The Traditional Sources of Lana Hansen’s Greenlandic Environmental Commitment

• Main Author: Chartier, Daniel
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Groenland; Greenland; Inuit; Littérature; Literature; Lana Hansen; Sila; Nuna; Sedna; Traditional Inuit figures; Personnages inuits traditionnels; Écologie; environnement; changements climatiques Ecology; Climate Change; Environment; greenlandic; inuit; inuits
• Online Access: http://archipel.uqam.ca/15581/1/222059971.pdf

Indigenous cultures have an integrated relationship with nature, and do not view it in opposition to culture, nor do they consider humans as separate from the environment. For example, the concepts of nuna and sila and the figure of Sedna, at the basis of the traditional Inuit thought, decenter the role of humans in the living world. In 2009, Greenlandic author Lana Hansen published a »tale about climate change«, Sila . She calls for a holistic view, using concepts that encompass humans, animals, languages, spirits, memories, plants, and resources. This article aims to review the context of publication of Hansen’s tale from a point of view of Greenlandic and Inuit literature and to examine the traditional sources that it brings into play.