How, in a world that is drastically changing, can the Inuit preserve their identity? Louis-Jacques Dorais explores this question in Quaqtaq, the first ethnography of a contemporary Canadian Inuit community to be published in over twenty-five years. The community of Quaqtaq is a small village on Hudson Strait where hunting and gathering are still the mainstays of life. In this description of Quaqtaq, based on data collected over a thirty-year period, we get a glimpse of its early cultural history, its development into a settled community, and its present realities. Dorais identifies three principal manifestations of local identity - kinship, religion, and language - that persist despite the brutal intrusion of modernity. He concludes by examining the role politics and education have played in the relationship between Quaqtaq and the outside world. Quaqtaq is a unique and important study that will be of interest to scholars, administrators, and citizens of Inuit and other native communities.
- ISBN10 0802041051
- ISBN13 9780802041050
- Publish Date 17 May 1997
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 22 June 2015
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint University of Toronto Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 160
- Language English