"Inulariuyunga; Imngirnik quvigiyaqaqtunga!" - I'm a real Inuk; I love to sing! : interactions between music, inummariit, and belief in an Inuit community since resettlement

Arviat (previously Eskimo Point) is a small predominantly Inuit hamlet in
\nNunavut, which in 2006 had 2,060 residents. Like all other native communities in the
\nCanadian north, Arviat has experienced, and is experiencing, tremendous change. The
\nnomadic iglu-dwellers have become sedentary wage workers and/or sophisticated
\nharvesters of Arctic char and other natural resources.
\nIn spite of cultural and social change, Inuit feel a strong continuity between their
\npast and present. Many born and raised on the land now occupy key economic, political,
\nmanagerial, and educational positions within an administrative apparatus that did not even
\nexist fifty-five years ago. Many Inuit accept change as it comes, and make modifications
\nin their lifestyle and cultural habits based on their strong sense of Inuit identity. This
\nstrong sense of Inuit identity is based on an Inuit concept called inummariit, which
\ntranslates as “real Inuit.”
\nMost Inuit live by a belief system based on living like a “true Inuk.” How Inuit
\nconceptualize living the “Inuit way” or inummariit is diverse and complex. Furthermore,
\ninummariit identity is constantly changing. This can be seen in how Inuit have negotiated
\noutside influences such as Christianity, fox trapping, media, technology, and syllabic
\nreading and writing into the same body of Inuit traditional knowledge as hunting caribou,
\noral tradition, and survival on the land.
\nThis dissertation investigates the ways in which music, inummariit, and belief
\ninteract in the Inuit community of Arviat. It examines how Inuit belief systems have
\nchanged and developed in response to resettlement and colonialism using music as a portal to understand personal negotiations and transitions. To accomplish this goal, the
\nmusical stories of three generations of three musically oriented Inuit families are
\nexamined: the Illungiayoks, the Okatsiaks, and the Mamgarks.
\nUsing Bourdieu’s (1977) theory of generations and in particular his notion of
\nhabitus, I analyze stability and change in the music performed by Inuit in Arviat,
\nrevealing the many ways in which inummariit is conceptualized by generations. An
\nexamination of the distinctive generational cohorts which have shaped Arviat’s history,
\npolitics, and culture provides an understanding of how twenty-first century Inuit think
\nabout music and contemporary Inuit life.
\nThe Illungiayoks are a family of tradition-bearers who perform the traditional
\nInuit drum dance in contemporary contexts. This dissertation examines the connection
\nbetween the performance of traditional Inuit drum dances and the concept of inummariit
\nfor three generations of male Inuit from the same family. I argue that the performance of
\nthe drum dance and its accompanying song parallel generational ideas about Inuit social
\norganization and identity negotiation. The history of interaction between Inuit and their
\ncolonizers suggests that the current practice of drum dancing is one means employed by
\nInuit to preserve some of their traditions and to empower Inuit to attempt to assert local
\nsovereignties, identities (whether sub-group specific or pan-Inuit), and expressions.
\nThe Okatsiaks are the music and song leaders at the Anglican Church in Arviat.
\nThis dissertation examines the ways music and inummariit are negotiated in the
\nperformance of religious rites. The performance of Kuukpaluk—the River at Easter is a
\nChristian rite which connects Inuit with their past, both Anglican and Inuit. This
\ndissertation shows that it is not only a tradition of the past, it is a dynamic event practiced today; an event that has evolved and changed over the decades. Issues of syncretism
\nbetween Christianity and traditional Inuit ideology are discussed, revealing how
\ncontesting and accepting conceptualizations of inummariit are enacted simultaneously.
\nThe Mamgarks are adherents to the Catholic faith. The matriarch is the song
\nleader at the Catholic Church in Arviat. The present study extrapolates understandings of
\ninummariit from the religious practice of three generations of women from the Mamgark
\nfamily. Through the examination of the enactment of the Mass, localized and local hymn
\ntexts,1 and the radically different generational attitudes toward music and Catholicism,
\ngenerational conceptualizations of inummariit are revealed.
\nThis study focuses on the Inuit concept of identity—inummariit. Inummariit, the
\ntrue Inuit way of knowing and being, is multifaceted and diverse. Individual and
\ngenerational conceptualizations of what it means to be a “true Inuk” overlap in many
\nways while coexisting. These conceptualizations, as revealed through the performance of
\nand narratives about music, nuance histories of encounter and resettlement, education and
\nlanguage loss, and cultural revitalization in the community. These conceptualizations
\ninsist that inummariit be understood as traditional and modern simultaneously.

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