Inuit Stories of Being and Rebirth: Gender, Shamanism, and the Third Sex

by Bernard Saladin d'Anglure, Claude Lévi-Strauss (Foreword), Peter Frost (Translator)

First published in French in 2006, Inuit Stories of Being and Rebirth contains an in-depth, paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of Inuit stories on womb memories, birth, namesaking, and reincarnation. This new English edition introduces this material — collected and translated in Igloolik, Nunavut — to a broader audience and contains a new afterword from Saladin d’Anglure. Saladin d’Anglure follows in the footsteps of Marcel Mauss and Claude Lévi-Strauss, who was his colleague for seven years and provided him with advice until his death.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, Indigenous, Mythology, History, Anthologies, Spirituality

400 pages, Paperback

Published November 30, 2018

About the author

Bernard Saladin d'Anglure was a Canadian anthropologist and ethnographer. His work primarily concerned itself with the Inuit of Northern Canada, especially practices of shamanism and conceptions of gender. As an anthropological theorist, he studied under the structuralist Claude Lévi-Strauss, but became most recognized for his innovative methodology and elaboration of the concept of the "third sex". He spoke French, English and Inuktitut fluently. He was Professor Emeritus (Retired) at the Université Laval.

Reviews

[Liisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An academic account of Inuit myths and stories, including some biographies and photographs of the tellers.

[Ewelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and insightful book about Inuit myths and beliefs about life, death and human nature, as told by native storytellers. It is full of author's comments on Inuit culture, customs and history, mainly focused on Nunavut and the inhabitants of Igloolik island.

Reading this book, I felt as if the author's friends from Igloolik have become my own.

[MasterSal]

April 2021

References in the book I am currently reading - The Wolf and the Whale - this seems so interesting.

[Jack Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read several times as research for a piece on gender in the Arctic, truly wonderful book, full of so much life and history that could so easily be lost otherwise