Evolving Knowledge

Interview with Inuk artist Barry Pottle from Nunatsiavut in Labrador (Rigolet). Photographs are selected from ten years of photography based on his experiences and observations as an urban Inuk. This conversation provides insight into Pottle’sphotographic practice, particularly the artist’s process of learning the art and technical processes of photography and why his photographs matter in the process of Canadians facing their complicities in Canada’s ongoing colonialism. Pottle’s practice produces unique knowledge about Inuit culture and history through his eyes as an urban Inuk photographer.

Educating for Cultural Survival in Nunavut: Why Haven’t We Learned from the Past?

This is a paper about the culture of the Inuit in the Nunavut Territory of the Canadian Arctic, and the role that education should take in preventing its slow dilution, demise, and loss. The measures to be taken are evident. Inuit philosophy (Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit) must be the framework, and Inuit must be in control, not only of policy and curricula, but also of the school system, the schools, and the classrooms. It can take decades for outsiders embedded in a different culture to communicate and see through an unfamiliar worldview. Inuit do not have the luxury of time to wait for this to happen. Non-Inuit need to understand what Inuit are saying, to appreciate what they aim to achieve, and then get out of the way. If this is not done, the Inuit culture will go the way of so many other Indigenous cultures that once flourished. It’s inconceivable that we non-Inuit Canadians are willing not only to watch this happen but continue to be the cause.

Pikkunaqtuq and Footsteps into the Future

This chapter examines the challenges faced by Inuit youth today. It reviews approaches that are beneficial to Inuit and indigenous youth. A number of Inuit adults are interviewed about their views of the future of Inuit youth. In addition, the chapter discusses themes that emerged from speaking with Inuit and non-Inuit. Parenting has changed remarkably, and many said that youth and adults should spend more time together and speak more with each other. Today, Inuit youth and adults are basically ignoring each other. Schools and education should be improved, made more relevant to Inuit youth. Inuit culture is also very important for Inuit youth, and they benefit greatly by learning about and practicing their culture.

Kiviuq and the Mermaids by N. McDermott

McDermott, Noel. Kiviuq and the Mermaids. Illus. Tom Feizo Gas. Inhabit Media, 2016.Following his previous works on Inuit culture including Akinirmut Unipkaaqtuat: Stories of Revenge (2006), and Unikkaaqtuat: Traditional Inuit Stories (2015), Noel McDermott, a retired professor of literature at Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit, Nunavut, focuses on one of the greatest and most important characters appearing in traditional stories of Inuit culture, Kiviuq, in Kiviuq and the Mermaids, a book for young readers.The story begins with a Grandfather speaking directly to the reader, introducing Kiviuq and his wandering life to newcomers and then getting directly into the action, wherein Kiviuq narrowly survives a storm during a seal hunt and is left alone at sea. Here he meets a tuutalik (mermaid) but it doesn’t go well at all as it begins to taunt Kiviuq and what begins as a strange encounter quickly becomes a matter of life and death.The story is an excellent introduction to one of the key figures in traditional Inuit stories, and the action, brought to life by Illustrator Toma Feizo Gas is both entrancing and sometimes quite frightening. Themes of personal responsibility, self-reliance and man versus nature work to introduce the reader to the character and promises of further stories may even have readers doing their own research into other stories of Kiviuq. A glossary of Inuktitut terms at the end of the book include a pronunciation guide and the story itself would work well for young students interested in the traditional stories of Canada’s Inuit peoples.Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Kirk MacLeodKirk is the Open Data Team Lead for the Government of Alberta’s Open Government Portal. A Life-Long reader, he moderates two book clubs and is constantly on the lookout for new great books!