MICHAEL P.J. KENNEDY

Department of English, University of Saskatchewan

Voice of Inuit: Orature/Literature Taught Within English Departments at Canada's English Language Universities

Since the early days of European contact with Inuit in Greenland, the creative voice of the people of the Arctic has been translated and recorded, albeit largely through the critical eyes of Europeans and North Americans from the south. The "Greenland Ode" published in Gentleman's Magazine in 1745, tales, songs, and prose of Inuit recorded in works such as Rink's Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo (1875), Boas' The Central Eskimo (1888), Jenness' and Rasmussen's works of the 1920s all provided European and ultimately English language voice for Inuit creativity. In later years anthologies of Inuit literature such as Edmund Carpenter's Anerca (1959), Robin Gedalof's Paper Stays Put (1980) and John Robert Colombo's Poems of the Inuit (1981) collected traditional works gathered and translated by earlier anthropologists as well as added the voice of modern Inuit from the mid-twentieth century for readers of English.

Interpretive texts such as Penny Petrone's Northern Voices (1988), Robin McGrath's Canadian Inuit Literature: The Development of a Tradition (1984), and Gedalof's 1978 Annotated Bibliography of Canadian Inuit Literature have made Inuit voice accessible to scholars studying in English.

In Canada in the late twentieth century, publication of Aboriginal writing flourished and the literary voice of First Nations and Métis authors in Canada was heard within the curriculum of English Departments and in the publication of anthologies, individual collections, and critical texts. Among authors presented within this context have been some Inuk writers as well.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, how extensive is the awareness of Inuit orature/literature among instructors and students at Canada's English language universities? Are there classes offered in Inuit literature? Are Inuk authors and their works and Inuit orature discussed in Canadian literature, Introductory English or Native Literature classes at Canada's universities and colleges? Are there sufficient texts available for such study? If so, what are they?

The paper to be presented is an attempt to answer the above questions, taking a quantitative analytical approach . Departments of English have been contacted directly by the author in an attempt to illustrate which English language universities in Canada offer Inuit Literature classes, which specific classes offer literary work by Inuit, and what texts are available for study and used at Canadian universities.

The paper will provide preliminary quantitative analysis based on contact between the author and over 50 of Canada's post-secondary institutions from each province and territory undertaken in 2001-2002. Included will be a thorough bibliography of Inuit literature in English.

--Michael P.J. Kennedy, Ph.D.

Michael P. J. Kennedy received his doctorate in Canadian Literature from University of Ottawa. He currently teaches Canadian Literature as well as English Literature and Composition at University of Saskatchewan as well as Canadian Literature and various Communications classes at Kelsey Campus of Saskatchewan Institute, both in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He has previously taught at University of Regina, Concordia University of Montreal, and University of Ottawa. He has presented papers at the Eleventh Inuit Studies Conference at Nuuk, Greenland, at the Arctic Narratives Conference at Ottawa, Ontario, etc. as well as had his scholarly work published in a variety of journals including Studies in Canadian Literature, Canadian Journal of Native Studies, and Journal of Canadian Fiction.