Description
White Lies About the Inuit by anthropology professor John Steckley dispels myths about the Inuit in this introductory text for college and university students. Canadian media and anthropology textbooks have led all to believe that the Inuit have 52 terms for snow, leave their Elders on ice floes to die, and that there are blond and blue-eyed Inuit descended from the Vikings. These lies and stereotypes are clearly laid to rest in this engaging book. Chapter topics include: the Word Eskimo and Its Meanings; Does Eating Raw Mean Eating People Raw?; A Source of Humour: Jokes about Inuit Snow Terms; Stefansson Discovers the Blond Eskimo and Finds Funding; The Blond Eskimo Captures the Literary Imagination; When is Abandonment Really Abandonment?; Farley Mowat Popularizes Inuit Elder Abandonment and Suicide; Inuit Suicide Today; and The Inuit as a Canadian Construct. The work is a must read for anyone interested in knowing more about the Inuit and how the popular media and scholarly research can create myths and lead to gross misunderstandings about the Inuit.