Inuit hunting traditions are rich in perceptions, practices and stories relating to animals and human beings. The authors examine key figures such as the raven, an animal that has a central place in Inuit culture as a creator and a trickster, and qupirruit, a category consisting of insects and other small life forms. After these non-social and inedible animals, they discuss the dog, the companion of the hunter, and the fellow hunter, the bear, considered to resemble a human being. A discussion of the renewal of whale hunting accompanies the chapters about animals considered ‘prey par excellence’: the caribou, the seals and the whale, symbol of the whole. By giving precedence to Inuit categories such as ‘inua’ (owner) and ‘tarniq’ (shade) over European concepts such as ‘spirit ‘and ‘soul’, the book compares and contrasts human beings and animals to provide a better understanding of human-animal relationships in a hunting society.
Table des matières
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. Theoretical Perspectives
Chapter 2. The Animals and Their Environment
Chapter 3. Becoming A Good Hunter
Life and Death
Chapter 4. The Raven, The Bringer of Light
Chapter 5. Qupirruit, Masters of Life And Death
Fellow Hunters
Chapter 6. The Dog, Partner of The Hunter
Chapter 7. The Bear, A Fellow Hunter
Prey
Chapter 8. The Caribou, The Lice of The Earth
Chapter 9. Seals, The Offspring of The Sea Woman
Chapter 10. The Whale, Representing The Whole
Comparison and Conclusions
Appendix I: Inuit Elders
Glossary of Inuktitut Words
References
Index
A propos de l’auteur
Jarich Oosten (1945-2016) was Emeritus Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He was author of The War of the Gods: The Social Code in Indo-European Mythology (Routledge and Kegan, 1985). He and Frédéric Laugrand co-edited books in three different series at the Nunavut Arctic College. The two co-authored Apostle to the Inuit (University of Toronto Press, 2006), The Sea Woman (Alaska University Press, 2009) and Hardships of the Past: Recollections of Arviat Elders (2011).
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