In the Footsteps of Abraham Ulrikab


Book Description

In August 1880, two Inuit families from Labrador were recruited by Johan Adrian Jacobsen and headed to Europe to become the latest exotic attraction in Carl Hagenbeck's ethnographic shows. The group were exhibited in zoos across Europe until the Inuit relized their mistake and longed to return home. Abraham was literate and kept a diary. So did Johan Adrian Jacobsen. Even tough both diaries survived, to this day the story remained incomplete. In 2009, France Rivet's reading of the English translation of Abraham's diary left her with many unanswered questions. Where were the Inuit buried? What happened to their remains? Nobody knew. Intrigued, France set out to look for answers. The more she dug, the more riveting the story became, and totally unsuspected facets emerged. Four years and three research trips to Europe later, France's findings are revealed. At last, 133 years after the deaths of the two Inuit families, the events that unfolded in Paris are finally elucidated, and even more extraordinarily, this research has brought to light an opportunity to change the course of Abraham's story.




The Diary of Abraham Ulrikab


Book Description

In August 1880, businessman Adrian Jakobsen convinced eight Inuit men, women, and children from Hebron and Nakvak, Labrador to accompany him to Europe to be "exhibited" in zoos and Völkerschauen (ethnographic shows). Abraham, Maria, Noggasak, Paingo, Sara, Terrianiak, Tobias, and Ulrike agreed, partly for the money and partly out of curiosity to see the wonders of Europe, which they had heard about from Moravian missionaries. The Inuit arrived in the fall of 1880 and were much talked and written about in the local press. Meanwhile, the Moravian missionaries, who had begged them not to embark on the journey, were busily writing letters and trying to stay in contact with Abraham and his family. By January 1881 all eight Inuit had died of smallpox. This story is told through several different perspectives, from Abraham's diary, the earliest known Inuit autobiography, and the missionaries’ letters and reports, to a scholarly article, newspaper pieces, and even advertising. Many illustrations, including portraits done of the Inuit visitors, scans of some of the original documents in German, and recent photos of the abandoned Moravian mission in Hebron, round out Abraham’s intriguing and unfortunate story.




Celtic Lightning


Book Description

With Celtic Lightning, bestselling author Ken McGoogan plunges into the perpetual debate about Canadian roots and identity: Who do we think we are? He argues that Canadians have never investigated the demographic reality that informs this book—the fact that more than nine million Canadians claim Scottish or Irish heritage. Did the ancestors of more than one quarter of our population arrive without cultural baggage? No history, no values, no vision? Impossible. McGoogan writes that, to understand who we are and where we are going, Canadians must look to cultural genealogy. He builds on the work of Richard Dawkins, who contends that ideas and values (“memes”) can be transmitted from one generation to another. Scottish and Irish immigrants arrived in Canada with values they had learned from their forebears. And they did so early enough, and in sufficient numbers, to shape an emerging Canadian nation. McGoogan highlights five of the values they imported as foundational: independence, audacity, democracy, pluralism and perseverance. He shows that these values are thriving in contemporary Canada, and traces their evolution through the lives of thirty prominent individuals—heroes, rebels, poets, inventors, pirate queens—who played formative roles in the histories of Scotland and Ireland. Two charged traditions came together and gave rise to a Canadian nation. That is when Celtic lightning struck.




In the Company of Sisters


Book Description

When Canada entered the First World War in August 1914, it embarked on a major war effort at home and abroad. The nation's women worked tirelessly to help and support the troops fighting overseas, and among them were many who chose to "do their bit" overseas by serving and volunteering in areas of the war zone from Britain and the European mainland to the Middle East and Russia. In the Company of Sisters chronicles their endeavours and achievements amid the drama of a life-and-death struggle that claimed millions of lives. Spearheaded by the nurses who were sent to various theatres of war, plenty of other determined souls channelled their energy into a wide range of much-needed work and, in so doing, broke new ground. Whether driving ambulances in range of enemy shelling, nursing sick soldiers in the heat and disease of the eastern Mediterranean, clothing destitute Belgian refugees or cheering up the troops with concerts, care packages and a cup of tea, these remarkable women played an important part in a multitude of ways. What they experienced had a marked impact on their own lives, and in some cases acted as a catalyst for what they went on to accomplish in later life. The legac




Staged Otherness


Book Description

The cultural phenomenon of exhibiting non-European people in front of the European audiences in the 19th and 20th century was concentrated in the metropolises in the western part of the continent. Nevertheless, traveling ethnic troupes and temporary exhibitions of non-European humans took place also in territories located to the east of the Oder river and Austria. The contributors to this edited volume present practices of ethnographic shows in Russia, Poland, Czechia, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany, Romania, and Austria and discuss the reactions of local audiences. The essays offer critical arguments to rethink narratives of cultural encounters in the context of ethnic shows. By demonstrating the many ways in which the western models and customs were reshaped, developed, and contested in Central and Eastern European contexts, the authors argue that the dominant way of characterizing these performances as “human zoos” is too narrow. The contributors had to tackle the difficult task of finding traces other than faint copies of official press releases by the tour organizers. The original source material was drawn from local archives, museums, and newspapers of the discussed period. A unique feature of the volume is the rich amount of images that complement every single case study of ethnic shows.




Paris Savages


Book Description

Fraser Island, 1882. The population of the Badtjala people is in sharp decline following a run of brutal massacres. When German scientist Louis Müller offers to sail three Badtjala people - Bonny, Jurano and Dorondera - to Europe to perform to huge crowds, the proud and headstrong Bonny agrees, hoping to bring his people's plight to the Queen of England.Accompanied by Müller's bright, grieving daughter, Hilda, the group begins their journey to belle-époque Europe to perform in Hamburg, Berlin, Paris and eventually London. While crowds in Europe are enthusiastic to see the unique dances, singing, fights and pole climbing from the oldest culture in the world, the attention is relentless, and the fascination of scientists intrusive. When disaster strikes, Bonny must find a way to return home.




Stories in a New Skin


Book Description

In an age where southern power-holders look north and see only vacant polar landscapes, isolated communities, and exploitable resources, it is important to note that the Inuit homeland encompasses extensive philosophical, political, and literary traditions. Stories in a New Skin is a seminal text that explores these Arctic literary traditions and, in the process, reveals a pathway into Inuit literary criticism. Author Keavy Martin considers writing, storytelling, and performance from a range of genres and historical periods—the classic stories and songs of Inuit oral traditions, life writing, oral histories, and contemporary fiction, poetry and film—and discusses the ways in which these texts constitute an autonomous literary tradition. She draws attention to the interconnection between language, form and context and illustrates the capacity of Inuit writers, singers and storytellers to instruct diverse audiences in the appreciation of Inuit texts. Although Eurowestern academic contexts and literary terminology are a relatively foreign presence in Inuit territory, Martin builds on the inherent adaptability and resilience of Inuit genres in order to foster greater southern awareness of a tradition whose audience has remained primarily northern.







Qualitative Research in the Post-Modern Era


Book Description

This volume describes and discusses some of the intricacies associated with qualitative research in this post-modern era. It is the second of a two-volume set. It strives to define terms, identifies paradigms, methodologies and approaches that are applicable to novice and expert researchers alike. The book pays special attention to the biographies of those individuals who have helped to shape and develop these methodologies or research designs. In addition, consideration is given to historical and political underpinnings that relate to the development of qualitative research methodologies. Each research design is described in detail and the similarities and differences among them are explored. This volume makes use of a contextual approach to research and features interviews with scholars who have assisted in developing such methodologies. Of interest are numerous features such as questions for further study and annotated bibliographies that extend the scope of each of the methodologies described.




Voyage with the Labrador Eskimos, 1880-1881


Book Description

The story of Abraham Ulrikab is one of the saddest and most moving stories in Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Inuit and Canadian history. Having departed for Europe in August 1880, Abraham, his wife Ulrike, their two daughters Sara and Maria, a young single man Tobias and the pagan family of Terrianiak, Paingo, and Noggasak, had hopes of earning revenues that would allow them to improve their living conditions when they returned the following year. In exchange, they had to show their way of life and their culture to the European crowds who came to observe them in the ethnographic show organized by Carl Hagenbeck. From Hamburg to Berlin, Prague, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Krefeld and Paris, for four months, the group was exhibited in various zoos. They enabled entrepreneurs to pocket profits and were studied by anthropologists who were most happy to have at their disposal 'savages' originating from such faraway lands. Literate, Abraham kept a personal diary. So did Johan Adrian Jacobsen, the person who recruited the Inuit and accompanied them during their tour. Jacobsen's diary being an essential source for understanding the events that occurred over 133 years ago, we are presenting, in this book, Professor Hartmut Lutz's English translation of his diary. Discover the moods, thoughts and qualms of this 27 year old man; from his unsuccessful attempt to recruit 'Eskimos' in Greenland, his despair to see that Moravian missionaries in Labrador also opposed his project, his jubilation when Abraham agreed to accompany him with his family, his astonishment to witness Terrianiak and Paingo using their shamanic powers to calm a storm during the Atlantic crossing, to his shock of facing the first two deaths after doctors had told him there was no reason to be alarmed, the heartbreaking moment when Abraham had to hand over his three year old daughter to a hospital in Germany and finally, the horror of being admitted to the smallpox unit of a Paris hospital where the 'Eskimos' as well as Europeans suffered and died around him. "Voyage with the Labrador Eskimos, 1880-1881" is published within the context of a research project dedicated to unraveling the mysteries surrounding the European stay and the death of the eight Labrador Inuit. It is seen as a complement to the book entitled "In the Footsteps of Abraham Ulrikab."