Kenn Harper – författare

In Give Me Winter, Give Me Dogs, Arctic historian Kenn Harper takes readers alongside Knud Rasmussen’s spearheading Fifth Thule Expedition. From 1921 to 1924, Rasmussen trekked across Canada’s Arctic to study Inuit there and record their stories, and perhaps most importantly to him, to immerse himself in their culture and to know them. With the support of his colleagues and Inuit guides, Rasmussen recorded the cultural practices of various Inuit groups, from taboos and shamanism to the introduction of Christianity; traditional stories and practices, and adventures and misadventures that only an Arctic landscape can provide.Including historic photographs and illustrative maps, this book is a great resource for anyone interested in a momentous journey into Inuit culture.

In this new collection, Kenn Harper shares tales of Inuit and Christian beliefs and how these came to coexist—and sometimes clash—in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this period, Anglican and Catholic missionaries came to the North to proselytize among the Inuit, with often unexpected and sometimes tragic results. This collection includes stories of shamans and priests, hymns and ajaja songs, and sealskin churches, drawing on first-hand accounts to show how Christianity changed life in the North in big and small ways. This volume also includes dozens of rare, historical photographs.

In this second volume of In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, Kenn Harper shares the tales of murderers, thieves, and fraudsters--as well as the wrongfully accused--in the early days of Northern colonization. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, settler and Inuit ideas of justice clashed, leading to some of the most unusual trials and punishments in history.

In the fifth volume of the In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History series, Kenn Harper shares tales of European explorers who came to the Arctic seeking adventure, riches, and the elusive Northwest Passage, and Inuit they encountered there. Inuit were invaluable in adding to Western knowledge of the Arctic, serving as guides, clothing-makers, and interpreters. But not every meeting was friendly. This collection sheds light on Inuit who played a pivotal role in the expeditions of some of the most famous Arctic explorers, including the unfortunate John Franklin. This volume also includes dozens of rare, historical photographs.

Als der amerikanische Polarforscher Robert Peary im August 1897 von einer Expedition nach Nordgrönland zurückkehrt, hat er eine ungewöhnliche Ladung an Bord: Er bringt sechs Eskimos mit in die Vereinigten Staaten, angefordert vom New Yorker American Museum of Natural History als Forschungs- und Präsentationsobjekte. Hier, im Kellergeschoß des Museums, sind die Polareskimos der wissenschaftlichen Neugier der Ethnologen und der sensationshungrigen Schaulust der Museumsbesucher hilflos ausgeliefert. Schon wenige Wochen nach ihrer Ankunft im fremden Land sind alle Eskimos schwer erkrankt. Nur das jüngste Familienmitglied überlebt und bleibt als Waisenkind allein in der Großstadt zurück - Minik, der Eskimo von New York. Zerrissen zwischen zwei Kulturen, sucht der Heranwachsende nach seiner Identität und nach der verlorenen Kultur seines Volkes. Von den ehrgeizigen Wissenschaftlern und Forschern aus seiner unmittelbaren Umgebung kann er dabei keine Hilfe erfahren - im Gegenteil, sie betrügen ihn sogar um die Gebeine seines in New York verstorbenen Vaters. Eine lange Odyssee beginnt. Kenn Harper enthüllt in diesem Buch erstmals die wahre Lebensgeschichte von Minik Wallace, um die sich zahllose Legenden ranken. Auf die richtige Spur führten ihn erst seine umfangreichen Recherchen in den Archiven von Kopenhagen, Washington, New York und Philadelphia sowie seine Besuche in Cobleskill, Lawyersville und Pittsburg. Nach der Veröffentlichung von Kenn Harpers Dokumentation Ende der 80er Jahre sah sich das American Museum of Natural History schließlich dazu veranlaßt, die Gebeine der rund 100 Jahre zuvor in New York verstorbenen Eskimos nach Grönland überführen zu lassen, wo sie 1993 ihre letzte Ruhestätte fanden.

In this third volume of In Those Days, Harper shares stories of the rise and fall of the whaling industry in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. At the turn of the nineteenth century, whale baleen and blubber were extremely valuable commodities, and so sailors braved the treacherous Arctic waters, risking starvation, scurvy, and death, to bring home the bounty of the North. The presence of these whalemen in the North would irrevocably alter the lives of Inuit. Along with first-hand accounts from journals and dozens of rare, historical photographs, this collection includes the myth of the Octaviusâa ship that drifted for twelve years with a frozen crewâencounters between sailors and Inuit, tales of the harrowing hazing rituals suffered by first-time crewmembers, and much more.