Trail as Home: Inuit and Their Pan-Arctic Network of Routes

This paper provides ethnographic and historical evidence for the existence, in time and space, of a network of well-established trails connecting most Inuit settlements and significant places across the Canadian Arctic. The geographic and environmental knowledge relating to trails (and place names a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human ecology : an interdisciplinary journal 2009-04, Vol.37 (2), p.131-146
Main Author: Aporta, Claudio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Arctic Canada
Canada
Communication
Community structure
Culture
Ecology
Environmental Management
Exchange (Economics)
Geography
Historic trails
Historical Development
History
Hunters and gatherers
indigenous knowledge
Indigenous Populations
Inlets
Inuit
Knowledge
Native North Americans
Oral knowledge
Place names
Snow
Snowmobile trails
Snowmobiles
Social Sciences
Sociology
Trails
Transportation
Travel
Travelers
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Description
Summary:This paper provides ethnographic and historical evidence for the existence, in time and space, of a network of well-established trails connecting most Inuit settlements and significant places across the Canadian Arctic. The geographic and environmental knowledge relating to trails (and place names associated with the trails) has been orally transmitted through many generations of Inuit. I use historical documents, ethnographic research, and new geographic tools such as GPS, GIS and Google Earth, to show the geographic extent of the network and its historical continuity. I particularly draw on a trip following Inuit along a traditional trail connecting the communities of Iglulik and Naujaat (Repulse Bay). Inuit have made systematic use of the Arctic environment as a whole and trails are, and have been, significant channels of communication and exchange across the Arctic. There are some types of oral history and knowledge that can be accurately transmitted through generations, and I propose that some aspects of Inuit culture are better understood in terms of moving as a way of living.
ISSN:0300-7839
1572-9915
DOI:10.1007/s10745-009-9213-x