Kilbourne, John

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Bridgewater ReviewVolume 22 | Issue 2 Article 7Dec-2003Arctic Diary: A Season Among the InuitJohn KilbourneBridgewater State CollegeThis item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.Recommended CitationKilbourne, John (2003). Arctic Diary: A Season Among the Inuit. Bridgewater Review, 22(2), 11-13.Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol22/iss2/7BRIDGEWATER REVIEW                                    DECEMBER 2003 11During the fall semester, 2001, my family—my wife,Elizabeth and I, and our two young children, Zoe andParker—spent several months living in the town ofIqaluit in the Canadian Arctic. The children attendedlocal schools, while Elizabethand I immersed ourselves inInuit culture to see what wecould learn.Although my immediate rea-son for undertaking thisunusual expedition was adesire to study the roots oftraditional games and sports,my wife and I also saw ourtrip to the Arctic as a person-al journey. Joe Robinson, inThe Utne Reader, talks aboutsuch journeys in a way thatwe find meaningful:“Real travelers today are inpursuit of the originalsources, in this case, placesthat haven’t been sanitized,ordered and commodified bymodern civilization. As weget nearer to these sources weuncover deeper rhythms,which anchor us to some-thing more than the nexthome entertainment purchase. Graham Greene calledthis a hankering for “a stage further back,” a “nostalgiafor something lost.” He hit on the heart of the matter,because the drive to live an authentic life is one of thestrongest of our psychological needs.”The Inuit people were most welcoming, and we learneda great deal about their traditional culture. One fasci-nating experience was our participation in a weeklongworkshop on traditional Inuit throat singing, taught bythree women elders. Since none of the instructors spokeEnglish, we learned by imitation. In this type of singing,Arctic Diary:A Season Among the Inuitby John Kilbourne  Above, John Kilbournepicking berries on theArctic tundra.Below, Frobisher Bay. ARCTIC DIARY: A SEASON AMONG THE INUIT  JOHN KILBOURNEthe sounds come from deep within the throat; themouth hardly moves.Through an interpreter, we were able to ask the instruc-tors about the meanings of their songs. They explainedthat traditional throat singing was performed bywomen, often when the men were away hunting.Many of the sounds imitate animal sounds, such asthose of gulls and geese. In addition to entertainment,the singing can take the form of competition, in whichtwo women sing facing one another and the first to loseher concentration or laugh must sit down. AnotherThis page:Above, Anglican Church (left) andNakasuk Elementary School indowntown Iqaluit. Below, John and ElizabethKilbourne on Frobisher Bay; temperature was 45 degreesbelow zero. Opposite page, clockwise fromtop left: Zoe and ElizabethKilbourne with Throat Singingteacher, elder Mary Siviuaripik;Inuksuk (Arctic rock sculpturesthat designate location and direc-tion); Parker Kilbourne with twofriends from the Nakasuk School.BRIDGEWATER REVIEW                                    DECEMBER 2003 13woman then stands up and challenges the winner. Thissinging game can go on for long periods of time.It was fascinating to watch the young Inuit womenlearning from their elders. Using touch, sound andsight, the teachers created an excellent learning environ-ment. The young women stood face to face with theelders, looked into their eyes, held their hands and arms,and imitated their sounds and movements. It was beau-tiful to observe. Another fascinating experience was a traditional Inuitpot-luck supper and dance. When we entered the hall, alarge blue tarp was spread out on the floor, covered withraw caribou, seal and arctic char. Piles of meat andinnards were placed on large squares of cardboard thatcovered the tarp like pieces of a puzzle. Walking throughthe maze were two women cutting the meat into small-er pieces with their ulu knives (half-moon shaped kniveswith a wooden or antler handles). The Inuit made usfeel perfectly welcome. We soon discovered that the modern world has intrudedon this traditional culture. Even in the remote Arctic,television has become ubiquitous. One of the friends wemet, a high school teacher who had lived in the area fornearly thirty years, told us that the materialism of tele-vision—fancy automobiles, showy clothing—has had anegative effect, particularly on poor people, who havebegun to express feelings of low self-esteem since televi-sion was introduced.The exposure to televised professional hockey has alsohad a negative impact: our friend informed us that thechange in the local sport was sudden and profound, asyoung Inuit boys began to imitate the violence of theplayers they saw on television. Throughout Iqaluit, hesaid, youth sport teachers and coaches noticed morephysical contact and violence and less sportsmanship. Our months among the Inuit provided many memo-rable experiences and gave us a great deal to thinkabout.—John Kilbourne is Associate Professor of Movement Arts,Health Promotion and Leisure Studies  

Arctic Diary: A Season Among the Inuit

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Arctic Diary: A Season Among the Inuit

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