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Clashes between anti-whaling activists and aboriginal whale hunters have become all too common recently. The strong emotions and public relation campaigns that have accompanied many of these conflicts have tended to limit the potential for open dialogue. Inuit Whaling and Sustainability contributes to our understanding of whale harvesting and protection by focussing on the fundamental issues of sustainability that motivate save-the-whale campaigns but are equally crucial to the welfare of subsistence whaling societies.
The book is the result of an Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) inquiry into the significance of whales and whaling to Inuit. The authors survey the lives of Alaskan, Canadian, Siberian and Greenland Inuit and their relationships to a diversity of whale species. Inuit of all ages describe the cultural, social, economic and nutritional importance of whales. Readers learn specifics about the hunt itself, about the spiritual significance of the whales and their place in Inuit culture, as well as the nutritional value of whale meat and blubber.
The second half...