Like the Sound of a Drum: Aboriginal Cultural Politics in Denendeh and Nunavut

By Peter Kulchyski

Book Overview

Part ethnography, part narrative, Like the Sound of a Drum is evocative, confrontational, and poetic. For many years, Peter Kulchyski has travelled to the north, where he has sat in on community meetings, interviewed elders and Aboriginal politicians, and participated in daily life. In Like the Sound of a Drum he looks as three northern communities--Fort Simpson and Fort Good Hope in Denendeh and Pangnirtung in Nunavut--and their strategies for maintaining their political and cultural independence. In the face of overwhelming odds, communities such as these have shown remarkable resources for creative resistance. In the process, they are changing the concept of democracy as it is practised in Canada.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887556868
• ISBN13: 9780887556869
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A fascinating expose

Written by Peter Kulchyski (professor of Native Studies, University of Manitoba), Like the Sound of a Drum: Aboriginal Cultural Politics in Denendeh and Nunavut is part ethnography, part narrative of the author's travels among Aboriginal communities of Canada. Compiling what Kulchyski learned interviewing elders and Aboriginal politicians, partaking of daily life, and attending community meetings, Like the Sound of a Drum offers an in-depth examination of the modern-day culture and lifestyle of three communities: Fort Simpson and Fort Good Hope in Denendeh, and Pangnirtung in Nunavut. Of especial interest is Kulchyski's examination of how Aboriginal communities strive to maintain political and cultural independence in creative ways, and how they challenge the concept of democracy as it is undertaken in Canada. A fascinating expose, rich in detail from cover to cover and illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs.