The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner
This article argues that Igloolik Isuma’s first feature length film, Atanarjuat the Fast Runner, performs a meaningful reading of traditional Inuit legal systems, and puts time-honoured notions of customary law and Inuit social governance into practice. The process of conflict resolution is carefull...
Published in: | Journal of Canadian Studies |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
2018
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 |
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crunivtoronpr:10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 2023-12-31T10:08:28+01:00 The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner MacRae, Ian J. MacKinnon, Samantha 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 en eng University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) Journal of Canadian Studies volume 51, issue 3, page 547-570 ISSN 0021-9495 1911-0251 History Cultural Studies journal-article 2018 crunivtoronpr https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 2023-12-01T08:17:58Z This article argues that Igloolik Isuma’s first feature length film, Atanarjuat the Fast Runner, performs a meaningful reading of traditional Inuit legal systems, and puts time-honoured notions of customary law and Inuit social governance into practice. The process of conflict resolution is carefully depicted in the film, which is attentive to the processes of jurisprudence and to a range of possible outcomes. The movement toward a communal justice is shown in an elaborate, carefully detailed, step-by-step process (that still remains unobtrusive, and can be “missed” by some viewers). The film is formal and deliberate, and proceeds at a pace that enables the clear articulation of a specifically Inuit legal culture; it shows Inuit legal practitioners operating in ways that reveal Inuit legal principles in action. In restaging and recontextualizing a well-known narrative from Inuit oral tradition, Atanarjuat makes these local traditions of jurisprudence visible and accessible by relating them in modern form. The film does not leave these traditions and performative systems intact and in the past, however, but updates them for a contemporary audience and in dialogical relation to broader systems of contemporary justice in Canada. In this way Atanarjuat demonstrates Inuit legal systems, in practice, as being flexible, adaptable, and capable of being updated; it shows them struggling to maintain order and continuity in the face of violence and dispossession. This article suggests that Atanarjuat the Fast Runner effectively models performative jurisprudence and the interpretive nature of dialogical governance, and provides one situated, appropriate, culturally sensitive resource and model for contemporary conflict resolution and community governance in Inuit communities today. Article in Journal/Newspaper Igloolik inuit University of Toronto Press (U Toronto Press - via Crossref) Journal of Canadian Studies 51 3 547 570 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Toronto Press (U Toronto Press - via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crunivtoronpr |
language |
English |
topic |
History Cultural Studies |
spellingShingle |
History Cultural Studies MacRae, Ian J. MacKinnon, Samantha The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner |
topic_facet |
History Cultural Studies |
description |
This article argues that Igloolik Isuma’s first feature length film, Atanarjuat the Fast Runner, performs a meaningful reading of traditional Inuit legal systems, and puts time-honoured notions of customary law and Inuit social governance into practice. The process of conflict resolution is carefully depicted in the film, which is attentive to the processes of jurisprudence and to a range of possible outcomes. The movement toward a communal justice is shown in an elaborate, carefully detailed, step-by-step process (that still remains unobtrusive, and can be “missed” by some viewers). The film is formal and deliberate, and proceeds at a pace that enables the clear articulation of a specifically Inuit legal culture; it shows Inuit legal practitioners operating in ways that reveal Inuit legal principles in action. In restaging and recontextualizing a well-known narrative from Inuit oral tradition, Atanarjuat makes these local traditions of jurisprudence visible and accessible by relating them in modern form. The film does not leave these traditions and performative systems intact and in the past, however, but updates them for a contemporary audience and in dialogical relation to broader systems of contemporary justice in Canada. In this way Atanarjuat demonstrates Inuit legal systems, in practice, as being flexible, adaptable, and capable of being updated; it shows them struggling to maintain order and continuity in the face of violence and dispossession. This article suggests that Atanarjuat the Fast Runner effectively models performative jurisprudence and the interpretive nature of dialogical governance, and provides one situated, appropriate, culturally sensitive resource and model for contemporary conflict resolution and community governance in Inuit communities today. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
MacRae, Ian J. MacKinnon, Samantha |
author_facet |
MacRae, Ian J. MacKinnon, Samantha |
author_sort |
MacRae, Ian J. |
title |
The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner |
title_short |
The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner |
title_full |
The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner |
title_fullStr |
The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Sense of a Better Ending: Legal Pluralism and Performative Jurisprudence in Atanarjuat the Fast Runner |
title_sort |
sense of a better ending: legal pluralism and performative jurisprudence in atanarjuat the fast runner |
publisher |
University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 |
genre |
Igloolik inuit |
genre_facet |
Igloolik inuit |
op_source |
Journal of Canadian Studies volume 51, issue 3, page 547-570 ISSN 0021-9495 1911-0251 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2016-0005.r1 |
container_title |
Journal of Canadian Studies |
container_volume |
51 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
547 |
op_container_end_page |
570 |
_version_ |
1786841207536615424 |