Voices and Images of Nunavimmiut—Children and Youth

Seventy percent of Nunavimmiut is under thirty years old, making it one of the youngest populations in Canada. Marianne Stenbaek and Minnie Grey bring together accounts by young people written over the course of three decades to show the lives of the Inuit through their own eyes. Contributors write about the problems of growing up in small Arctic communities, but also about the many joys of living a free life and their close connections to their families. They wonder about the dilemma of respecting community elders and their wisdom while combining this knowledge with modern life. The book also includes discussion both by young people and Inuit leaders about what kind of education is worthwhile and necessary in a community where traditions of hunting and fishing exist simultaneously with smart phones and shopping trips to Montreal. The young people write about their connection to Inuit across Canada, in Alaska, and Greenland as they forge new bonds respecting their culture and language. Weaving a story never told before from an Inuit perspective, Voices and Images of Nunavimmiut: Children and Youth follows an exceptional period in Nunavik development as Inuit peoples transitioned from living off the land to living in centralized towns and villages.