‘Why Don’t they Get It? ’ Talk of Medicine as Science. St Luke’s Hospital, Panniqtuuq, Baffin Island

• Main Authors: Frank James Tester, Paule Mcnicoll
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canadian Arctic history; Inuit; medicine; colonisation; resistance; hospital; childbirth This article examines the tenure of Dr Jón Bildfell at St Luke’s Hospital; Panniqtuuq; Baffin; Arctic; Baffin Island; Qallunaat; inuit
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.129.6303; http://shm.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/19/1/87.pdf

Summary. Using diaries, clinical notes and other sources, this contribution explores interactions between Dr J. A. Bildfell and Inuit at Panniqtuuq, Baffin Island, in 1933 and 1934. The article comprises a record of conflict, with two cultures colliding over the provision of health care. Scientific and technological advances in medicine were perceived by Bildfell as possessing the potential to address many of the problems diagnosed among Inuit. However, there was strong resistance to his practices. Bildfell was therefore caught between the promise and potential of his profession and a suppressed admiration for local belief-systems. The paper highlights Inuit resistance, particularly in relation to childbirth. In addition, Bildfell’s writings are used to reveal how the construction of the ‘other ’ can be understood as a heuristic device to explain antipathy to the introduction of western medicine. In the longer term, the latter imbedded itself into Qallunaat (non-Inuit)–Inuit relations. The paper also shows that colonial styles of rule are relevant to an appreciation of the foundation of postcolonial challenges to medical science and the consciousness that continues to follow professionals working in cross-cultural settings.