Abstracts
Abstract
This article questions the conceptual terms upon which Inuit hunting practices are deemed acceptable in current international seal regimes. Specifically, the article examines how Kalaallit–seal relations in Greenland unsettle Euro-American seal regimes. It argues that the current narratives of Inuit seal hunting as a “sustainable, subsistence” practice (e.g., European Commission 2016) risk coopting Indigenous worldviews to suit Western interpretations. While narratives of sustainability and subsistence may soothe European anti-sealing sentiments, they may not resonate with Inuit knowledges and practices. By engaging with fieldwork interviews with hunters in Greenland, this article suggests that Kalaallit ways of sensing, knowing, and engaging with seals reflect reciprocal, as well as complex, human–animal relations. Utilizing Métis/otipemisiw scholar Zoe Todd’s analytical framework of “fish pluralities” (2014), the article considers how seals may exist in Greenland in a “plurality of ways” that extend beyond a simple needs-based use of a natural resource
Keywords:
- Inuit knowledge,
- Kalaallit seal hunting,
- human–animal relations,
- EU seal regime,
- colonial narratives,
- decolonizing methodologies
Résumé
Cet article remet en question les termes conceptuels selon lesquels les pratiques de chasse inuit sont jugées acceptables dans les régimes internationaux actuels de chasse au phoque. Plus précisément, l’article examine la manière dont les relations entre les Kalaallit et les phoques au Groenland déstabilisent les régimes euro-américains de chasse au phoque. Il soutient que les récits actuels de la chasse au phoque inuit en tant que pratique « durable et de subsistance » (par exemple, la Commission européenne 2016) risquent de coopter les visions du monde autochtones pour les adapter aux interprétations occidentales. Si les récits de durabilité et de subsistance peuvent apaiser les sentiments européens anti-chasse aux phoques, ils peuvent ne pas résonner avec les connaissances et les pratiques inuit. En s’appuyant sur des entretiens menés sur le terrain avec des chasseurs au Groenland, cet article suggère que les manières Kalaallit de sentir, de connaître et de s’engager avec les phoques reflètent des relations réciproques, ainsi que des relations complexes, entre l’homme et l’animal. En utilisant le cadre analytique des « pluralités de poissons » de l’universitaire métisse/otipemisiw Zoe Todd (2014), l’article examine la façon dont les phoques peuvent exister au Groenland dans une « pluralité de manières » qui vont au-delà d’une simple utilisation d’une ressource naturelle basée sur les besoins.
Mots-clés:
- Savoirs inuit,
- chasse aux phoques des Kalaallit,
- relations homme-animal,
- régime européen des phoques,
- récits coloniaux,
- méthodologies de décolonisation
Appendices
References
- Arnaquq-Baril, Alethea, ed., 2016 Angry Inuk. Iqaluit, NT: National Film Board of Canada/Unikkaat Studios Inc.
- Banerjee, Subhabrata B., 2003 “Who Sustains Whose Development? Sustainable Development and the Reinvention of Nature.” Organization Studies 24 (1): 143–80.
- Cameron, Emilie, 2015 Far Off Metal River: Inuit Lands, Settler Stories, and the Making of the Contemporary Arctic. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Canadian Press, 2014 “Humane Society Says It Doesn’t Oppose Inuit Seal Hunt.” CBC News. April 8, 2014. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/humane-society-says-it-doesn-t-oppose-inuit-seal-hunt-1.2603306.
- CBC News, 2017 “PETA’s Anti-Commercial Sealing Videos ‘Devastating’ to Inuit, Critic Says.” CBC News. April 21, 2017. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/peta-anti-commercial-sealing-inuk-critic-1.4078713.
- Cruikshank, Julie, 1998 The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowledge in the Yukon Territory. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Cruikshank, Julie, 2005 Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters and Social Imagination. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Euractive, 2017 Seal of Approval: Greenland Fights Stereotypes on Inuit Hunt. Special Report. December 1–13, 2017. https://en.euractiv.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/special-report/EURACTIV-Special-Report-Seal-of-approval-Greenland-fights-stereotypes-on-Inuit-hunt.pdf.
- European Commission, 2016 “The EU Seal Regime.” Fact Sheet. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/biodiversity/animal_welfare/seals/pdf/factsheet/EN.pdf.
- European Union, 2015 “Regulation (EU) 2015/1775 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 October 2015 Amending Regulation (EC) No 1007/2009 on Trade in Seal Products and Repealing Commission Regulation (EU) No.737/2010.” Official Journal of the European Union L 262: 1–6. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32015R1775&from=EN.
- Fienup-Riordan, Ann, 1990 Eskimo Essays: Yup’ik Lives and How We See Them. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Fienup-Riordan, Ann, 1995 Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup’ik Eskimo Tradition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Fienup-Riordan, Ann, 2020 Nunakun-gguq Ciutengqertut/They Say They Have Ears through the Ground: Animal Essays from Southwest Alaska. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
- Gad, Ulrik P., Marc Jacobsen, and Jeppe Strandsbjerg, 2019 “Introduction: Sustainability as a Political Concept in the Arctic.” In The Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic: Reconfiguring Identity, Space and Time, edited by U.P Gad and J. Strandsbjerg, 1–18. New York: Routledge.
- Garde, Eva, 2013 Seals in Greenland: An Important Component of Culture and Economy. Copenhagen: WWF Verdensnaturfonden. http://awsassets.wwfdk.panda.org/downloads/seals_in_greenland__wwf_report__dec_2013.pdf.
- Government of Greenland, 2010a Redegørelse om Great Greenland A/S’ fremtid. Department of Fishing, Hunting and Agriculture, Greenland. https://naalakkersuisut.gl//~/media/Nanoq/Files/Publications/Fangst%20og%20fiskeri/DK/Udgivelser_FJA_Redegørelse%20om%20Great%20Greenlands%20fremtid_februar%202011_DK.pdf.
- Government of Greenland, 2010b Selvstyrets bekendtgørelse nr. 16 af 12. november 2010 om beskyttelse og fangst af saeler. Lov- og justitsafdelingen, Nuuk.
- Government of Greenland, 2012 Management and Utilization of Seals in Greenland (Revised).https://www.ft.dk/samling/20141/almdel/GRU/bilag/31/1512564.pdf.
- Government of Greenland, 2015 “Updated Data to: Management and Utilization of Seals in Greenland.” https://www.ft.dk/samling/20141/almdel/gru/bilag/31/1512565.pdf.
- Graugaard, Naja, 2019 “‘Without Seals, There Are No Greenlanders’: Colonial and Postcolonial Narratives of Sustainability and Inuit Seal Hunting.” In The Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic: Reconfiguring Identity, Space and Time, edited by U.P. Gad and J. Strandsbjerg, 74–93. New York: Routledge.
- Graugaard, Naja, 2020 “Tracing Seal: Unsettling Narratives of Kalaallit–Seal Relations.” PhD diss., Aalborg University. https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/332493608/PHD_Naja_Dyrendom_Graugaard_E_pdf.pdf.
- Graugaard, Naja, 2021 “Arctic Auto-Ethnography: Unsettling Colonial Research Relations.” In Collaborative Research Methods in the Arctic: Experiences from Greenland, edited by A. Merrild and C. Ren, 33–50. New York: Routledge.
- Grober, Ulrich, 2007 “Deep Roots: A Conceptual History of ‘Sustainable Development’ (Nachhaltigkeit).” Discussion Paper, Presidential Department P 2007-002, Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB). https://bibliothek.wzb.eu/pdf/2007/p07-002.pdf.
- Haraway, Donna, 1988 “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies 14 (3): 575–99.
- Hauptmann, Aviaja L., 2016 “Hit-and-run forskning i Grønland og forskningsetik.” Ingeniøren (blog). October 24, 2016. https://ing.dk/blog/hit-and-run-forskning-groenland-forskningsetik- 187727.
- Humane Society International, 2017 “Atlantic Canada’s Baby Seal Slaughter Begins.” Media release, April 11, 2017. https://www.hsi.org/news-media/atlantic-canada-baby-seal-commercial-slaughter-begins-041117/.
- Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), n.d. “Response from the Inuit Circumpolar Council on the EU Seal Skin Ban.” ICC. Accessed May 11, 2019. http://www.inuit.org/index.php?id=293&contUid=0.
- Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada (ICC Canada), 2015 “Exemptions Help But EU Seal Ban Must Go.” Press release, ICC, Office of the Chair. August 7, 2015. https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/press-releases/exemptions-help-but-eu-seal-ban-must-go/.
- IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), 2016 “Canada’s Commercial Seal Hunt: A Cruel, Unnecessary Waste.” http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/our-work/seals/canada%E2%80%99s-commercial-seal-hunt-cruel-unnecessary-waste.
- IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), 2017 “The East Coast Commercial Seal Hunt: Myth vs. Fact.” Uploaded April 7, 2017. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH7XoaJ5GEk.
- Inuit Sila, 2013 Inuit Sila. http://inuitsila.rglr.dk/.
- Kalland, Arne, 2009 Unveiling the Whale: Discourses on Whales and Whaling. New York: Berghahn Books.
- Kramvig, Britt, and Anne B. Flemmen, 2018 “Turbulent Indigenous Objects: Controversies around Cultural Appropriation and Recognition of Difference.” Journal of Material Culture 21 (1): 64–82.
- Krupnik, Igor, 2016 “From Boas to Burch: Eskimology Transitions.” In Early Inuit Studies: Themes and Transitions, 1850s–1980s, edited by Igor Krupnik, 1–30. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
- Kuokkanen, Rauna, 2007 Reshaping the University: Responsibility, Indigenous Epistemes, and the Logic of the Gift. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Laugrand, Frédéric, and Jarich Oosten, 2014 Hunters, Predators and Prey: Inuit Perceptions of Animals. New York: Berghahn Books.
- Lynge, Finn, 1992 Arctic Wars, Animal Rights, Endangered Peoples. Dartmouth: University Press of New England.
- Marquardt, Ole, 1999a “A Critique of the Common Interpretation of the Great Socio-Economic Crisis in Greenland 1850–1880: The Case of Nuuk and Qeqertarsuatsiaat.” Études Inuit Studies 32 (1–2): 9–34.
- Marquardt, Ole, 1999b “An Introduction to Colonial Greenland’s Economic History.” In From Sealing to Fishing: Social and Economic Change in Greenland, 1850–1940, edited by O. Marquardt, P. Holm, and D. Starkey, 7–17. Esbjerg: Fiskeri og Søfartsmuseets Forlag.
- Nadasdy, Paul, 2003 Hunters and Bureaucrats: Power, Knowledge and Aboriginal State Relations in the Southwest Yukon. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- Nuttall, Marc, 2016 “Living in a World of Movement: Human Resilience to Environmental Instability in Greenland.” In Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions, edited by M. Nuttall and S. Crate 292–310. New York: Routledge.
- O’Connor, Kevin, Duskin Drum, and Paulette Metuq, 2017 “Wear Qisi-Become Seal.” Performance Research 22 (2): 20–26.
- Peter, Aaju, Myna Ishulutak, Julia Shaimayuk, Nancy Kisa, Bernice Kootoo, and Susan Enuaraq, 2002 “The Seal: An Integral Part of Our Culture.” Études Inuit Studies 1 (26): 167–74.
- Petterson, Christina, 2014 The Missionary, the Catechist and the Hunter: Foucault, Protestantism and Colonialism. Leiden: Brill.
- Prudham, Scott, 2009 “Commodification.” In A Companion to Environmental Geography, edited by N. Castree, D. Demeritt, D. Liverman, and B. Rhoads, 123–42. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Rasmussen, Rasmus O., 2005. Analyse af Fangererhvervet i Grønland. Government of Greenland. https://naalakkersuisut.gl/~/media/Nanoq/Files/Publications/Fangst%20og%20fiskeri/DK/Udgivelser_FJA_Analyse%20af%20fangererhvervet%20i%20Grønland_2005_DK.pdf.
- Rink, Hinrich J., 1862 Om Aarsagen til Grønlaendernes og lignende af Jagt levende, Nationers Materielle Tilbagegang ved Berøringen med Europaeerne. Universitetsbiblioteket, Lauge Kochs Samling. Digitized by the Danish Royal Library, Copenhagen.
- Rodgers, Kathleen, and Willow Scobie, 2015 “Sealfies, Seals and Celebs: Expressions of Inuit Resilience in the Twitter Era.” Interface 7 (1): 70–97.
- Roepstorff, Andraes, 2003 “Clashing Cosmologies: Contrasting Knowledge in the Greenlandic Fishery.” In Imagining Nature: Practices of Cosmology and Identity, edited by Andraes Roepstorff, Niles Bubandt, and Kalevi Kull, 117–42. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.
- Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu, 2011 Grønlands saeler. Nuuk: Ilinniusiorfik Undervisningsmiddelforlag/Pinngortitaleriffik.
- Rud, Søren, 2006 “Erobringen af Grønland: Opdagelsesrejser, etnologi og forstanderskab i attenhundredetallet.” Historisk Tidsskrift 2 (106): 488–520.
- Sejersen, Frank, 2002 “Fanget i fangerkulturen.” Information. March 14, 2002. https://www.information.dk/2002/03/fanget-fangerkulturen.
- Sejersen, Frank, 2003 Grønlands naturforvaltning: Ressourcer og fangstrettigheder. København: Akademisk.
- Sellheim, Nikolas, 2015 “The Neglected Tradition?: The Genesis of the EU Seal Products Trade Ban and Commercial Sealing.” The Yearbook of Polar Law, no. 5, 417–50.
- Skydsbjerg, Henrik, 1999 Grønland: 20 år med Hjemmestyre. Nuuk: Atuagkat.
- Sonne, Birgitte, 2017 Worldviews of the Greenlanders: An Inuit Arctic Perspective. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press.
- Statistics Greenland, 2016 “Fiskeri, fangst og landbrug.” 2016 statistisk årbog. http://www.stat.gl/publ/da/SA/201607/pdf/2016%20statistisk%20årbog.pdf.
- Straits Times, 2014 “WTO Rejects Canada, Norway Appeal against EU Seal Import Ban.” May 23, 2014. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/africa/wto-rejects-canada-norway-appeal-against-eu-seal-import-ban.
- Thisted, Kirsten, 2019 “‘How We Use Our Nature’—Sustainability and Indigeneity in Greenlandic Discourse.” In The Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic: Reconfiguring Identity, Space and Time, edited by U.P. Gad and J. Strandsbjerg, 178–94. New York: Routledge.
- Thomsen, Hanne, 1998 Aegte grønlaendere og nye grønlaendere. Den jyske historiker, no. 81, 21–55.
- Todd, Zoe, 2014 “Fish Pluralities: Human-Animal Relations and Sites of Engagement in Paulatuuq, Arctic Canada.” Études Inuit Studies 38 (1–2): 217–38.
- WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development), 1987 Our Common Future, Report from the “Brundtland” World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Whatmore, Sarah, 2002 Hybrid Geographies: Natures Cultures Spaces. London: SAGE Publications.
- Wenzel, George W., 1991 Animal Rights, Human Rights: Ecology, Economy and Ideology in the Canadian Arctic. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Wenzel, George W., 1996 “Inuit Sealing and Subsistence Management after the EU Sealskin Ban.” Geographische Zeitschrift 84 (3–4): 130–42.
