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Our Ice Is Vanishing | Sikuvut Nunguliqtuq: A History of Inuit, Newcomers, and Climate Change
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Our Ice Is Vanishing | Sikuvut Nunguliqtuq: A History of Inuit, Newcomers, and Climate Change

by Shelley Wright
  • environmentalism
  • from-the-north
  • history-politics-current-affairs
  • indigenous
A remarkable and moving journey through Arctic history into an uncertain future, highlighting Inuit as well as European and Canadian perspectives. The Arctic is ruled by ice. For Inuit, it is a highway, a hunting ground, and the platform on which life is lived. While the international community argues about sovereignty, security, and resource development at the top of the world, the Inuit remind us that they are the original inhabitants of this magnificent place - and that it is undergoing a dangerous transformation. The Arctic ice is melting at an alarming rate and Inuit have become the direct witnesses and messengers of climate change. Through an examination of Inuit history and culture, alongside the experiences of newcomers to the Arctic seeking land, wealth, adventure, and power, Our Ice Is Vanishing describes the legacies of exploration, intervention, and resilience. Climate change is redrawing the boundaries of what Inuit and non-Inuit have learned to expect from our world. Our Ice Is Vanishing demonstrates that we must engage with the knowledge of the Inuit in order to understand and negotiate issues of climate change and sovereignty claims in the region.

Contributors

Shelley Wright, author

Shelley Wright is professor of Aboriginal Studies at Langara College.

Reviews

  • Based on extensive interviews with Inuit elders and community leaders, wide-ranging travel in the region and original research, "Our Ice is Vanishing / Sikuvut Nunguliqtuq" scrutinizes the evolution of indigenous debates about sovereignty, assimilation, human rights and climate change. At the same time, Wright dwells extensively and with skillful storytelling on the history of Inuit encounters with qallunaat (an Inuktitut term for white European and Canadian visitors). - This Magazine
  • Wright's book is an academic study that is nonetheless deeply moving, clearly written, and suitable for general readers. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to learn about how "humans are inextricably connected to the chain of life on this planet." Tackling global warming rests on us recognizing this deceptively simple fact. - Publishers Weekly

Awards

  • Winner, 2015 Pacific Bookworld News Society George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature
  • Finalist, 2015 John W. Dafoe Book Prize

Rights Holder

Rights Holder: McGill-Queen's University Press

email: natalie.blachere@mcgill.ca

website: www.mqup.ca

rights available: World

Additional Information

number of pages: 420

publication date: 08/01/2014

Original language of pub: English

Materials Available: finished book