TY - JOUR
T1 - "A Sense of Seal" in Greenland
T2 - Kalaallit Seal Pluralities and Anti-Sealing Contentions
AU - Graugaard, Naja Dyrendom
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This article questions the conceptual terms upon which Inuit hunting practices are deemed acceptable in current international seal regimes. Specifically, the article examines how Kalaallit–seal relations in Greenland unsettle Euro-American seal regimes. It argues that the current narratives of Inuit seal hunting as a “sustainable, subsistence” practice (e.g., European Commission 2016) risk coopting Indigenous worldviews to suit Western interpretations. While narratives of sustainability and subsistence may soothe European anti-sealing sentiments, they may not resonate with Inuit knowledges and practices. By engaging with fieldwork interviews with hunters in Greenland, this article suggests that Kalaallit ways of sensing, knowing, and engaging with seals reflect reciprocal, as well as complex, human–animal relations. Utilizing Métis/otipemisiw scholar Zoe Todd’s analytical framework of “fish pluralities” (2014), the article considers how seals may exist in Greenland in a “plurality of ways” that extend beyond a simple needs-based use of a natural resource.
AB - This article questions the conceptual terms upon which Inuit hunting practices are deemed acceptable in current international seal regimes. Specifically, the article examines how Kalaallit–seal relations in Greenland unsettle Euro-American seal regimes. It argues that the current narratives of Inuit seal hunting as a “sustainable, subsistence” practice (e.g., European Commission 2016) risk coopting Indigenous worldviews to suit Western interpretations. While narratives of sustainability and subsistence may soothe European anti-sealing sentiments, they may not resonate with Inuit knowledges and practices. By engaging with fieldwork interviews with hunters in Greenland, this article suggests that Kalaallit ways of sensing, knowing, and engaging with seals reflect reciprocal, as well as complex, human–animal relations. Utilizing Métis/otipemisiw scholar Zoe Todd’s analytical framework of “fish pluralities” (2014), the article considers how seals may exist in Greenland in a “plurality of ways” that extend beyond a simple needs-based use of a natural resource.
KW - Inuit knowledge
KW - Kalaallit seal hunting
KW - The EU seal regime
KW - Human-animal relations
KW - Indigenous stories
KW - Anti-sealing campaigns
KW - Sustainability
KW - Greenland
KW - Colonial narraitve
KW - Decolonizing methodologies
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0701-1008
VL - 44
SP - 373
EP - 398
JO - Etudes Inuit Studies
JF - Etudes Inuit Studies
IS - 1-2
ER -