Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859
ABSTRACT This article critically examines the assumption that the men of Sir John Franklin's last Arctic expedition died because, influenced by the characteristic British cultural prejudices of their time, they refused to employ Inuit survival skills. Since no detailed records from this expedit...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2009
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247408007511 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247408007511 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247408007511 2024-03-03T08:41:39+00:00 Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859 Cavell, Janice 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247408007511 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247408007511 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 45, issue 1, page 25-35 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2009 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247408007511 2024-02-08T08:27:24Z ABSTRACT This article critically examines the assumption that the men of Sir John Franklin's last Arctic expedition died because, influenced by the characteristic British cultural prejudices of their time, they refused to employ Inuit survival skills. Since no detailed records from this expedition have ever been found, there is no direct evidence about the attitudes held or actions taken by its members. The article therefore draws on another source: the very extensive British periodical and newspaper coverage of the Franklin search. The writers who contributed to this literature knew even less than is now known about the events of the last Franklin expedition, but their speculations about the probable fate of the lost explorers reflect the beliefs about the Arctic and its people that prevailed at the time. Especially during the early 1850s, the great majority of periodical writers believed that Franklin and his men had gone native in order to survive. It is therefore evident that there was no cultural stigma attached to adopting the Inuit way of life in times of need. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic inuit Polar Record Cambridge University Press Arctic Polar Record 45 1 25 35 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
spellingShingle |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development Cavell, Janice Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859 |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
ABSTRACT This article critically examines the assumption that the men of Sir John Franklin's last Arctic expedition died because, influenced by the characteristic British cultural prejudices of their time, they refused to employ Inuit survival skills. Since no detailed records from this expedition have ever been found, there is no direct evidence about the attitudes held or actions taken by its members. The article therefore draws on another source: the very extensive British periodical and newspaper coverage of the Franklin search. The writers who contributed to this literature knew even less than is now known about the events of the last Franklin expedition, but their speculations about the probable fate of the lost explorers reflect the beliefs about the Arctic and its people that prevailed at the time. Especially during the early 1850s, the great majority of periodical writers believed that Franklin and his men had gone native in order to survive. It is therefore evident that there was no cultural stigma attached to adopting the Inuit way of life in times of need. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cavell, Janice |
author_facet |
Cavell, Janice |
author_sort |
Cavell, Janice |
title |
Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859 |
title_short |
Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859 |
title_full |
Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859 |
title_fullStr |
Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Going native in the north: reconsidering British attitudes during the Franklin search, 1848–1859 |
title_sort |
going native in the north: reconsidering british attitudes during the franklin search, 1848–1859 |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247408007511 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247408007511 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic inuit Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Arctic inuit Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 45, issue 1, page 25-35 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247408007511 |
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Polar Record |
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45 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
25 |
op_container_end_page |
35 |
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