Narratives of Displacement and Trauma

The Tuberculosis Epidemic among the Inuit of Nunavik in the 1940s–1950s

Authors

  • Ebba Olofsson Champlain College in St-Lambert, Canada; Department at Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, Canada
  • Joseph Folco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36368/jns.v14i1.976

Keywords:

Inuit, tuberculosis, ethics, oral history, narrative, hospitalisation, trauma, displacement, structural violence, intergenerational suffering

Abstract

The Inuit of Canada have suffered from a plethora of governmental interventions including relocations, residential schooling, and forced hospitalisation due to the tuberculosis epidemic. The hospitalisation of Inuit had a detrimental effect on individuals through physical abuse, disconnection from language and culture, and being removed from their families and communities. These government interventions are examples of structural violence that potentially cause both individual and collective trauma and are recounted through the personal narratives of Inuit Elders. In addition, the ethical concerns of conducting anthropological fieldwork on trauma and memory are investigated.

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Published

2021-03-16

How to Cite

Olofsson, E. and Folco, J. (2021) “Narratives of Displacement and Trauma: The Tuberculosis Epidemic among the Inuit of Nunavik in the 1940s–1950s”, Journal of Northern Studies, 14(1), pp. 62–82. doi: 10.36368/jns.v14i1.976.

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2020)

Section

Articles