Knud Rasmussen and the Ilulissat Museum

The colorful houses, constant barking of chained up sled dogs, and the ever-present icebergs floating just off shore were just a few of the amazing things that the magical little town of Ilulissat has to offer. But for me, one of the biggest highlights of our stay in Ilulissat was visiting the vicarage where polar explorer and anthropologist Knud Rasmussen was born and raised. The building is now home of the Ilulissat Museum, which contains numerous exhibits on Inuit culture and history in addition to artifacts from the life of Knud Rasmussen. I have to admit that I had never heard of Knud before visiting Ilulissat, but it didn’t take long for me to become a full blown Knudist.

A typical view in Ilulissat. Not too shabby!

Part of Knud’s success as an explorer and social scientist came from his ability to seamlessly interact with both Danish and Greenlandic cultures.  I think that’s probably why Knud’s story struck such a chord with me.  My wife is from Costa Rica and we are expecting our first child in less than a month. We worry that the child will feel more comfortable with one language and culture over the other, and therefore favor communication with one side of the family more than the other. Knud, who had a Danish father, the vicar Christian Rasmussen, and an Inuit-Danish Mother, Sophie Rasmussen (nee Fleicher), was not only able to integrate himself into both cultures, the embracement of both cultures is what made him so successful.

The man himself, Dr. Knud Rasmussen!

Knud spent most of his childhood in Ilulissat, but traveled to Denmark to study at the age of 12, which kicked off a lifetime of travel and exploration.  After graduating and working as a correspondent for several newspapers, he joined the Danish Literary Expedition to contact “the new people” of Thule – Inuit communities that had so far had very little contact with outside cultures. Knud collected a great deal of information about their way of living, myths, beliefs, and culture. The expedition was so successful that Knud was motivated to embark on further expeditions, including exploring more of Greenland and visiting the native peoples of Canada, Alaska, and Siberia. Through his travels he realized that the language and beliefs of many of the Inuit were similar. He was even able to easily communicate with the peoples he encountered in Canada and Siberia using his native Greenlandic language, Kalaallisut.

Ulu, or the “woman’s knife” is used for cleaning and skinning animals.

Are the Inuit snow goggles not the coolest things ever? I seriously love these.

We never totally out what wound plugs are for exactly, but I was fascinated by them, nonetheless.

In addition to all the exploring and reporting, I was particularly impressed by the creative ways that Knud brought attention to the Inuit way of life, such as by making the film “Palo’s Wedding”.  It is a remarkable film and I encourage everybody out there to watch it! It can be hard to find, although you can buy it on Amazon, and there are a few short clips on youtube. Greenlandic filmmaking lives on, by the way, check out the recent horror flick Qaqqat alanngui. Not to be missed!

Knud’s adventures were not without their challenges (such as being deported from Siberia), but he nonetheless visited Inuit communities throughout the world and brought attention to their relatedness, migration patterns, complex belief system and the remarkable adaptations to polar life. As a reward for all his work Knud was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Copenhagen and Edinburgh.

Kristen points out some articles in the museum related to her research!

In addition to the exhibits on Knud, the Ilulissat Museum had a number of exhibits on Inuit culture in the past and present.  A favorite of mine was a special exhibit on how climate change is perceived by the people of Greenland (link). Despite the fact that the arctic is experiencing climate change at about twice the rate of the rest of the world, the majority of Greenlanders see climate change as either a distant threat or of minimal consequence.  Doesn’t feel too far from home, to be honest!  Check out some of the photos from the exhibit below.  My favorite by far is the boy upset that climate change is affecting Christmas.

Hey Ruth, how do you feel about climate change?

All in all the Ilulissat Museum was an excellent stop and very educational. Definitely worth a visit if you happen to find yourself in a majestic town of Ilulissat!

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Seals, polar bears and narwhals, oh my!

Seals, polar bears, and double-tusked narwhals, oh my! One of the many exciting things to do in any capital city is go to their museums. Nuuk is no exception! The C4 IGERTs (+ C1 IGERT Lauren, now a Dartmouth postdoc) got to experience part of Greenland’s cultural history by visiting not only the Nuuk Museum and the Art museum, but also an ‘economy’ museum where we watched a few very skilled inuit people constructing their traditional outfits.

The Museum (a.k.a. Nunatta Katersugaasivia http://www.natmus.gl/) was established in the mid-1960’s and was one of the first museums in Greenland. The Museum is made up of multiple buildings and walks through different periods in Greenland’s history from the first settlements to industrialization. The exhibits show what every day life was like through displays of traditional clothing, modes of transportation and even types of food they were eating and hunting.

varieties of traditional Greenlandic outfits

Beyond seeing the detail in the traditional Greenlandic costume, one of the most interesting things for me were the different hunting outfits, hunting boats and how they evolved with new hunting methods and with new animals being caught. The Museum even had a few of the outfits from arctic explorers- one was made entirely out of polar bear!

Polar explorer outfits made of polar bear and other furs

The Museum even has an impressive skull of a Narwhal with two tusks more than 2 meters in length!

Christine and Zak discussing the double-tusked narwhal

Right around the corner from The Museum is Kittat the ‘economy museum’, or workshop, that specializes in making the traditional Greenland costumes. The traditional Greenland outfit is made of different seal skins, intricate beading, crocheted lace and wollen cloth. Kittat is a fully functional shop with the sewing room inside and the skin-drying racks outside. Not only could you watch some of the incredible beadwork and leather stitching taking place, but you could try your hand at sewing some of the leather pieces together- they make it look so easy!

Ruth feels the very soft fur used in the traditional Greenlandic costume

The last museum we had the opportunity to visit was the Art museum, Nuuk Kunstmuseum (http://www.kunstmuseum.gl/). This museum (and over 300 paintings and nearly 500 figures) was given by Svend and Helene Junge Pedersen in 2005 and donated to the citizens of Nuuk. Among all of the fantastic art, Nuuk Kunstmuseum contains the largest collection of paintings by Emanuel A. Petersen (150 pieces).  E. A. Petersen (1894-1948) was an artist from Copenhagen who traveled all around Greenland in the early 1900s painting, drawing and sketching the different landscapes. These paintings are some of the first forms of documenting the landscape (including glacier position!) of this area.

an Emanuel A. Petersen painting of a glacier terminus

We even got a special treat at the last stop on our Nuuk museum tour- when we were talking with the curator, we found out she used to be a member of the Greenlandic government. She was in office when Greenland was granted self-rule (June 21, 2009) which gave Greenland more independence from Denmark. Hearing another first hand experience of that day and all of the new experiences that resulted was incredible!

I think we will all remember Nuuk with fond memories of the culture, museums and especially the people. Thank you Nuuk!

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Ilisimatusarfik

The first time I walked through Ilimmarfik, the building that houses part of Ilisimatusarfik, or the University of Greenland, I immediately felt at home – although the physical environment is very different from the Dartmouth campus (and the views are much more spectacular), the atmosphere in the library and classrooms was just the same.  I also felt at home because of the warm welcome we received from everyone we met; all were eager to meet us, share their knowledge, and strengthen the connection between Dartmouth and Ilisimatusarfik.

Views around Nuuk are slightly different from the Dartmouth campus.

On Wednesday, we walked up to Ilimmarfik for a public talk by Dr. Minik Rosing, a well-known Greenlandic geologist and the chair of the University Board of Directors.  In an overflowing room full of students, professors, and community members, Dr. Rosing presented a talk entitled “Greenland in our hearts and minds:” while the intellectual pursuit of science is what technically brings us to Greenland, it is the connection we carry in our hearts that keeps pulling us back.  Dr. Rosing spoke specifically about an expedition to Northeast Greenland that included both scientists and artists.  Without any specific goals, both groups were able to take in the beauty of the landscape, trying, in Dr. Rosing’s words, “to make a picture of the world that someone else can read.”

At the end of the week we were invited back to Ilimmarfik for a full day of lectures about Greenlandic culture, history, and language.  For me, the most inspiring part of the day was to hear from two PhD students about their research.  While waiting for the fog to clear so she could head out for fieldwork, Ann Eileen Lennert told us about an impressive interdisciplinary project looking at past use of the fjord system around Nuuk.  By combining archaeology, marine geology, and anthropology, Ann Eileen will investigate how the ice conditions in the fjord system have changed over the past few thousand years.

Axel Jeremiassen, a PhD student in the Department of Cultural and Social History, gave us a detailed account of Greenland’s history from the arrival of the Saqqaq people in 2500 BCE through WWII.  Unlike many indigenous peoples, Greenlanders have had the fortune to have a long history of written language.  Axel’s PhD project takes advantage of this rich history by looking at letters to the editor in the two longest running Greenlandic newspapers, Atuagagdliutit and Avangnamiok, to see the opinions and thoughts of Greenlanders over time.

Axel Jeremiassen teaches us about the early history of Greenland — the Saqqaq, Dorset, and Thule cultures.

Our experience at Ilisimatusarfik was both educational and enjoyable.  Many thanks to all for the warm welcome and the willingness to share knowledge with us.  We look forward strengthening our ties with Ilisimatusarfik in the future.

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