Description
Caribou Hide: Two Stories of Life on the Land contains two illustrated accounts by a traditional Dene hunter. Alfred Masuzumi lives in Radeli Ko (Fort Good Hope) along the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories. He is an art instructor and a researcher for a Traditional Environmental Knowledge project that gathered information about Dene traditional environmental ethics, conservation and harvesting strategies. In Caribou Hide, the author tells two anecdotes about his experiences hunting on the land. The first story describes his dog team and the partnership he has with each dog. In the second story the author describes one experience he had while out hunting during a blizzard. His traditional knowledge and survival skills were put to the test, as he had to create a shelter from caribou hides and spent the night outdoors and alone. The author illustrated his stories with detailed pencil sketches. The stories allow people in southern regions to glimpse two aspects of the traditional Dene lifestyle of hunting. The stories provide an insight to the Dene worldview that sees humans as a part of the environment.