Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North
The paper revisits a whale hunt that took place in the vicinity of the hamlet of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, in 1998. An eyewitness to the hunt, I wrote a Master’s thesis, “The Bowhead Whale Hunt at Kekerten, Nunavut Territory (July 1998),” giving a chronicle of its duration and preparation. The hunt was...
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crunivtoronpr:10.3138/topia.32.201 2023-12-31T10:04:02+01:00 Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North Dunne, D. Laurence 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/topia.32.201 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/topia.32.201 en eng University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies volume 32, page 201-228 ISSN 1206-0143 1916-0194 Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering journal-article 2015 crunivtoronpr https://doi.org/10.3138/topia.32.201 2023-12-01T08:18:08Z The paper revisits a whale hunt that took place in the vicinity of the hamlet of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, in 1998. An eyewitness to the hunt, I wrote a Master’s thesis, “The Bowhead Whale Hunt at Kekerten, Nunavut Territory (July 1998),” giving a chronicle of its duration and preparation. The hunt was undertaken by the Inuit as a way of dealing with a haunted piece of their past: the catastrophic aftermath of the presence of European whalers in the region in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which deeply challenged both the physical and cultural survival of the Inuit of the Eastern Arctic. The hunt was carried out at a significant site of memory/ lieu de mémoire: a former whaling station in proximity to the community. An important aspect of the Pangnirtung hunt was the assertion of Inuit collective identity in the claim of sovereignty over the management of bowhead whale stock in the months preceding the creation of Nunavut, in April 1999. Yet departing from conventional interpretations that would understand the Inuit as the recipients of a “gift” in a cycle of forgiveness and restitution (apology-as-discourse), I argue that the event itself was not the result, but the very substance of apology. Bringing the past forward into the present, the Inuit of Pangnirtung introduced an event as a critical requirement in undertaking the work of apology. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic bowhead whale inuit Nunavut Pangnirtung University of Toronto Press (U Toronto Press - via Crossref) TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies 32 201 228 |
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University of Toronto Press (U Toronto Press - via Crossref) |
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English |
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Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering |
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Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Dunne, D. Laurence Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North |
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Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering |
description |
The paper revisits a whale hunt that took place in the vicinity of the hamlet of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, in 1998. An eyewitness to the hunt, I wrote a Master’s thesis, “The Bowhead Whale Hunt at Kekerten, Nunavut Territory (July 1998),” giving a chronicle of its duration and preparation. The hunt was undertaken by the Inuit as a way of dealing with a haunted piece of their past: the catastrophic aftermath of the presence of European whalers in the region in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which deeply challenged both the physical and cultural survival of the Inuit of the Eastern Arctic. The hunt was carried out at a significant site of memory/ lieu de mémoire: a former whaling station in proximity to the community. An important aspect of the Pangnirtung hunt was the assertion of Inuit collective identity in the claim of sovereignty over the management of bowhead whale stock in the months preceding the creation of Nunavut, in April 1999. Yet departing from conventional interpretations that would understand the Inuit as the recipients of a “gift” in a cycle of forgiveness and restitution (apology-as-discourse), I argue that the event itself was not the result, but the very substance of apology. Bringing the past forward into the present, the Inuit of Pangnirtung introduced an event as a critical requirement in undertaking the work of apology. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dunne, D. Laurence |
author_facet |
Dunne, D. Laurence |
author_sort |
Dunne, D. Laurence |
title |
Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North |
title_short |
Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North |
title_full |
Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North |
title_fullStr |
Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North |
title_full_unstemmed |
Eyewitness to a Whale Hunt: Theory, Event, and Apology in the Inuit North |
title_sort |
eyewitness to a whale hunt: theory, event, and apology in the inuit north |
publisher |
University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/topia.32.201 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/topia.32.201 |
genre |
Arctic bowhead whale inuit Nunavut Pangnirtung |
genre_facet |
Arctic bowhead whale inuit Nunavut Pangnirtung |
op_source |
TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies volume 32, page 201-228 ISSN 1206-0143 1916-0194 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3138/topia.32.201 |
container_title |
TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies |
container_volume |
32 |
container_start_page |
201 |
op_container_end_page |
228 |
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1786828687360917504 |