Wolves in the Yukon Arctic: Encounters with Singular Beings
Old Crow, a small Vuntut Gwich’in community in the Yukon’s far north, is situated on a vast territory shared by a diverse population. Among its inhabitants is the wolf, a ruthless strategist. Hard to track in the bush, wolves are equally elusive in the stories humans tell of them. And yet they appea...
| Published in: | Études Inuit Studies |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
Consortium Erudit
2019
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/etudinuit/2017-v41-n1-2-etudinuit04714/1061442ar.pdf https://doi.org/10.7202/1061442ar https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/etudinuit/2015-v39-n1-etudinuit04714/1061442ar/ https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2960201089 https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1061442ar |
| Summary: | Old Crow, a small Vuntut Gwich’in community in the Yukon’s far north, is situated on a vast territory shared by a diverse population. Among its inhabitants is the wolf, a ruthless strategist. Hard to track in the bush, wolves are equally elusive in the stories humans tell of them. And yet they appear in many guises, provided the researcher lets go of preconceived ideas. A flexible and open approach matters all the more since wolves, as very careful animals, do not show themselves. What is at stake, then, is an ethnography of individuals with a radical alterity and inclined to remain invisible. Working with feeling becomes necessary here, at the crossroads of the human and the animal, the tangible and the intangible. This ethnographic experience takes us into a world without words, yet rich in meaning and information. À Old Crow, une petite communauté de Vuntut Gwich’in située aux confins du Yukon, s’étend un vaste territoire à la population variée. Parmi eux, se trouve un impitoyable stratège : le loup. Il est aussi difficile de suivre ses traces que celles qu’il laisse chez les humains qui le côtoient. Le loup se révèle alors de multiples manières, à condition que le chercheur s’éloigne de ses idées préconçues et qu’il adopte une certaine flexibilité. Cette flexibilité est d’autant plus nécessaire que les loups ne se montrent pas. Il s’agit alors de faire l’ethnographie d’individus à l’altérité radicale et qui demeurent invisibles. Ce terrain de recherche se situe donc à la croisée des chemins, de l’humain à l’animal, du tangible à l’intangible. Ces loups n’usent pas de mots et pourtant, cette expérience ethnographique nous plonge dans un univers sensible, riche de sens et d’informations. |
|---|