When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology
Abstract Inuit have been making miniatures for thousands of years, and they are still very attractive to many Inuit today. In this paper, we explore the intrinsic ambiguity of Inuit miniatures. They seem like innocent toys or ornaments, but turn out to have great transformative power. As toys, they...
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x 2024-06-02T08:09:31+00:00 When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology Laugrand, Frédéric Oosten, Jarich 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1548-1379.2008.00011.x https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Museum Anthropology volume 31, issue 2, page 69-84 ISSN 0892-8339 1548-1379 journal-article 2008 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x 2024-05-03T11:38:15Z Abstract Inuit have been making miniatures for thousands of years, and they are still very attractive to many Inuit today. In this paper, we explore the intrinsic ambiguity of Inuit miniatures. They seem like innocent toys or ornaments, but turn out to have great transformative power. As toys, they are instrumental in transforming children into adults; as ornaments, they may be charms or amulets; as amulets, they may be weapons against enemies; and as weapons or offerings, they may take life or generate it. Appearing as images of the world, they are in fact at its origin. Every living being traditionally derived its existence from a miniature image (the tarniq ). Miniatures evoke a play of deception, transforming what appears to be real into an image of the miniature. Article in Journal/Newspaper inuit Wiley Online Library Museum Anthropology 31 2 69 84 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Inuit have been making miniatures for thousands of years, and they are still very attractive to many Inuit today. In this paper, we explore the intrinsic ambiguity of Inuit miniatures. They seem like innocent toys or ornaments, but turn out to have great transformative power. As toys, they are instrumental in transforming children into adults; as ornaments, they may be charms or amulets; as amulets, they may be weapons against enemies; and as weapons or offerings, they may take life or generate it. Appearing as images of the world, they are in fact at its origin. Every living being traditionally derived its existence from a miniature image (the tarniq ). Miniatures evoke a play of deception, transforming what appears to be real into an image of the miniature. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Laugrand, Frédéric Oosten, Jarich |
spellingShingle |
Laugrand, Frédéric Oosten, Jarich When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology |
author_facet |
Laugrand, Frédéric Oosten, Jarich |
author_sort |
Laugrand, Frédéric |
title |
When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology |
title_short |
When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology |
title_full |
When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology |
title_fullStr |
When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology |
title_full_unstemmed |
When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology |
title_sort |
when toys and ornaments come into play: the transformative power of miniatures in canadian inuit cosmology |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1548-1379.2008.00011.x https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x |
genre |
inuit |
genre_facet |
inuit |
op_source |
Museum Anthropology volume 31, issue 2, page 69-84 ISSN 0892-8339 1548-1379 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x |
container_title |
Museum Anthropology |
container_volume |
31 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
69 |
op_container_end_page |
84 |
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1800755250278170624 |