Integrating research and Inuit knowledge: Critical approaches to archaeology in the Canadian Arctic Marie-Pierre Gadoua Department of Anthropology McGill University Montreal June 2016 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Marie-Pierre Gadoua 2016 TABLE OF CONTENT ABSTRACT ............................................................................................... 12 RÉSUMÉ ................................................................................................... 13 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................ 14 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 16 BOWHEAD WHALING REVIVAL IN NUNAVIK AND NUNAVUT ...................................................................20 CONTENT OF THE THESIS.......................................................................................................................28 CROSSING BOUNDARIES ..........................................................................................................................33 PART ONE: TOWARDS A CRITICAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC .............................................................................. 36 1. ANALOGICAL USES OF THE PRESENT IN ARCHAEOLOGY ......................................................................37 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 37 1.2 Ethnographic analogy in early evolutionary archaeology ............................................................. 38 1.3 The direct-historical approach of culture historians ..................................................................... 40 1.4 Processual archaeology and ethnoarchaeology ........................................................................... 42 1.5 Post-processual advances in ethnoarchaeology ........................................................................... 47 1.6 Current concerns about the ethnographic literature .................................................................... 50 2. CRITICAL AND ETHICAL USES OF THE PRESENT IN ARCHAEOLOGY .....................................................55 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 55 2.2 Postcolonialism ............................................................................................................................. 56 2.3 Indigenous activism ....................................................................................................................... 60 2.4 The intersection of postcolonialism, indigenous activism and archaeology ................................. 63 A. The colonial nature of archaeology ............................................................................................................ 63 B. Scientific authority ...................................................................................................................................... 70 C. Decolonising the discipline .......................................................................................................................... 73 D. Collaborative and indigenous archaeologies .............................................................................................. 79 2 2.5 Post-processualism and multivocality ........................................................................................... 89 2.6 Critical theory and self-reflexivity ................................................................................................. 92 3. INUIT PERSPECTIVES ON THE PAST IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC ........................................................ 100 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 100 3.2 History and culture change among Inuit in Canada .................................................................... 102 3.3 Archaeology in the Canadian Arctic: a historical overview ......................................................... 115 3.4 Inuit uses of their past ................................................................................................................. 127 4. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................ 146 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 146 4.2 Ethnographic analogy ................................................................................................................. 147 4.3 The Inullariit Elders Society archives ........................................................................................... 152 4.4 Workshops at the McCord Museum ............................................................................................ 156 4.5 Archaeological analyses .............................................................................................................. 163 4.6 Interdisciplinarity ........................................................................................................................ 167 PART TWO: INUIT SOCIAL LIFE AND MATERIAL CULTURE .. 169 5. INTEGRATING FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE.............................................................................................. 170 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 170 5.2 Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit .............................................................................................................. 172 5.3 The social network approach ...................................................................................................... 174 5.4 The meaning of material culture ................................................................................................. 183 5.5 The production of meaning in the workshops at the McCord Museum ...................................... 189 6. SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE INUIT: ETHNOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES ..................................................... 201 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 201 6.2 Kinship ......................................................................................................................................... 203 6.3 Partnerships and associations ..................................................................................................... 206 3 6.4 Sharing practices ......................................................................................................................... 209 6.5 Leadership ................................................................................................................................... 212 6.6 Social conflict .............................................................................................................................. 214 6.7 Gender ......................................................................................................................................... 217 6.8 Spiritual beliefs and practices ..................................................................................................... 219 7. MATERIAL CULTURE AND SOCIAL NETWORKS ................................................................................... 227 7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 227 7.2 Personhood and the social equilibrium ....................................................................................... 228 7.3 Leadership and social differentiation .......................................................................................... 243 8. AN INUIT NOTION OF ART ................................................................................................................. 250 8.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 250 8.2 The need for an Inuit concept of art ............................................................................................ 250 8.3 Problems for the ethnographic analogy ...................................................................................... 254 8.4 An Inuit word for art.................................................................................................................... 256 8.5 Relations to materials ................................................................................................................. 257 8.6 Aesthetics .................................................................................................................................... 260 8.7 Art and technology ...................................................................................................................... 269 9. DESIGN AND STYLE ........................................................................................................................... 273 9.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................