Résumés
Abstract
In 1769 an Order in Council from the British government enabled the Moravians to settle in Labrador. The missionaries laid the boundary stones for their land (ca. 405 km2) in the next year, and established their first mission station (Nain) on the Labrador coast in 1771. The brethren’s accounts of their experiences with the Inuit in the Nain diaries include, besides religious issues, weather and travel reports and descriptions of Inuit hunting grounds and hunting techniques for the fauna of the region. This article focuses on their diary depictions of the two main prey species: the seal and the caribou. Consideration is also given to seasonal variation and availability of these animals during the early years of the mission; data were collected for the years 1771 through 1778. Several clues in the Moravian diaries, which went unrecognized by the missionaries, point to interactions and transformations between human and nonhuman beings (animals, spirits). These indications corroborate the spiritual transgression of category boundaries as an essential feature of traditional hunting methods.
Keywords:
- Moravians,
- Inuit,
- Labrador,
- hunting,
- animals
Résumé
En 1769, un décret du gouvernement britannique permit aux frères Moraves de s’installer au Labrador. Les missionnaires posèrent des bornes de pierre autour de leur terre l’année suivante (environ 405 km2), et établirent leur première station missionnaire (Nain) sur la côte du Labrador, en 1771. Les récits de ces frères concernant leurs expériences avec les Inuit dans les carnets de Nain incluent, outre les questions religieuses, les bulletins météorologiques et de voyage, ainsi que les descriptions des terrains de chasse des Inuit et des techniques de chasse de la faune régionale. Cet article porte sur les descriptions que l’on retrouve dans leurs carnets, des deux principales espèces de proies : le phoque et le caribou. Il rend compte également des variations saisonnières et de la disponibilité de ces animaux au cours des premières années de la mission ; les données ont été recueillies pour les années 1771 à 1778. Plusieurs indices contenus dans les carnets moraves, bien qu’ils n’aient pas étés reconnus comme tels par les missionnaires, indiquent des interactions et des transformations entre êtres humains et non-humains (animaux, esprits). Ces indications corroborent la transgression spirituelle des limites de catégories en tant que caractéristique essentielle des méthodes de chasse traditionnelles.
Mots-clés:
- Moraves,
- Inuit,
- Labrador,
- chasse,
- animaux
Parties annexes
References
- UAH, R.15.K.a.5.2.b, Journal der Brüder Hill, Haven, Drachardt, Schloezer 1765 (Journal of the Brethren Hill, Haven, Drachardt, Schloezer 1765).
- UAH, R.15.K.a.5.5, J. Havens Rekognoszierungsreise 1770 (J. Haven’s Reconnaissance Journey 1770).
- UAH, R.15.K.a.5.6, Christian Drachardt, Rekognoszierungsreise (1770) (Christian Drachardt, Reconnaissance Journey [1770]).
- UAH, R.15.K.a.7.c, Instruktion (Instruction) 1771.
- UAH, R.15.K.b.4.a, Diarien von Nain 1771–1781 (Nain Diaries 1771–1781, continuous page numeration).
- UAH, R.15.K.b.4.a, Drachardts Diarium von Nain 1771–1773 (Drachardt’s Nain Diary 1771–1773).
- BOAS, Franz, 1901 “The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay: From Notes Collected by Capt. George Comer, Capt. James S. Mutch, and Rev. E.J. Peck.” Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 15 (1):1–370.
- BOAS, Franz, 1907 “The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay: From Notes Collected by Capt. George Comer, Capt. James S. Mutch, and Rev. E.J. Peck.” Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 15 (2):371–570.
- CRANTZ, David, 1820 The History of Greenland, including an Account of the Mission carried on by the United Brethren in that Country; From the German, with a Continuation to the Present Time, Illustrative Notes, and an Appendix, Containing a Sketch of the Mission of the Brethren in Labrador. 2 vols. London: Longman.
- HAWKES, Ernest W., 1916 The Labrador Eskimo. Geological Survey Memoir 91. Anthropological Series 14. Ottawa: Department of Mines.
- HILLER, John K., 1967 The Foundation and the Early Years of the Moravian Mission in Labrador, 1752–1805. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland.
- KAPLAN, Susan A., and Jim M. WOOLLETT, 2000 “Challenges and Choices: Exploring the Interplay of Climate, History, and Culture on Canada’s Labrador Coast.” Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 32 (3):351–59.
- KLEIVAN, Helge, 1966 The Eskimos of Northeast Labrador: A History of Eskimo-White Relations, 1771–1955. Oslo: Norsk Polarinstitutt, Skrifter Nr. 139.
- LAUGRAND, Frédéric, and Jarich OOSTEN, 2016 Hunters, Predators and Prey: Inuit Perceptions of Animals. New York: Berghahn Books.
- OLSTHOORN, Thea, 2017 “Die Bedeutung der Quellen aus dem Unitätsarchiv für die Ethnographie. Die ‚Taufe‘ der Seehunde. Ein Beispiel aus Labrador.” In 250 Jahre Unitätsarchiv. Beiträge der Jubiläumstagung vom 28. bis 29. Juni 2014, edited by Claudia Mai, Rüdiger Kröger, and Dietrich Meyer, 163–79. Herrnhut: Herrnhuter Verlag.
- PEUCKER, Paul, 2009 “Labrador Records at the Unity Archives in Herrnhut, Germany.” In Moravian Beginnings in Labrador” Papers from a Symposium Held in Makkovik and Hopedale, edited by H. Rollmann, 152–61. St. John’s: Memorial University, Faculty of Arts.
- PODMORE, Colin, 2000 “Zinzendorf und England.” In Graf ohne Grenzen: Leben und Werk von Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf, edited by Paul Peucker, 55–59. Herrnhut: Unitätsarchiv.
- RASMUSSEN, Knud, 1929 Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition 1921–24. Vol. 7, part 1, Intellectual Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel.
- RICHARDSON, John, 1851 Arctic Searching Expedition: A Journal of a Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic Sea, in Search of the Discovery Ships under Command of Sir John Franklin. 2 vols. London: Longman.
- ROLLMANN, Hans, 2009 “Johann Christian Erhardt and the First Moravian Exploration of Labrador in 1752.” In Moravian Beginnings in Labrador: Papers from a Symposium Held in Makkovik and Hopedale, edited by Hans Rollmann, 53–68. St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Arts.
- ROLLMANN, Hans, 2011 “‘So Fond of the Pleasure to Shoot’: The Sale of Firearms to Inuit on Labrador’s North Coast in the Late Eighteenth Century.” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 26 (1):5–24.
- SONNE, Birgitte, 1982 “The Ideology and Practice of Blood Feuds in East and West Greenland.” Études Inuit Studies 6 (2):21–50.
- TAYLOR, J. Garth, 1974 Labrador Eskimo Settlements of the Early Contact Period. Publications in Ethnology 9. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
- TAYLOR, J. Garth, and Helga TAYLOR, 1986 “Labrador Inuit Summer Ceremonies.” Études Inuit Studies 10 (1–2):233–44.
- TREUDE, Erhard, 1979 “Die Siedlungs-und Wirtschaftsentwicklung Nordlabradors––dargestellt am Beispiel des Raumes um Nain.” In “Kanada und das Nordpolargebiet,” edited by Ludger Müller-Wille and Hellmut Schroeder-Lanz. Special issue (Sonderheft), Trierer Geographische Studien 2:75–86.
- WOOLLETT, James, 2007 “Labrador Inuit Subsistence in the Context of Environmental Change: An Initial Landscape History Perspective.” American Anthropologist New Series 1:69–84.