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I had no idea that Inuktitut had more than one writing system. For a language with such a small population, that's a surprising and serious pain-point. The In

by Pxtl 7y ago

I had no idea that Inuktitut had more than one writing system. For a language with such a small population, that's a surprising and serious pain-point. The Inuit are one of the few indigenous groups in Canada that managed to keep their culture relatively intact - most other groups have lost much of it through centuries of colonial rule and ultimately with residential schools, while the Inuit were comparatively neglected - both in positive and negative terms. Good to hear steps being taken to protect the language.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>The Inuit are one of the few indigenous groups in Canada that managed to keep their culture relatively intact Because they aren't wealthy enough to be worth a lot as taxable income and didn't control an area with dense/lucrative enough natural resources to be worth subjugating. Without money or something that could be converted to money there was no reason for the city slickers to go out of their way to impose/integrate (word choice depends on which side you're on) their culture. You can see this pattern more or less worldwide. On every continent there are people who live in the remote parts, nominally under some government but are mostly left to do their own thing because they have little to take and take little from the government. If you want to be left alone it's best to be someone not worth bothering. I agree that it's nice to see them become more of a defined culture (language and all) since being obviously delineated from the rest will help them maintain their own autonomy and culture.
- jcranmer 7y ago
  There is quite a lot of natural resources in the Far North--North Slope oil comes to mind. However, the environment is so inhospitable to getting resources out of the area, that it has for the most part been economically infeasible to exploit them, at least until the latter half of the 20th century.
blahedo 7y ago
> relatively intact Yes, although a mix of incentives and force has moved nearly all of the people into towns and cities at this point, and in fairly recent memory. I remember when Atanarjuat came out twenty years ago the talk was that the timing was good—there still were many people who personally remembered living in the traditional way, well enough to recreate it vividly and accurately on camera, but they had to be brought out from the towns to do so.
- jjkaczor 7y ago
  Yes - was speaking to a co-worker about this in August - this happened only a generation ago (he knows people who remember this happening as children - his age), and the hurts, harm and overall levels mistrust that it caused as still rippling through communities and families.

by Pxtl 7y ago

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

>The Inuit are one of the few indigenous groups in Canada that managed to keep their culture relatively intact Because they aren't wealthy enough to be worth a lot as taxable income and didn't control an area with dense/lucrative enough natural resources to be worth subjugating. Without money or something that could be converted to money there was no reason for the city slickers to go out of their way to impose/integrate (word choice depends on which side you're on) their culture. You can see this pattern more or less worldwide. On every continent there are people who live in the remote parts, nominally under some government but are mostly left to do their own thing because they have little to take and take little from the government. If you want to be left alone it's best to be someone not worth bothering. I agree that it's nice to see them become more of a defined culture (language and all) since being obviously delineated from the rest will help them maintain their own autonomy and culture.

jcranmer 7y ago
There is quite a lot of natural resources in the Far North--North Slope oil comes to mind. However, the environment is so inhospitable to getting resources out of the area, that it has for the most part been economically infeasible to exploit them, at least until the latter half of the 20th century.

blahedo 7y ago

> relatively intact Yes, although a mix of incentives and force has moved nearly all of the people into towns and cities at this point, and in fairly recent memory. I remember when Atanarjuat came out twenty years ago the talk was that the timing was good—there still were many people who personally remembered living in the traditional way, well enough to recreate it vividly and accurately on camera, but they had to be brought out from the towns to do so.

jjkaczor 7y ago
Yes - was speaking to a co-worker about this in August - this happened only a generation ago (he knows people who remember this happening as children - his age), and the hurts, harm and overall levels mistrust that it caused as still rippling through communities and families.