for centuries at the northern limit of the inhabitable world. |
Contents
Contents | xiii |
A Note on Language and Spelling | xxxi |
Naming | 3 |
Animals | 43 |
Gathering | 78 |
Leadership | 95 |
Astronomy | 111 |
External Relations | 126 |
Medicine209 | 209 |
Death and Burial | 221 |
Material Culture | 262 |
Skin Preparation and Clothing | 307 |
Inuit Seasonal Rounds | 339 |
Seasonal Round of the Arviligjuarmiut | 360 |
Seasonal Round of the Amitturmiut | 383 |
Seasonal Round of the Inuinnait | 409 |
Tuniit | 143 |
Unusual Beings | 150 |
Cosmology | 160 |
Shamanism | 176 |
Singaijuq Pregnancy and Irnisuktuq Labour | 196 |
Glossary | 437 |
451 | |
457 | |
465 | |
Other editions - View all
Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut John Bennett,Susan Diana Mary Rowley No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Ahiarmiut Aivilingmiut amauti Amitturmiut animals Aningaat antler Arctic Arreak Arviat Arviligjuarmiut baby bearded seal blubber boots bowhead whales breathing hole cache called camp Cape Dorset caribou skins catch caught child clothing dogs drum dance elders Ennadai Lake Eskimo father fish George Agiaq Kappianaq harpoon Harvaqtuurmiut hunters hunting husband Igloolik iglu ijiraq ILUOP inside Inuinnait Inuit inuksuit inuksuk Inuktitut Island killed lake land lived look Martha Tunnuq meat mother move musk ox narwhal Nattilingmiut Noah Piugaattuk Nunavut NUTARAALUK Once Paallirmiut parka PC-PB PC-PI person piece polar bear pups qajait qajaq qamutiik qulliq Rasmussen river rocks sea ice seal hunting sealskin sewing shaman sinew snow house someone Sometimes song spirit started stone Suluk summer taboo tent things told travelling Tuniit Tununirmiut Uqqurmiut Utkuhiksalingmiut walrus wanted WBOH weather whale wife winter woman women young