iffering visions of the north exist between those who live or are committed to the north and those who view it solely through a southern outsider’s lens. A rich history and diversity of culture inform the conception of the north as homeland. The perception of the north as a frontier is relatively more recent, homogeneous, and Eurocentric. The vision of the north as homeland originates from those who live, work, and play there, whereas, its conception as a frontier has southern roots. The latter is motivated by a desire to exploit natural resources whilst the former is informed by thousands of years of indigenous use of the land and sea.
The notion of the north as frontier is myopic and simplistic. The nature of this engagement tends to emphasize discovery, vast riches, and the exotic. The search for the Northwest Passage as a means to the riches in the east was accompanied by a desire to discover great wealth in the north, and marked the beginning of cultural representations of the peoples and the environment of the Arctic and sub-Arctic. At best these characterizations are romantic and at worst they are tantamount to intellectual colonialism. The following quote from Robert Service’s famous poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” one that has been taught to generations of school children, illustrates this perception of a mysterious gold-laden north:
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee
These constructions suggest an indifference to the reality of the north as a homeland. Northern homeland is a regional consciousness linking local geography to cultural and economic life. To call the north a homeland is to recognize its autochthonous political and social reality. The reality of the north as homeland is characterized by diversity and complexity in the population demographic, culture, and economy. The north as homeland has withstood the test of time, showing the resilience and sustainability of indigenous lifestyle. Development in the north inspired by the frontier mindset, however, has and remains invasive and dogged by boom and bust cycles such as the Klondike Gold Rush at the turn of the nineteenth century. The north as homeland is conducive to circumpolar linkages to communities across national borders in meeting the challenges of globalization, as witnessed by the recent example offered at the beginning of this chapter. As frontier, the north is limited to staples dependence in supplying renewable and non-renewable resources to southern markets. In essence, one point of view is informed by industrial capitalism and is exogenous whilst the other is indigenous and shaped by a relation- ship with the natural ecology.
The ecology of the north and its people are dynamic as in any other environment. Stereotypical images are the ones that are frozen.
The Canadian national anthem describes the country as a “the true north strong and free.” But what is the true north strong and free? Is there a distinct definition of the north, or is it really a constructed space? Where are stereotypes of a people or place constructed and sustained? They thrive in the realm of culture. Representations of the “north” are directly linked to the growth in literacy and the development of spatially oriented technologies of mass communications. In the early periods these were narratives in books, newspapers, advertisements, comics, painting, poetry, photographs, and later music and other audio-visual modes such as film. For example in Mary Shelley’s classic novel, the creature says to Baron Frankenstein, “Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost, to which I am impassive”.
Yet the north is no more a place of misery than the heat and mosquitoes of the tropics. Nor is the ice eternal in the Arctic, as it comes and goes with seasons. There are marked changes in the sea and landscape as they follow the rhythms of the sun. Furthermore, with the threat of climate change there is now tremendous uncertainty about ice formation even in the cold months of the autumn. The ecology of the north and its people are dynamic as in any other environment. Stereotypical images are the ones that are frozen. Overlapping factors such as memory, sensory perception, and skills in constructing images, available technology, and European preconceptions of this unfamiliar environment influenced early images of the north and its peoples. Characterizations of the environment and its peoples include terms such as primitive, noble, dangerous and menacing, overwhelmingly white, empty, and desolate.
Fishing near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Photo by Zachary Prong.
The idea of the diverse people of the north as primitive is racist. It is a self-affirming and self-congratulatory construct which places Euro-American culture at the pinnacle of civilization. It justifies subjugation in the form of manifest destiny. The idea is strengthened by a sense of superior European technology compared to inferior, inefficient, and incompetent indigenous peoples. The problem with such a view is that it is not tenable, given the simple historical facts. European explorers in most cases did not survive without the assistance of indigenous peoples. As for technology, the British, and the Franklin expedition in particular, is archetypal in this case. It carried a large stock of foods requiring the accumulation of material equipment, whereas the Inuit used minimal equipment to ensure survival and used products of the land to make traps, fires, and shelter. They stored their technology in their minds.
The characterization of the Aboriginal peoples as noble is romantic. Like religious fundamentalists wanting to return to a mythical past, these conceptions are self-revealing. The Native people are used as a counterpoint, as self-criticism to industrial society. Such stereotypes tell us more about their makers than about the indigenous peoples. The north as dangerous and menacing conveys the idea that death is synonymous with the idea of the north. Sir John Franklin’s tragic expedition (1845) and the resultant injury to British pride caused historians to emphasize the bravery of explorers. Representation of northern regions as empty lands and desolation served a political purpose. After the loss of the Franklin expedition and then John Rae’s report from the Inuit suggesting that the expedition may have engaged in cannibalism, the Inuit were characterized as ‘savages’ who could not be trusted, and their representations disappeared from accounts of explorers. Furthermore, when claiming a “discovered” land for the Empire, it becomes problematic if there are people living there. Therefore, it is better to ignore their presence; thus justifying the notion of ‘empty lands’ or terranullius.
A sketch of the graves of some of the Franklin Expedition's men, all whom perished after a disasterous arctic expedition in 1845.
Overwhelmingly the white north is a characterization associated with winter views, seascapes, icebergs, and vast skies with the aurora borealis. Notable in these images is human absence. It is noteworthy that with the exception of Lyon (1824), images of the Inuit and other living organisms are relatively few compared to images of scenery and aspects of exploration. Furthermore, the actual Arctic and sub-Arctic are filled with a diversity of colours and are not solely white.
Why do such stereotypes of the north and its peoples persist? First, the nature of communications technology is such that it advances the interests of those who control it rather than those who actually live and work in the north. Second, teaching regarding the north places an emphasis on exploration in which the history of discovery is viewed as an end in itself. Third, this vision of the north is not dynamic or diverse, but simplistic, almost naive, which serves to feed an appetite for trite forms of Hollywood-style entertainment.
Diversity is not only present among the Aboriginal communities, but is also manifested in the ecology of the circumpolar north.
A strong Aboriginal demographic and a mainly youthful population is combined with a rich cultural diversity in the regions of the circumpolar north. This diversity is manifested in the assertion of Aboriginal identity. The use of Aboriginal languages is a good indicator of this assertion. For instance, in 2001 almost 71 per cent of those who identified themselves as Inuit in Canada reported that they could conduct a conversation in Inuktitut. Inuktitut is itself marked by a significant diversity of dialects and is representative of a language group. Some of the other language groups in the Canadian territories include Chipewyan, Cree, Dogrib, South Slave, Kutchin-Gwich’in, and Tlingit. Cultural pluralism is a definitive attribute of the circumpolar north.
Diversity is not only present among the Aboriginal communities, but is also manifested in the ecology of the circumpolar north.The boreal forest encircles the north as a protective skin. After the Amazon, it is the second largest forest on the Earth. The boreal forest, the tundra, and the ice-covered regions create a unifying ecological diversity for the north. In short, this ecological diversity matches the diversity of indigenous people, who have been living within these lands for thousands of years.
Dr. Karim-Aly Kassam is International Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program.
This article was adapted from his book, Biocultural Diversity and Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Human Ecology in the Arctic, published by the University of Calgary Press.
