Social Science Native American Studies
Inuksuit
Silent Messengers of the Arctic
- Publisher
- Douglas & McIntyre
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2001
- Category
- Native American Studies, Native American
- Recommended Age
- 9
- Recommended Grade
- 4
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781550548747
- Publish Date
- Aug 2001
- List Price
- $35.00
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
The mysterious stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the circumpolar world. Built from whatever stones are at hand, each one is unique. Inuksuit are among the oldest and most important objects placed by humans upon the vast Arctic landscape and have become a familiar symbol of the Inuit and their homeland.
In author Norman Hallendy’s forty years of travels throughout the Arctic, he developed deep and lasting friendships with a number of Inuit elders. Through them, he learned that inuksuit are a nuanced, complex and vital form of communication. Hallendy’s dramatic colour photos of many different kinds of inuksuit and objects of veneration capture not only a sense of wonder and power but reveal the unfamiliar Arctic landscape in all its magical beauty.
About the author
Norman Hallendy is an internationally recognized Arctic ethnographer and chronicler of Inuit life and landscapes. He speaks fluent Inuktitut and is affectionately known as AH-PEER-SUK-TI, which means “the inquisitive one,” by his Inuit friends on Baffin Island. His previous books include Inuksuit: Silent Messengers of the Arctic and Tukiliit: The Stone People Who Live in the Wind.
Librarian Reviews
Inuksuit: Silent Messengers of the Arctic
With these fifty-two superb colour photographs of inuksuit, the author has recorded dramatic images from more than forty years of travel and study with Inuit elders. The accompanying text is thoughtful and informative, providing insights into the value of the inuksuit as a communication tool. Hallendy has provided diagrams that show examples of the construction, shapes, and possible arrangements of inuksuit as well as maps detailing specific inuksuit sites where his photographs were shot. An appendix provides a glossary of terms specific to the function and features of inuksuk types.Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools. 2008-2009.