Native Studies Reaction 4
The Long Exile, Chapter 6
This is as close to a depiction of seal head stew as I could get. In chapter 6 we learned a bit about the Innuit diet.Pemmican: a mixture of fat and protein.
Bully beef: a cured and pickled corned beef and a fun legacy cartoon advertisement.
I would try the pemmican, not the bully beef though. Being Irish, I've always dreaded the traditional corned beef and cabbage dish at the parents place.
And:
Dipsomaniac: a term used to describe a medical condition in which a person has an unquenchable thirst for alcohol.This may describe the story of the St. Roch. A ship that was floated near the polar north none. On September 11th the sea became so cold that the men were forced to chip ice off the ship's propeller. Charges filled with gunpowder were used to break up ice that easily could have sunk the boat.
Meanwhile Innuit life was becoming unsustainable, the fur trade was collapsing. It was decided that government aid given to Innuit was to be delivered in a relocation north in what were supposedly more fertile lands. The first ever Eskimo conference was held in Ottawa which broke in a plea to the government for aid.
I find it interesting how happy the Innuit portrayed were described to be. Despite the dismal living conditions, the ruthless weather. It's remarkable how seasonal depression hits hard in the midwest, but why not these people who live so much further north. I was thinking it may have something to do with the fact that they work outdoors.
Chapter 7
This chapter contained possibly the most remarkably twisted piece of information thus far. The story of Minik I found to be amazingly savage.
A boy lifted from Greenland with 5 of his people. Four died almost immediately from disease leaving Minik and another man later to be returned to Greenland. The experimentation planned to take place was canceled and Minik was adopted. He was indoctrinated by his Christian family who raised him for many years. One day inside a glass case, Minik found a skeleton. He found out it was none other than the skeletal remains of his father who had been captured along with him. A skeleton Minik had been told was laid to rest properly.Suddenly Christianity fell apart in the eyes and heart of Minik. They had kidnapped him, killed his father, and lied about his remains.
Meanwhile the other survivor of the European disease was shipped back to Greenland to tell the tale of England. Like Gulliver this man was considered a lunatic. People simply didn't believe his stories of trains, cars, and buildings. Ultimately, he was exiled from his community. The taint of Europe was absolute.


