Over a period of several years the Inullariit Society in Igloolik, NWT, has
carried on a project which has come to be known as the Igloolik Elders Project.
This work has been carried out with the co-operation and assistance of the
staff of the Igloolik Research Center, a branch of the Science Research
Institute of the Northwest Territories.
The purpose of the project was to record and preserve some of the vast amounts
of traditional knowledge and cultural perspectives held by the elders of
the community. The wealth of stories, recollections, anecdotes and knowledge
represents literally thousands of years of Inuit experience. Through tape
recorded interviews and conversations with elders from Igloolik there now exist at least partial images of Inuit life as it was.
There is deep irony in the thought that we who live in the "Information
Age", are in such danger of losing forever the basic knowledge and
skills of a complex and accomplished societies. In the tradition of Inuit,
the elders of Igloolik have been anxious to pass on to future generations
their knowledge and accumulated wisdom.
The interviews we have drawn together to form the content of these pages
represents a minute sampling of the records available. We have used the
transcripts of interviews, and taped conversations of elders. We have also
done as little editting of this material as possible, and made every possible
effort to retain the sense of the context, content and flow of these dialogues.
We sincerely hope that they will be valuable and interesting to read.
