Sacred Hunt: A Portrait of the Relationship Between Seals and Inuit

John Steckley teaches in the Human Studies Program at Humber College in
Toronto. He is the author of Beyond Their Years: Five Native Women's
Stories.

The author, a veteran of more than 20 years of writing about the Arctic,
describes in engaging detail the traditional relationship between seals
and Inuit, involving mythological stories and true tales of the hunt.
Additional relevant material is supplied from the European-side of the
North Atlantic, with stories of the selkies (seals who become humans and
then return to their original state). The book subtly builds toward a
reasoned advocacy for the relationship of Inuit and seal to continue
along traditional lines.

Particularly valuable is how Pelly gradually eases the reader into
learning words critical to gaining a sense of the vast pool of cultural
knowledge about seals that the Inuit developed over the centuries. Two
terms in particular provide a window into this cultural archive—agluit
(seal breathing holes) and aurnaq (seal stalking). Pelly’s discussion
of the former leads us into a complexity of terms and perceptions about
the nature of agluit, while his presentation of the latter teaches us
about the traditional learning process and the role of elders as
teachers.

Perhaps the best criteria one can use in judging this book involve
adapting Graham Smith’s words concerning his Maori research, and
substituting “Inuit” for “Maori: “Good, culturally sensitive
research and writing about the [Inuit] should relate to ‘being
[Inuit],’ should be connected to [Inuit] philosophy and principles,
should take for granted the validity and legitimacy of [Inuit and] the
importance of [Inuit] language and culture, and should be concerned with
the struggle for autonomy over [Inuit] cultural well being”
(Decolonizing Methodologies, 1999). By these criteria, Pelly had done
his job well.