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Commentary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2010

By
Karla Jessen Williamson  and
Laurence J. Kirmayer
Edited by
Carol M. Worthman ,
Paul M. Plotsky ,
Daniel S. Schechter  and
Constance A. Cummings
Carol M. Worthman
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
Paul M. Plotsky
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
Daniel S. Schechter
Affiliation:
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève
Constance A. Cummings
Affiliation:
Foundation for Psychocultural Research, California
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Summary

As colleagues with different personal and professional backgrounds working together on Inuit mental health research, we found that Jean Briggs's chapter evoked quite different responses. Karla Jessen Williamson is an Inuk anthropologist, Laurence Kirmayer a Euro-Canadian psychiatrist. Our contrasting responses illuminate both the richness and the controversies inherent in Briggs's insightful work and touch on persistent dilemmas in cross-cultural research. In this commentary, we will present some of our respective reflections separately and conclude with some points of convergence.

JESSEN WILLIAMSON: COSMOCENTRISM AND INUIT CHILDREARING

“Naak silavit qeqqa?” This question roughly translates into “Where is the middle of your universe?” My youngest paternal aunt asked me that question in a demanding tone. A totally dumbfounded, awe-struck six-year-old, I was hit by waves of sensation at the prospect of having to locate in my body the very part that housed my intellect, the air that I breathe, and my universe. I looked around at the air surrounding us, seeking the middle of my universe and my intellect; in desperation, I slowly pointed between my eyes! My aunt laughed and laughed. I was never sure whether she took my response seriously, or whether it merely satisfied her need for joking and teasing me.

Sila is the root of the word silavit, and Inuit use it to refer to air, weather, intellect, knowledge, integratedness, wisdom, and the external. MacDonald (1998, p. 35) describes sila as “an indicator of environment, an indicator of locality, and an indicator of intelligence or spirit.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Formative Experiences
The Interaction of Caregiving, Culture, and Developmental Psychobiology
 , pp. 299 - 307
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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References

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