A journey into Inuit Traditional Knowledge
The first collection of oral
history books published by Nunavut
Arctic College
is called Interviewing Inuit Elders. As
their titles indicate, each of these five books explores an important dimension
of Inuit Traditional Knowledge: An
Introduction to Traditional Knowledge, Child
Rearing Practices, Cosmology and
Shamanism, Perspectives on
Traditional Health, and Perspectives
on Traditional Law.
Knowledgeable elders from
different regions of Nunavut
were invited to Iqaluit where interviews with them were conducted in Inuktitut
by students of the Language and Culture Program, supervised by Susan Sammons.
Facilitators with relevant academic backgrounds, such as Frédéric Laugrand
(Laval University), Bernard Saladin d'Anglure (Laval University), Jaarich
Oosten (University of Leiden, Holland), and Michèle Therrien (National
Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations, France), guided the students
in preparing questions and conducting research on the content of the
interviews.
By asking relevant questions,
students and facilitators engaged in reconstructing Inuit concepts and
practices from a time when their way of life had been less impacted by foreign
influence. The elders being interviewed are some of the last witnesses of the
nomadic lifestyle, when Inuit families lived in isolated encampments and travelled
great distances with their sled dogs, by umiaq,
or on foot.
I think we have to begin thinking about where Inuit have come from and where we are going to go in the future. I think we are in a three way situation. We have to really think about this carefully for we have to plan ahead. We have to look to the past and look at where we were, we have to look where we are today. We see that people’s physical and mental well-being is deteriorating. We have to start reviving ourselves again.” Perspectives in Traditional Law, (Pages 34-35).
