Temporal constructs and inuit mental health

• Main Authors: Christie, Laird, Halpern, Joel M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Arctic; inuit
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(88)90260-2

This paper suggests that changes in temporal constructs and disjunctures between the 'technical time' perspective of Canadian Arctic settlements and the indigenous cyclical and linear temporal orientation of Inuit peoples relate to increasing incidence of psycho- and sociopathologies in these communities. It argues that loss of community integration through the replacement of Inuit historical linear time perspectives by Eurocanadian settlement history, and dissociation from the land and its seasonally cyclical migratory and exploitive patterns are of particular significance for the younger, settlement-born, temporally marginalized Inuit who constitute the highest risk population for mental ill-health. mental health Inuit time sociocultural change