Apres les bouleversements lies a la sedentarisation des annees 1950 et suite a leur lutte politique, les societes inuit accedent a present a des formes d'autonomie territoriale : au Nunavut et ailleurs, l'heure est au partenariat, et le gouvernement compte sur les anthropologues pour participer au renouveau culturel, les
traditions
etant sollicitees pour faire face aux defis du present.
Que signifie ce partenariat et quels sont ses fondements ideologiques ? Comment les anthropologues reagissent-ils a la multiplication des procedures d'acces au terrain et autres contraintes deontologiques ? Que penser du statut des
elders , devenus interlocuteurs privilegies des nouveaux projets pedagogiques et d'une anthropologie souvent tournee vers l'idee de sauvetage culturel ? Quelle place pour l'anthropologie de la jeunesse et comment aborder les rapports interculturels entre les Inuit et la societe eurocanadienne ?
Le present ouvrage aborde ces interrogations epistemologiques sensibles et engage a une pratique prononcee de la reflexivite dans ce contexte en constante evolution, ou l'implication citoyenne du chercheur est hautement valorisee.
In the wake of the upheavals caused by the shift to a sedentary lifestyle in the 1950s, and after a long political struggle, Inuit societies are now obtaining forms of territorial autonomy. In Nunavut, and other places, a new partnership is being formed, and the government is counting on anthropologists to participate in this cultural renewal which draws on ‘traditions’ in order to face the challenges of the present.
What is the significance of this partnership, and what is its ideological grounding? How have anthropologists reacted to the emergence of new procedures for access to the field and other deontological constraints? What of the status of elders, who have become central agents in pedagogical projects, as well as in an anthropology often geared to the idea of cultural salvage? What place can be made for an anthropology of youth, and how are the relationships between Inuit communities and Euro-Canadian society to be approached?
This volume tackles these sensitive theoretical questions, and urges a distinctly reflexive practice in this constantly evolving context, one in which the scholar’s civic engagement is highly valued.
