Early Ethnography in the American Arctic - Tristes Arctiques

This book offers a portrait of early ethnographic work in the American Arctic, with a focus on understanding the mutual constitution of the Inuit and their early ethnographers. It draws mainly on a rich repository of written testimonies from the early twentieth century, the 'great ethnographic period' when new scholarly interest in the region took off. Supplementing the movements and observations of whalers, traders, and missionaries, the early chroniclers offered new knowledge of Inuit life. Although their descriptions of the Inuit bear the marks of their time, the texts have left a deep mark on later developments and contributed to a long-lasting view of human life in the Arctic. The chapters show the infiltration of lives and landscapes, of thoughts and materials, of Inuit and ethnographers. The book will be relevant to anthropologists as well as historians, geographers, and others with an interest the Arctic region and Indigenous studies.

List of contents

Prologue: The Great Ethnographic Period in the American Arctic
1 The New World: Anthropologists in the Wilderness
2 Late Arrivals: Strangers in the North
3 Moving Frontiers: Life in the Indeterminate Zone
4 Animal Companions: The Precariousness of the Hunt
5 Vital Materials: The Agency of Things
6 Human Terrains: A Mutable Landscape
7 Close Quarters: Intimacy and Travelling Theory
8 Emerging Subjects: Bodies in the Cold
9 Elusive Arctic: Ancient Steps and Future Traces

About the author

Kirsten Hastrup is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Summary

This book offers a portrait of early ethnographic work in the American Arctic, with a focus on understanding the mutual constitution of the Inuit and their early ethnographers.

Product details

• Authors: Kirsten Hastrup, Hastrup Kirsten
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 11.09.2023
• EAN: 9781032416328
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3241632-8
• No. of pages: 258
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Alaska, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography, Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection, Northwest Territories, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Environmental Policy, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Environmentalist thought & ideology, Social and cultural history, Social and cultural anthropology, History of the Americas, Human Geography, Environmentalist thought and ideology, Arctic regions