The Northern Copper Inuit: A History (Civilization of the American Indian)
Richard G. Condon,Julia Ogina,Holman Elders | 1900-01-01 00:00:00 | University of Oklahoma Press | 216 | First Nations
In Canada's far north, on the western coast of Victoria Island, the Copper Inuit people of Holman (the Ulukhaktokmiut) have experienced a rate of social and economic change rarely matched in human history. Owing to their isolated, inaccessible location, three hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, they were one of the last Inuit groups to be contacted by Western explorers, missionaries, and fur traders. Since contact, however, they have been transformed from a nomadic and independent, hunting-based society to one dependent upon southern material goods such as televisions, radios, snowmobiles, ATVs, and permanent residential housing provided by the Government of the Northwest Territories.Anthropologist Richard G. Condon witnessed many of these social, economic, and material changes during his eighteen years of research in the Holman community. With translator/research associate Julia Ogina and the elders of Holman, Condon vividly chronicles the history of the Holman region by combining observations of community change with extensive archival research and oral history interviews with community elders. This chronicle begins with a discussion of the prehistory of the Holman region, moves to the early and late contact periods, and concludes with a description of modern community life.The dramatic transformation of the Northern Copper Inuit is also reflected through nearly one hundred photographs and drawings that complement the text. Each chapter opens with a reproduction of one of the striking Holman prints, depicting scenes from traditional Copper Inuit life.
Reviews
The late Richard G. Condon was an anthropologist at the University of Arkansas and had a long association with the community of Holman in the Western Arctic. In this book, he and his local assistant Julia Ogina have given us an authoritative history of the Ulukhaktomiut (people of the Holman area) from prehistoric times to the present day.
What makes this book unique is the extensive interviews which Rick and Julia conducted with the Holman elders, in an attempt to record their memories and stories of long ago. Many of these interviews have been recorded in this book, with the result that we get a unique view of the development of the Holman area 'from both sides'; that is to say, utilising not only the records of European explorers but also the memories of the local inhabitants.
The book includes many photographs covering a time period from the days of Stefannson and Diamond Jenness (in the early years of the 20th century) through to the mid-1990's. Every effort has been made to identify the Inuit who are the subjects of these photographs.
As a former resident of Holman (I served as its Anglican minister from 1988-91), I found this book both accurate and enjoyable to read. My only regret is that Rick Condon's untimely death has brought his research in the area to an end.
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