Inuit Shamanism And Christianity

Using archival material and oral testimony collected during workshops in Nunavut between 1996 and 2008, Frédéric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten provide a nuanced look at Inuit religion, offering a strong counter narrative to the idea that traditional Inuit culture declined post-contact. They show that setting up a dichotomy between a past identified with traditional culture and a present involving Christianity obscures the continuity and dynamics of Inuit society, which has long borrowed and adapted "outside" elements. They argue that both Shamanism and Christianity are continually changing in the Arctic and ideas of transformation and transition are necessary to understand both how the ideology of a hunting society shaped Inuit Christian cosmology and how Christianity changed Inuit shamanic traditions.

Using archival material and oral testimony collected during workshops in Nunavut between 1996 and 2008, Frédéric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten provide a nuanced look at Inuit religion, offering a strong counter narrative to the idea that traditional Inuit culture declined post-contact. They show that setting up a dichotomy between a past identified with traditional culture and a present involving Christianity obscures the continuity and dynamics of Inuit society, which has long borrowed and adapted "outside" elements. They argue that both Shamanism and Christianity are continually changing in the Arctic and ideas of transformation and transition are necessary to understand both how the ideology of a hunting society shaped Inuit Christian cosmology and how Christianity changed Inuit shamanic traditions.

First Published in 1993.This study seeks to analyze shamanism and initiation from the perspective of shamans, rather than from the laity's point of view. One of the aims of this research has been to get behind the shamans' language in order to understand their experiences.

In this new collection, Kenn Harper shares tales of Inuit and Christian beliefs and how these came to coexist--and sometimes clash--in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this period, Anglican and Catholic missionaries came to the North to proselytize among the Inuit, with often unexpected and sometimes tragic results. This collection includes stories of shamans and priests, hymns and ajaja songs, and sealskin churches, drawing on first-hand accounts to show how Christianity changed life in the North in big and small ways. This volume also includes dozens of rare, historical photographs.

Over the century between the first Oblate mission to the Canadian central Arctic in 1867 and the radical shifts brought about by Vatican II, the region was the site of complex interactions between Inuit, Oblate missionaries, and Grey Nuns – interactions that have not yet received the attention they deserve. Enriching archival sources with oral testimony, Frédéric Laugrand and Jarich Oosten provide an in-depth analysis of conversion, medical care, education, and vocation in the Keewatin region of the Northwest Territories. They show that while Christianity was adopted by the Inuit and major transformations occurred, the Oblates and the Grey Nuns did not eradicate the old traditions or assimilate the Inuit, who were caught up in a process they could not yet fully understand. The study begins with the first contact Inuit had with Christianity in the Keewatin region and ends in the mid-1960s, when an Inuk woman joined the Grey Nuns and two Inuit brothers became Oblate missionaries. Bringing together many different voices, perspectives, and experiences, and emphasizing the value of multivocality in understanding this complex period of Inuit history, Inuit, Oblate Missionaries, and Grey Nuns in the Keewatin, 1865–1965 highlights the subtle nuances of a long and complex interaction, showing how salvation and suffering were intertwined.

The authors explore the relationships between Inuit shamans and their ability to communicate with nonhuman beings like Sedna, the sea woman, and how this is reflected and expressed in Inuit art. The authors show that despite the current dominance of Christianity, contemporary Inuit art and culture are still powerfully shaped and influenced by the shamanic traditions of the past.