Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit Sovereignty

In the twenty-first century, there is increased awareness in Canada about the horrors of residential schools and the destructive actions of the government towards First Nations peoples. But this education has not extended to the histories of Arctic Indigenous peoples, whose experience of settler col...

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Main Author: Lara Bulger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bucharest 2024-12-01
Series:Intersections
Subjects:
Online Access:https://intersections-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/6.-LB-final.pdf
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author Lara Bulger
author_facet Lara Bulger
author_sort Lara Bulger
collection DOAJ
description In the twenty-first century, there is increased awareness in Canada about the horrors of residential schools and the destructive actions of the government towards First Nations peoples. But this education has not extended to the histories of Arctic Indigenous peoples, whose experience of settler colonialism is different because of their geographical location. Until outside intervention, Inuit had been semi-nomadic, populating the North with small, mobile communities, as this way of life was best suited for hunting and traditional practices. Beginning in the 1950s, the Canadian government forced Inuit into centralized communities, pressuring them to leave their lands and thereby destroying a traditional way of life that had been in place for thousands of years. This article will explore the negative consequences of ‘domicide’, or the killing of one’s home, and the cultural devastation that followed. Years later, the relocation and its impacts were depicted in Inuit-made documentaries, such as Marquise Lepage’s Martha of the North in 2008, and Exile by Zacharias Kunuk in 2009. In this chapter, I will detail how Inuit-made film is helping Northerners reclaim Arctic sovereignty, documenting for future generations how their ancestors lived.
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spelling doaj-art-67db9d5449b548dc8f65860f02b4e5162025-08-20T02:56:55ZengUniversity of BucharestIntersections2068-34722024-12-016477doi:10.31178/INTER.13.27.6Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit SovereigntyLara Bulger0https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0108-1711Queen's UniversityIn the twenty-first century, there is increased awareness in Canada about the horrors of residential schools and the destructive actions of the government towards First Nations peoples. But this education has not extended to the histories of Arctic Indigenous peoples, whose experience of settler colonialism is different because of their geographical location. Until outside intervention, Inuit had been semi-nomadic, populating the North with small, mobile communities, as this way of life was best suited for hunting and traditional practices. Beginning in the 1950s, the Canadian government forced Inuit into centralized communities, pressuring them to leave their lands and thereby destroying a traditional way of life that had been in place for thousands of years. This article will explore the negative consequences of ‘domicide’, or the killing of one’s home, and the cultural devastation that followed. Years later, the relocation and its impacts were depicted in Inuit-made documentaries, such as Marquise Lepage’s Martha of the North in 2008, and Exile by Zacharias Kunuk in 2009. In this chapter, I will detail how Inuit-made film is helping Northerners reclaim Arctic sovereignty, documenting for future generations how their ancestors lived.https://intersections-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/6.-LB-final.pdfarctic cinemainuit peoplesenvironmental justicevisual sovereignty
spellingShingle Lara Bulger
Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit Sovereignty
Intersections
arctic cinema
inuit peoples
environmental justice
visual sovereignty
title Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit Sovereignty
title_full Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit Sovereignty
title_fullStr Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit Sovereignty
title_full_unstemmed Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit Sovereignty
title_short Controlling Migration: How Martha of the North and Exile Reclaim Inuit Sovereignty
title_sort controlling migration how martha of the north and exile reclaim inuit sovereignty
topic arctic cinema
inuit peoples
environmental justice
visual sovereignty
url https://intersections-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/6.-LB-final.pdf
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