Shamanism and Christianity in Arctic Culture (original) (raw)
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Polar Record 51 (260): 513–529 (2015), 2015
Arctic missionaries have been studied extensively as agents of change but the role of Inuit women in the adoption of Christianity has been largely overlooked. In this paper we discuss Inuit women who played an important role in the processes of evangelisation and conversion. We focus on the first converts in South Baffin Island as well as the cases of Teresikuluk, a young woman who tried to turn her relatives from shamanism to Christianity, and of Pelagie, the first Inuit nun, in the Kivalliq. The missionaries often presented these women as role models choosing the right path in contrast to other individuals who kept their 'pagan' that is shamanic traditions. For these Inuit women, Christianity was attractive as it freed them from many ritual restrictions, providing them with more freedom and power. Many women were among the first converts, but in most areas men took the leading roles as preachers and evangelists. It proved to be hard for women to pursue a religious career and here the constraints of their social roles played an important part.
The Transition from Shamanism to Russian Orthodoxy in Alaska
The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1996
CHAPTER 4: ECSTASY: p. (1) "Ecstasy" Defined. (2) Patristic Criteria for a Discernment between Ecstatic Experiences. (3) An Example of Discernment from the Field (Alaska). (4) Conclusions. CHAPTER 5: TRANSFORMATION, I: p. 223 (1) "Shamans" Defined. (2) An Ethnographic Perspective: Shamans-of-old in Southern Alaska. (3) A Social Perspective: Two Examples of Transformation. (4) Conclusions. CHAPTER 6: TRANSFORMATION, II. p. 254 (1) Biography of a Monastic Missionary, St. Herman of Alaska. (2) Sources for the Missionary's Attributes. (3) Definitions: Vocabulary in the Sources. (4) Selected Descriptions of the Attributes. (5) A Line of Tradition. (6) Conclusions. (7) Epilogue.
Armand Tagoona and the Arctic Christian Fellowship: The first Inuit church in Canada
Polar Record, 2019
Armand Tagoona (1926–1991) was born in Naujaat (Repulse Bay, Northwest Territories) in 1926, from an Inuk mother and a German father. Born as a Roman Catholic, he converted to Anglicanism. In 1969, he founded a new independent religious group affiliated to the Anglican Church in Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake, Northwest Territories): the Arctic Christian Fellowship (ACF). In this paper, we examine his life briefly as well as this very first “Inuit church” he created. We argue that Tagoona played the role of a mediator encompassing various religious traditions and various cultures at a time when solid boundaries separated all these institutions. In bridging them, Tagoona’s church turned to be very innovative and aimed at more religious autonomy, while being fundamentally guided by the words of God. Tagoona’s church carries conversionist, reformist and utopian aspects at the same time.
Perceptions of Decline: Inuit Shamanism in the Canadian Arctic
Ethnohistory 53:3 (Summer 2006), 2006
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries most explorers, whalers, and ethnographers perceived Inuit traditions, especially shamanism, to be in a state of decline. The assumption that Inuit culture was on the brink of disappearance constituted a classic topos in anthropology obscuring the dynamics of Inuit culture and society. This perspective was enhanced by focusing too much on the person of the shaman and underestimated the importance and strength of the ideological system and values involved. Qallunaat (white people) perspectives of decline contrast with Inuit perspectives valorizing the integration and incorporation of qallunaat culture. We compare classic descriptions of shamanism with recent testimonies of elders and demonstrate that, even today, shamanism is for many Inuit part of a wider cos-mology that is dynamic, open to innovation, and marked by strong continuity.