25 September 2017: Lecture Sean Desjardin

In much of the Canadian Arctic, Inuit are roughly 60 years removed from a highly-mobile lifestyle organized around seasonal hunting of caribou and sea-mammals, such as ringed seals and walruses. Hunting remains a culturally important and economically sustaining activity for many in the North. However, much about the sustainability of Indigenous hunting economies is poorly understood. Many Inuit would argue that a sentimentalized view of certain prey species (particularly small seals) has significantly - and unduly - influenced policymakers. In this talk, Sean considers both sides of the conservation argument over sea-mammal hunting in the Arctic through a discussion of walrus hunting he has documented among Inuit in Arctic Canada and Yup'ik in southwestern Alaska. While each of these distantly-related groups carries out the hunt in a unique way, both conceive of hunting as a unifying and culture-defining practice.

When: 25 September 2017

Time: 19:30 - 21:30

Where: Arctic Centre - Entrance Herman Colleniusstraat

Fee: € 2,00 - Students free