Re-Activating Indigenous Knowledge from Oral History: Landscape and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Greenland

This book focuses on Greenlandic oral history and how to better understand people, their cultural remains, and their landscape through their own stories. It offers a way to consult Inuit oral history that opens up a perspective on houses and landscapes that may otherwise be invisible to the barren eye. Working with and re-activating Indigenous knowledge of Greenland, the study draws on more than two thousand stories collected between 1735 and 1981, preserved, and later enrolled in an online and searchable database. The author unearths the concepts woven into Greenlandic Inuit’s homes, settlements, and landscapes. These re-discovered insights challenge the archaeological interpretation, transcending the tangible to illuminate the unseen. The narratives contribute to safeguarding invaluable Indigenous knowledge and perhaps also to the revival of cultural practices, customs, and traditions. The book demonstrates how oral history is more than merely fantastical ‘myths’ and ‘legends’; it is valuable knowledge for scholars and communities. It will be of particular interest for scholars of Indigenous studies, anthropology, archaeology, and history.

Asta Mønsted is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Born and raised in Uummannaq, Greenland, she trained as a prehistoric archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.