Quaqtaq

Dorais examines how the Inuit community of Quaqtaq, a small village on Hudson Strait, has managed to preserve its identity in the modern world. He points to three things: kinship, religion, and language.

Inuit Women is the definitive study of the Inuit during a time of rapid change. Based on fourteen years of research and fieldwork, this analysis focuses on the challenges facing Inuit women as they enter the twenty-first century. Written shortly after the creation of Nunavut, a new province carved out of traditional Inuit homelands in the Canadian North, this compelling book combines conclusions drawn from the authors' ethnographic research with the stories of Inuit women and men, told in their own words. In addition to their presentation of the personal portraits and voices of many Inuit respondents, Janet Mancini Billson and Kyra Mancini explore global issues: the impact of rapid social change and Canadian resettlement policy on Inuit culture; women's roles in society; and gender relations in Baffin Island, in the Eastern Arctic. They also include an extensive section on how the newly created territory of Nunavut is impacting the lives of Inuit women and their families. Working from a research approach grounded in feminist theory, the authors involve their Inuit interviewees as full participants in the process. This book stands alone in its attention to Inuit women's issues and lives and should be read by everyone interested in gender relations, development, modernization, globalization, and Inuit culture.

This book presents a study of the development of time reference in young children acquiring Inuktitut as a first language. The first such study of an Eskimo-Aleut language, its account of children's development of time reference in a system that is fundamentally different from those found in languages previously studied makes a unique contribution to the literature on the acquisition of tense and aspect. Drawing on longitudinal spontaneous speech data from eight Inuit children between 2 and 3-and-a-half years old, this study analyzes the temporal structures, their meanings and context of use in children's communicative interactions with siblings, peers and caretakers during the early stages of language development. The comprehensive study of previously unexplored temporal phenomena and its unprecedented findings makes this book an important resource for researchers, teachers and students of child language development, especially the development of time reference. In addition, the documentation of the Inuktitut temporal system, especially as used in conversational speech, will be of interest to researchers of time reference.

--A fresh new look at adventure, survival and faith-- from a recipient of the Explorers Club Award. Adventure is in his blood. He has the explorer’s curiosity, the will to survive, and the faith to persevere. An engaging writing style, with at times, humorous observations, animates his adventures in remote landscapes in Canada. Through David Friesen’s archaeological and teaching projects, he discovered the wonders of the people, wildlife and landscapes of the far northern wilderness and, at the same time, the inner spirit that drives him. Vivid descriptions of strange (to him) cuisine (such as bear meat and miserak) and innovative recipes (lichen shrimp soup) season many stories. David’s boundless curiosity, evolving relationships with First Nations leaders, and personal stamina led him to persist in the building of a pithouse in northern British Columbia to replicate the dwellings of early Ulkatcho Carrier people. Living in the pithouse over several winters, he keenly observed the wildlife and scenery around him, and survived by living off the land. His solitary existence drew inspiration from the landscape, spiritual songs, scripture passages and his own poetic expressions. In the Arctic, he encountered a rugged lifestyle as he taught map and compass skills to Inuit youth, learning traditional navigational skills along the way. A perilous kayaking trip along the British Columbia north coast punctuated a three month trip, facing a fierce storm and many other challenges.

This book considers both the present state of Arctic shipping and possible future trends with reference to the various sectors of maritime transportation: cruise tourism, container traffic and bulk shipping. Ports are analysed as tools that support the strategies of coastal states to foster the development of resource extraction, enhance the attractiveness of Arctic shipping lanes and enable the control of maritime activities through coast guard deployment. The aim of this book is to draw a picture of the trends of Arctic shipping. How is traffic evolving in Canada’s Arctic, or along the Northern Sea Route? Are there significant differences between bulk and container shipping segments when considering the Arctic market? How are the ports and the hinterland developing and what are the strategies behind those? How is the legal framework shaping the evolution of maritime transportation? The contributors to this book consider all of these questions, and more, as they map out the prospects for Arctic shipping and analyse in detail the development of Arctic shipping as a result of multi-variable interactions. This book will be key reading for industry professionals and post-graduate students alike.

This book discusses the first language acquisition of three morphosyntactic mechanisms of transitivity alternation in arctic Quebec Inuktitut. Data derive from naturalistic longitudinal spontaneous speech samples collected over a nine-month period from four Inuit children. Both basic and advanced forms of passive structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to English-speaking children, but consistent in age with speakers of non-Indo-European languages reported on in the literature; potential explanations of this difference include frequency of caregiver input and details of language structure. Morphological causatives appear slightly later in the acquisition sequence, and their first instances reflect use of unanalyzed routines. Lexical causatives are present from the earliest ages studied. Evidence of a period of overgeneralization of lexical causatives in one subject at the same time as the morphological causative shows signs of being productively acquired suggests that the seeming overgeneralization may reflect nothing more than as yet unstable use of the morphological causative. Noun incorporation structures are shown to be used productively by Inuktitut-speaking children at an early age relative to Mohawk-speaking children; potential explanations of this difference include details of language structure and relative language use in the environments of the learners. Findings are considered in light of current debates in the literature concerning continuity versus maturation of grammatical structure, and concerning the functional categories available to the child at early stages of acquisition. Data presented argue against late maturation, and suggest that all functional categories may be accessed by the Inuktitut-speaking child early in the acquisition process.

Drummond (law, McGill U.) focuses on the delivery of justice in Inuit communities in northern Quebec in order to investigate the complexities and contradictions of accommodation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal legal systems. She argues that the conflicts project an incommensurability between underlying cultural codes, and reflects on intercultural history, concepts of identity and belonging, and communication across cultures and genders. Canadian card order number: C97-900716-x. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Like any other subject, the study of religion is a child of its time. Shaped and forged over the course of the twentieth century, it has reflected the interests and political situation of the world at the time. As the twenty-first century unfolds, it is undergoing a major transition along with religion itself. This volume showcases new work and new approaches to religion which work across boundaries of religious tradition, academic discipline and region. The influence of globalizing processes has been evident in social and cultural networking by way of new media like the internet, in the extensive power of global capitalism and in the increasing influence of international bodies and legal instruments. Religion has been changing and adapting too. This handbook offers fresh insights on the dynamic reality of religion in global societies today by underscoring transformations in eight key areas: Market and Branding; Contemporary Ethics and Virtues; Intimate Identities; Transnational Movements; Diasporic Communities; Responses to Diversity; National Tensions; and Reflections on ‘Religion’. These themes demonstrate the handbook’s new topics and approaches that move beyond existing agendas. Bringing together scholars of all ages and stages of career from around the world, the handbook showcases the dynamism of religion in global societies. It is an accessible introduction to new ways of approaching the study of religion practically, theoretically and geographically.