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Connections with the land

Land-skills courses in Igloolik, Nunavut

University of Edinburgh, UK

This article focuses on an Inuit elders' ‘land-skills training course’ to explore its meanings regarding the concept of connection with the land, with particular reference to transmitting knowledge. While it is said that Inuit have close relationships with nature, their present attempts to ‘bond’ young people with the land have not been extensively examined. The study revealed a dilemma in contemporary Inuit society concerning what they should know and how they should be, at a time when traditional modes of knowledge transmission among extended family members were not functioning well. The course rationale was to guide young people to ‘be and become an Inuk’, the core of this being establishing a connection to the land. The formal school system was perceived as not delivering what community members considered to be important. A proper relationship with the land is directly linked to sustainability, and the land-skills course was the Inuit's response to questions about a sustainable future.

Key Words: knowledge transmission • Inuit • place • environmental education • sustainability

Ethnography, Vol. 6, No. 4, 463-486 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1466138105062472


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