\u27Fresh seal blood looks like beauty and life\u27: #Sealfies and subsistence in Nunavut

In this paper, I analyze the various functions, meanings and affects associated with seal hunting, eating and sharing seal meat, wearing sealskin clothing and posting #sealfies. Drawing on several decades of research with hunting and gathering families in the eastern Canadian Arctic, and starting with the cultural premise that hunting seals unites the worlds of humans, animals, and spirits, I argue that the seal is a prominent metaphor for the Inuit self. By extension, I examine how Inuit use #sealfies as an extension of other subsistence practices, as a way of making identity (personal and collective), and as a way of countering the negative stereotypes used by animal rights activists to condemn hunting in general. #Sealfies have become an important resource in the subsistence toolkit of contemporary Nunavut Inuit foragers, providing an effective platform for defending their foraging traditions and for creating a meaningful and modern identity

Consider the Whale

Les Beldo begins his ethnography by recounting a historic event that some recall with pride and joy and others with sadness and pain. On May 17, 1999, a dugout canoe full of men from the Makah Indian Nation paddled vigorously in the shallow ocean waters off of Cape Alva in Neah Bay for hours, attempting to harpoon a gray whale in a fashion similar to their ancestors. Long before this particular hunt began, the news of it had spread far and wide. The last Makah whaling hunt took place more than seven decades ago, and the media, circling above in helicopters, were eager to capture this momentous occasion on fil

Noms, récits et mémoire au Nunavut : Note de recherche

Dans ce texte, j’explore les liens entre histoire et mémoire qui caractérisent les pratiques d’attribution des noms et les récits autobiographiques. Ces pratiques et les relations d’homonymie qu’elles engendrent révèlent une forme de mémoire culturelle spécifique aux Inuit. Cette forme transcende le dualisme cartésien qui sépare le corps et l’esprit ainsi que la cosmologie chrétienne qui rejette le transfert des âmes entre les morts et les vivants. Je discute la signification donnée par les Inuit aux pratiques d’attribution des noms et la façon dont ces dernières participent à la construction des histoires individuelles et communautaires au Nunavut. Dans la seconde partie de l’article, j’illustre la façon dont la mémoire d’une personne et l’histoire de sa vie sont constamment modifiées par les changements affectant les états émotionnels et les conditions sociales.In this paper, I explore history and memory in Nunavut through Inuit naming practices and through autobiographical narratives. Naming practices, and the namesake relationships they engender, reveal a particularly Inuit form of cultural memory, one that transcends the Cartesian dualism separating mind and body as well as a Christian cosmology that rejects the transfer of souls between the living and the dead. I discuss what these naming practices mean to Inuit and to the construction of individual and community histories in Nunavut. In the second half of this paper I show how one’s memory, and by implication one’s life history, is continually being revised by changing emotional states and social conditions

To Sell Or Not to Sell: Country Food Markets and Inuit Identity in Nunavut

Problems and opportunities associated with the sale of country food (subsistence-based food obtained through hunting, fishing, and gathering) provide a touchstone for ongoing debates about Inuit and non-Inuit identity in the Canadian Arctic, as well as how to respond to high rates of food insecurity and poverty that continue to affect many families and households in the region. Hunting, fishing, gathering, and sharing food are all considered typical of what Inuit do (or should do) but what non-Inuit typically don\u27t do. In this article, I examine what Inuit think of selling country food and why. Based on long term anthropological research on the cultural politics of food and foodways in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada, this article analyzes a range of perspectives concerning the sale of country food, revealing an array of symbols and stereotypes that undergird local beliefs about the cultural significance of country food and its link to the future of Inuit identity

Placing Identity: Town, Land, and Authenticity in Nunavut, Canada

Recent demographic changes have made settlement patterns in the Canadian Arctic increasingly urban. Iqaluit, capital of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut, is home to the largest concentration of Inuit and non-Inuit populations in the Canadian North. Despite these trends, Inuit cultural identity continues to rest heavily on the perception that to learn how to be authentically Inuit (or to be a better person), a person needs to spend time out on the land (and sea) hunting, fishing, trapping, and camping. Many Inuit also maintain a rather negative view of urban spaces in the Arctic, identifying them as places where Inuit values and practices have been eclipsed by Qallunaat (‘‘white people’’) ones. Some Inuit have even gone so far as to claim that a person is no longer able to be Inuit while living in towns like Iqaluit. This article examines those aspects of Canadian Inuit identity, culture, and tradition that disfavor the acceptance of an urban cultural identity. Based on ethnographic research conducted on Baffin Island in the mid 1990s and early 2000s, the many ways Iqaluit and outpost camp Inuit express the differences and similarities between living on the land and living in town are described. Then follows an examination of how the contrast of land and town is used in the rhetoric of Inuit politicians and leaders. Finally, a series of counterexamples are presented that favor the creation of an authentic urban Inuit identity in the Arctic, including recent attempts on the part of the Nunavut Territorial Government to make education and wage employment in the region more reliant on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or Inuit traditional knowledge.