"Inulariuyunga; Imngirnik quvigiyaqaqtunga!" - I'm a real Inuk; I love to sing! : interactions between music, inummariit, and belief in an Inuit community since resettlement
Arviat (previously Eskimo Point) is a small predominantly Inuit hamlet in Nunavut, which in 2006 had 2,060 residents. Like all other native communities in the Canadian north, Arviat has experienced, and is experiencing, tremendous change. The nomadic iglu-dwellers have become sedentary wage workers...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Memorial University of Newfoundland
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://research.library.mun.ca/8222/ https://research.library.mun.ca/8222/1/Combined.pdf |
| Summary: | Arviat (previously Eskimo Point) is a small predominantly Inuit hamlet in Nunavut, which in 2006 had 2,060 residents. Like all other native communities in the Canadian north, Arviat has experienced, and is experiencing, tremendous change. The nomadic iglu-dwellers have become sedentary wage workers and/or sophisticated harvesters of Arctic char and other natural resources. In spite of cultural and social change, Inuit feel a strong continuity between their past and present. Many born and raised on the land now occupy key economic, political, managerial, and educational positions within an administrative apparatus that did not even exist fifty-five years ago. Many Inuit accept change as it comes, and make modifications in their lifestyle and cultural habits based on their strong sense of Inuit identity. This strong sense of Inuit identity is based on an Inuit concept called inummariit, which translates as “real Inuit.” Most Inuit live by a belief system based on living like a “true Inuk.” How Inuit conceptualize living the “Inuit way” or inummariit is diverse and complex. Furthermore, inummariit identity is constantly changing. This can be seen in how Inuit have negotiated outside influences such as Christianity, fox trapping, media, technology, and syllabic reading and writing into the same body of Inuit traditional knowledge as hunting caribou, oral tradition, and survival on the land. This dissertation investigates the ways in which music, inummariit, and belief interact in the Inuit community of Arviat. It examines how Inuit belief systems have changed and developed in response to resettlement and colonialism using music as a portal to understand personal negotiations and transitions. To accomplish this goal, the musical stories of three generations of three musically oriented Inuit families are examined: the Illungiayoks, the Okatsiaks, and the Mamgarks. Using Bourdieu’s (1977) theory of generations and in particular his notion of habitus, I analyze stability and change in the music performed by Inuit in ... |
|---|