Arctic Medical Research, Vol. 4 7: Suppl. 1, pp. 303-307, 1988

MISSIONARIES, MEDICINE AND SHAMANISM IN THE CANADIAN EASTERN ARCTIC

H. M. Sampath

Memorial University of Newfoundland,

Abstract. Christian missionaries from the Ur,'•ed Kingdorr began their work in foreign countries at the end of the seventeenth century. In 1893, Livingstone Medical College was founder! in London, England, to provide some medical training tor missionaries. The first Protestant missionary arrived in the Canadian Eastern ·~retie in 1894. The Christian missionary came into competition with the shaman who was thfl institutionalized religious ?ild medical functionary. In this paper it is hypothesized that modernization of the Inuit has resulted in the demise of shamanism in the Ea~tern Arc­ tic. However, ne0 traditionalization may lead to a shamanistic revival.

Arctic Medical Research, vol. 47: suppl. 1, pp 303-307, 1988.

':And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and church goers ifl the U. K., and these donations ranged preach the gospel to every creature." Mark, 16:15. from one penny to thousands of pounds. Money was needed to provid~ religious training for the mis­ "Go ye there/ore, and teach all nations, baptizing sim.aries, to pay the salanes of the missionaries, to them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of provide housing in the distant lands. for the building the Holy Ghost." Matthew, 28:19. of churches and s.:hools, and a host of other inciden­ Following the religious reformation which took place tals involved in mission work. The Missionary in Europe in the 16th century, both Roman Catholics Societie~ did not involve them>elves in the formal and protestants carried on active Christian mission organization of the various church bodies in the programs. The first mission to the new world left foreign countries. Nor did they get involved in finan­ Geneva in 1556 for Brazil. Since that time numerous cial manipulations in the United Kingdom. missionary societies were formed in various European The Missionary Societies were well

Cirr:umpoiar Healrn ·'7 304 Arctic medical history and traditional medicine

In October 1893 Livingstone College was establish­ Eventually, Fleming became the first bishop of the ed in London. The course of training at this institution Arctic. was devised for the purpose of giving to men who were, These missionaries were agents of change. Their or intended to be, foreign missionaries, an elementary goal was to convert the heathen Inuit from his pagan knowleage of medicine and surgery. It was intended to religion to Christianity. There was no doubt in their teach missionaf'es: (a) how to care for their own health minds about the divine nature of their work. Conver­ and the health tlf their fellow missionaries when far sion to Christianity implied changes in many other from qaalified medical aid, and (b) how to deal with aspects of the native culture. The missionary, however, the more simple diseases of the natives of the countries had no problems with ethics. It is therefore not surpris­ in which they would be working. The period of study ing that some social anthropologists, who arrived on lasted three terms and included lectures as well as prac­ the scene later on, became very antagonistic to the mis­ tical experience in various neighbouring hospitals. The sionaries (6). program was not intended to train men as "medical The functionary in the Inuit society whose role was missionaries" (a term which was only properly applied somewhat analogous to that of the missionary was the to men :.nd women possessing a 111edical qualification) shaman. Unlike the missionary however, the shaman and r hose who entered the program were required to did not differentiate between medicine and religion. sigr. a declaration that they would not take to them­ The shaman was pressured to have direct access to the selves the title of medical missionary or otherwise spirit world and to have one or more tutelary spirits assume the position of a ~ualified doctor. About 3,000 who communicated directly to him the information he students attended Livingstone College by the time it sought. He also had the ability to go into a trance, dur­ was closed in 1952. ing which time a "divine" spirit took possession of Several Livingstone graduates came to Canada and him. worked with the Inuit in the Eastern Arctic. Although In addition to the primary role as curer, Spencer (7), missionaries from Britain were working in Canada as states that the shaman was also concerned with finding early as 1822, Red River Settlement (Winnipeg); 1840, lost articles, foretelling the future, reviving or speaking Le Pas, Manitoba; 1858, Ft. Simpson in the North to the dead, locating missing people, and there was a West Territories, and 1858, York Factory, Manitoba suggestion of such activities as bringing game, con­ (3 ), the first mission in the Eastern Arctic was not trolling the weather, as well as of malevolent work established until 1984, by the Rev. E.J. Peck, at which might be viewed as black magic or murder. Blacklead Island in , Another important function was to provide charms for (4). Mr. Peck had left England on July 4, 1876 and ar­ people desiring them. Shamans also established riveo at Moose Factory in on September 7, taboos for the individual, usually relating to the 1876. After working there for eight years he returned to charms which they furnished and to hunting activities, England on holidays. He spent seven months in Bri­ and they determined those who were guilty of viola­ tain. found himself a bride and was back at Moose tions of any customary practice such as might impair Factory on July 4, 1885. Later, he felt obliged to ven­ communal good. ture further north and work towards what he called Socially, shamans did not form a group apart. They "the evangelization of the whole Eskimo race" (4). acted like others and were concerned with the usual Ten years later, Peck returned to England because of tasks of living. The male shaman hunted, joined a his wife's ill health. At this time the Church Missionary whaling crew, not necessarily as a leader, since this Society put him in contact with the owner of a whaling depended on success and on physical ability and skill. station on Blacklead Island. This man offered Peck The female shamans were engaged in the same type of and a new-found companion, Mr. J. C. Parker, free work other women did. The shaman had no special passage on one of his whaling ships. Mr. Parker had badge of office, clothing or other adornments, and received medi.:<1! training, but he was not a medical when not engaged in shamanizing, he was just like any missionary. These men were soon joined by the Rev. other individual in the camp. He could not therefore E. T. W. Greenshield and the Rev. W. J. Bilby, both be considered a community leader simply by virtue of of whom were Livingstone graduates. Later on, Archi­ his calling. bald Lang Fleming (5), a Scotsman, also arrived Although the shaman performed a recognized role in the Eastern Arctic. He had also received some as intermediary between the individual Inuit and the medical training, at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. supernatural world around him, yet by virtue of the

Circumpolar Health 87 Sampath: Missionaries, medicine and shamanism 305

power inherent in this role the shaman was a greatly stored for use during the winter months. Similarly, the feared person. Not only was the shaman capable of Inuit, despite their great manual skill, practised only a curing sickness, but he could also bring about sickness very rudimentary type of surgery. It can be postulated in an individual, sometimes solely for financial gain. that the Inuit in their pre-contact environment had lit­ There was also sexual exploitation- as payment for tle need for such practices. Considered in the context services rendered. Bilby (8) writing about the south of their beliefs and concepts of disease aetiology, there Baffin Inuit, observed that although the shaman mar­ were no "organic" (in contrast to "functional") ries, yet "no woman of the community is safe from ailments. It would appear, therefore, that diagnosis him. Under one professional pretext or another, he and treatment were in a sen'ie oriented tow .• rds what we may have his way with each and every one of them with now consider "functional" disorders, r'.1d thac the In­ or without her own particular man's consent". The uit shaman functioned as a "psycho•'.1erapist" par ex­ shaman was not a very popular person; the ordinary cellence (9). Inuit feared him and was always taking pains to see With the advent of non-Inui: people in tli~ Arctic, that he did not offend the shaman, for no one knew at new diseases were introduced. This must have created which point the shaman might think that he was of­ a most difficult situation for the shaman, for he was ill fended and therefore take vengeance which could be equipped to handle these new cases. At the same :1me deadly. On the other hand, the community was not his status in the community was undermined by the without a measure of social control over the shaman. non-Inuit functionaries in various roles as healer, If a shaman tended to restrict his activities to spiritual leader and later on, government ad­ shamanizing, he was suspect and regarded as ministrators. querulous and misanthropic. Such a person ran the The Christian missionaries as medical practitioners risk of being killed by the relatives of a recently deceas­ were acting like shamans in so far as their role as ed person on the grounds that this malevolence caused healers was concerned. In Blacklead Island as in other the death. parts of the Eastern Arctic there appeared to have been The role of the shaman must be seen in the context a keen rivalry between the missionary and the Inuit of the view which the Inuit had of the world around shaman. Lewis (4), Peck's biographer, described an in­ him. The shaman only "activated cultural beliefs cident a few months after the arrival of the mis­ about the causes and cures of illness" (9). As moder­ sionaries. "The course of the Gospel did not run nization came to the Inuit, an alternative system of altogether smoothly among tne Eskimos when the beliefs was presented to him. The process involved here conjurors began to find out, like the silversmiths of is the basis of acculturation, but in the realm of Ephesus in former days, that their craft was in danger. medicine, it is noteworthy that the individual who In the early days of October Mr. Parker had been atten­ played such a pivotal role in the social system (i. e. the ding a sick man, but he did not impP1ve so rapidly a~ shaman) was himself occupying a rather precarious he had hoped he would. This then was ,1n opportunity position with regard to his clients or patients, a posi­ for those who had been ousted. The ignorant sick man tion based on fear and anxiety. When the Inuit were is seldom satisfied with anything short of a miracle; he presented with a system of beliefs and with func­ cannot bear to wait for the slow development of tionaries who were less frightening, the influence of science. So one of the conjurors was allowed to come shamanism began to be eroded. in and practice his art through one night. '\1r. Peck What has occurred in the modernization process of determined to speak to the people about thh matter Inuit society is that the homogenous mass of medical, when they should come together for instruction''. Peck magical and religious beliefs slowly became separated related the incident as fol1ows: "I was moved by a one from the other. The early explorers, whalers, mis­ strong inward impulse t0 sr-eak from the First Com­ sionaries and other non-Inuit intruders contributed to mandment, and just as I comr.•enced, who would enter this process, but it is noteworthy that the repercussions our meeting but the very conjL·ror who had practised to the medical practices of all these people must have his demonic art. After I had gone on some time, he in­ been influenced by the very significant fact that the In­ terrupted me by saying that we were both conjurors, or uit lacked a pharmacopoeia. Ackerknecht (IO), at­ in other words, that there was no difference between tributes this lack of a pharmacopoeia to the absence of my preaching the Gospel and his heathen incantation. vegetation during most of the year. However, the tun­ I was led therefore to speak to him very plainly and to dra is rich in a variety of plant life which can easily be point out, in no unkind spirit, I hope, the real dif-

Cirrompo/ar Health 87 306 Arctic medical history and traditional medicine

ference between our subject. All the people present Later, the Inuit congregated in a new environment­ listened with the greatest attention, and l felt sure that the settlement community. This contained a small God by his Holy Spirit was speaking to them". non-Inuit sub-community, which, however inadeptly, There is little doubt that these early missionaries served as a behavioural model for many aspects of life, and those who followed them had great success in con­ including reaction to disease. In the settlement, the In­ verting the Inuit to the brand of Christianity that they uit were able to obtain medical treatment first from a preached. There is also little doubt that in the eyes of "disinterested" health care giver (nurse and/or doc­ the Inuit these mi~sionaries were also shamans. The tor) who demanded no payment of any kind, and this Inuit knew well that some shamans were more power­ treatment was in most cases quite efficacious. The ful than other shamans, so that it was within their beliefs on which the concepts of Inuit traditional cultural configuration to change their allegiance from medicine were based, slowly disappeared under the im­ the less powerful to the more powerful. Besides, the pact of the teachings of the missionary and the non­ medicine which the Christian "shamans" practised Inuit school teacher. The shaman eventually lost his would have been more efficacious, at least as far as the role as healer, although in the minds of members of the newly in.troduce

12. Balikci A. Shamanistic behavior among the Netsilik Dr. H. M. Sampath Eskimos. SW J Anthro 1963; 19: 380-396. 255 LeMarchant Road 13. Graburn NHH. Eskimos without igloos. Boston: Little St. John's, Newfoundland Brown and Co. 1969. Canada, AIE JPS 14. Chance NA. The Eskimos of North Alaska. New York: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1966. 15. Briggs J. Utkuhikhalingmiut Eskimo emotional expres­ sions. Ottawa: Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, 1968.

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