New ebooks From Canadian Indies
Description
Kiumajut [Talking Back]: Game Management and Inuit Rights 1900-70 examines Inuit relations with the Canadian state, with a particular focus on two interrelated issues. The first is how a deeply flawed set of scientific practices for counting animal populations led policymakers to develop policies and laws intended to curtail the activities of Inuit hunters. Animal management informed by this knowledge became a justification for attempts to educate and, ultimately, to regulate Inuit hunters. The second issue is Inuit responses to the emerging regime of government intervention. The authors look closely at resulting court cases and rulings, as well as Inuit petitions. The activities of the first Inuit community council are also examined in exploring how Inuit began to “talk back” to the Canadian state.
About the Authors
Peter Kulchyski grew up in northern Manitoba and was one of the few non-Aboriginal students to attend a government-run residential high school. He has a PhD from York University and is a senior Canadian scholars in Native Studies. He is the co-editor of In the Words of the Elders: Aboriginal Cultures in Transition and co-author of Tammarniitt [Mistakes]: Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic, which won the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize of the American Society for Ethnohistory.
FRANK TESTER is a writer, filmmaker, researcher and photographer who has worked extensively in the eastern Arctic with Inuit youth and communities. Frank has worked for the Qikiqtani Truth Commission and the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His books include Tammarniit (Mistakes), for which he was awarded the Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize. He is also a recipient of the Gustavus Myers Award for his contribution to the study of human rights in North America and the W. Garfield Weston Foundation Trustee’s Award in recognition of his work with Inuit youth and Elders. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Department of Indigenous Studies, University of Manitoba. Frank lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Contributor Notes
Peter Kulchyski is a professor in the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba, co-author with Frank Tester of Tammarniit [Mistakes]: Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic 1939-63, and author of Like the Sound of a Drum: Aboriginal Cultural Politics in Denendeh and Nunavut. Frank James Tester is a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia and is the co-author of Tammarniit [Mistakes] and co-editor of Critical Choices: Turbulent Times.
Editorial Review
This book is a rich story, weaving together the elements of policy and people. […] The case study approach and choice of the Inuit is of particular value in that it clearly identifies the limits of “objective” science and makes the case for what is now accepted as the importance of traditional knowledge. […] Though this book is not intended as a cautionary tale for current policy makers, it will be of interest to academics, students and policymakers alike as it sheds light on the challenges and conflicts ever-present in regulating Aboriginal people.
— Gabrielle Slowey, TOPIA, Issue 20
