Bibliography of Canadian Inuit Periodicals

Foreword

FOREWORD Opening a new critical field on Inuit culture In all cultures, there comes a time when we must choose, collect, record, index and study the texts published in periodicals, magazines and newspapers which is the first step in forming an organized written heritage. For those who study it, Inuit culture is a fascinating and highly complex case of how our contemporary era understands a mixture between oral and written material enduring and continuing with contemporaryoralperformancessuchasspokenwordorverbaljousting, but also more and more through written material. This culture takes shape in the coexistence and use of languages (Inuktitut, English and French) that contradict some preconceived ideas. It does for the time being without a formal centre for consecration, but in connection with a larger whole, consisting of the Inuit circumpolar world which itself is undergoing deep tensions between a colonial influence still felt and a desire for a sometimes contested pan-Inuit cohesion. Deeply rooted both in the necessary and the essential, Inuit culture brings a unique message in an original way. In this sense, it has a rightful place in the universal cultural heritage. A researcher used to researching archives, manuscripts and cultural resources, is confronted with a considerable, fundamental problem in the Inuit case. The traces of its cultural emergence, even recent ones, have not been systematically institutionalized and inventoried. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CANADIAN INUIT PERIODICALS [ X ] The researcher will thus search in vain in libraries, cultural histories, dictionaries and scientific articles for information on an Inuit author, artist or politician. One will even seek uncomfortably early Inuit publications, as they are dispersed in places few and far between. Studying the Inuit cultural heritage requires much preparatory work: finding the texts, tracing their places of publication, their contexts and their sources in a process that is more of an investigation in the field than documentary research. It is necessary, in order to sustain the corpus and its renewal, and also, for it to be known and studied, to create and maintain tools to be used both by the Inuit and researchers interested in discovering their cultural heritage. From the beginning of Inuit writing until today, a substantial amount of texts, including journalistic writings, were printed and have circulated in periodicals, of which, until now, neither the number, the extent, nor wealth were known. These periodicals are mostly little known to the public, even in Inuit communities–in this context, it also goes without saying that they have rarely been studied or put into a historical perspective. That is why the field work carried out here by Sharon Rankin opens a rich and unique cultural research field. Daniel Chartier Université du Québec à Montréal ...