More-Than-Human Intimacies and Traditional Knowledge among Hunting Families in Northwest Greenland

Abstract

In this article, we explore shifting human/environment entanglements narrated by Inuit hunters in the community of Kullorsuaq in northwestern Greenland. We present findings from 29 in-depth qualitative interviews that were analyzed using an inductive analytical approach. We examine shifts in human-environment entanglements narrated by hunters and their wives, the ways in which traditional knowledge is transmitted amid shifting entanglements, and we characterize the more-than-human intimacies that develop and facilitate the transmission of traditional knowledge. We conclude that the actors who shape ecological policies pay close attention to the more-than-human intimacies implicated in the transmission of traditional knowledge that contributes to Indigenous autonomy in northwestern Greenland.