Writing to Speak. Historical Consciousness, Elders Memories and Historical Regimes in Nunavut
The author first analyses the emerging conditions of a collective historical consciousness among the Inuit of Northeast Canada. The warming up of these « cold » societies that crystallize the invention of Nunavut as well as a myriad of publications in oral history arise more from political claims than from a new and unique historical regime. Derived from the settling and schooling processes as well as from the adoption of the writing system, this warming up may however be full of consequences for future generations. Following the Elders perspectives, i.e. the tools and cultural categories Elders use to talk about their past, the last part of the paper sheds light on their preference for an autobiographic, fragmentary and relational memory based on orality. Even if the younger generations share many common features with the Elders, the contemporary situation appears as a transitional period marked by the coexistence of various historical regimes.