Martha Of The North Analysis

Marquise Lepage’s documentary, Martha of the North (2009) provides an insight to the 1953 forced relocation of the Inuit from Northern Quebec to the High Arctic. It does an exceptional job at explaining how the Inuit’s lives were affected and molded at a holistic perspective. Martha of the North (2009) can be explained through the concept of holism and its limitations. The concept of holism can explain the effects that the relocations has had on the Inuit people. Although the Inuit’s behaviour can be analyzed through the concept there are aspects of their experience that holism does not account for. The documentary follows the life of one of the first Inuit to be relocated, a woman named Martha, along with her family and the people in her community.

Martha of the North (2009) provides an example. The Inuit’s language and culture were affected by the deprivation of education as well as the need to survive, putting a disadvantage at their culture advancing because they were too busy trying to stay alive. People were hurt physically. As the documentary describes, the High Arctic is completely dark for a duration of three months in the winter, making it difficult for the Inuit to differentiate between salt water and fresh water ice bergs. They would often times break their tools and hurt themselves. Their psychology health was affected by the depressing state they lived in, to the point that many were dying due to the harsh conditions and committing suicide. Martha of the North (2009) also describes how social relations are interfered with, when Martha and her best friend were unable to be together when the lake melted in the summer. The Inuit’s daily actions were all affected by the interrelation of the environment they were in, the condition that their bodies were in, as well as the well-being of their mind. These are connected to one another, as one factor would influence the

The unit readings argue that anthropologists insist that global flows also partake in affecting local practices. The beliefs and customs of the Inuit are accounted for their interaction with the environment, but these factors also interrelate with neighbouring societies, global capitalism, and international NGOs, as Martha of the North describes. The Inuit were used by the Canadian government in a form of racism and cruelty. To affirm sovereignty in the vast arctic land, Canada had to have permanent residences residing within these territories. They had created a façade that they were providing the Inuit with the opportunity of a better life when in reality, they did not care about them at all. The government had less than honest intentions. What the people who represented the nation did to the relocation of the Inuit is unacceptable and its effect can be explained through holism but also goes beyond the concept on an international scale. Global practices influenced the local practices of the Inuit in the High Arctic. The government representatives of Canada at that time did not value the lives of these people and only cared about their own