Learning the land : an intergenerational study of Inuit knowing ...

• Main Author: Greene, Ezra Anton
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2021
• Subjects: Chesterfield Inlet; Hudson Bay; inuit; Kivalliq; Nunavut; Rankin Inlet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0397479; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0397479

This dissertation explores ways in which knowledge of and relationships with the land have been transmitted, generated, and elaborated by multiple generations of Inuit in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. The land, here, entails the physical landscapes of ground, water, and ice as well as the living environment of plants, people, and animals including metaphysical beings. Based on anthropological research with Inuit living in Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet, located on the western shores of the Hudson Bay, I describe how Elders and adults in these communities have learned and passed on knowledge of the land from generation to generation. My methods include interviews, mapping people’s lived experiences, and participant observation of life in communities and on the land. Throughout this dissertation, I draw on theories of education and upbringing elaborated by Inuit. These include inunnguiniq (the making of a human being) and Mariano Aupilarjuk’s interconnected triad of inuusiqattiarniq (personhood), ...