Quaqtaq: modernity and identity in an Inuit community

Abstract

How, in a world that is drastically changing, can the Inuit preserve their identity? Louis-Jacques Dorais explores this question in Quaqtaq, the first ethnography of a contemporary Canadian Inuit community to be published in over twenty-five years. The community of Quaqtaq is a small village on Hudson Strait where hunting and gathering are still the mainstays of life. In this description of Quaqtaq, based on data collected over a thirty-year period, we get a glimpse of its early cultural history, its development into a settled community, and its present realities. Dorais identifies three principal manifestations of local identity - kinship, religion, and language - that persist despite the brutal intrusion of modernity. He concludes by examining the role politics and education have played in the relationship between Quaqtaq and the outside world. Quaqtaq is a unique and important study that will be of interest to scholars, administrators, and citizens of Inuit and other native communities.