“Cultural Expedition Avannaa”

A guest blog by Ole Jorgen Hammeken and Galya Morrell

Being “first” never really mattered to the Eskimos. They did not travel to win, to conquer, to make a statement or to proclaim superiority. They travelled because they were adventurous. As descendents of the Eskimos, the modern Inuit of Greenland still have this “adventurous element” in their blood. In many ways, “Expedition Avannaa 2012” was ignited by this very element.

 

 

It was a journey in two small open boats “the North Greenlandic way” – the hard way. Equipped the laconic “hunter’s” style which implies minimum of comfort and gadgets, Expedition Avannaa travelled to the world’s northernmost communities in Avanersuaq (Thule District).

The Inughuit, in former times known as “proud Polar Eskimos”, is one of the smallest indigenous groups in the world, with a population of less than 800. Some of them are descendants of polar explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson. Unlike most cultures of today’s Arctic, the Inughuit have succeeded to avoid the ego of “consumer civilization” and to maintain the immaterial way of life. They still use kayaks and harpoons to hunt narwhal in the summer and dog-sleds in the winter to hunt seals, walruses and polar bears.

Once being forcefully relocated to Qaanaaq from their sacred home in Uummannaq when it was designated as a site for Thule Airbase in 1951, they are now facing a threat of being squeezed out of existence entirely. The abrupt climate change, the new hunting quotas and the anxious desire of a few to obtain independence at any cost, gives this ancient culture a narrow chance for survival. When the old people – tradition keepers – are gone, the hunting culture and the language will be gone too.

On our way, we observed and filmed rock and soil, earth and ice, water and sky, wind and currents, wildflowers and ancient lichens, foxes and ravens, seals and phytoplankton that too has to adopt to abrupt changes – often with little success.

We spent many weeks at sea… We got hungry, dirty and cold… We learnt not to talk, to be silent. But then, at the end, we reached the state of mind when we were able get that close to these normally very shy and easily intimidated beings.

Expedition Avannaa was not about speed. We made stops in every single settlement on our way visiting people who reside in the world’s northernmost communities. Thus, we were able to find out first-hand what they think about changes in climate, travel, hunting and fishing.

From Greenland we travelled to Moscow where we presented our journey to the people of Russia. There was more interest than we could have imagined. Russia’s North is facing today the same problems as settlements in Northern Greenland do. President Mikhail Gorbachev and Senator Arthur Chilingarov suggested that we continue our travel in Siberia and Central Asia to the hardest-to-reach settlements and build bridges between them.

That’s why we are currently transforming our hard-core journey into an ongoing eyewitness cross-cultural expedition aimed at reuniting the world’s most isolated communities in polar, subarctic, alpine and desert areas mostly affected by climate and societal change.

Please have a look at our website here.

Our new “cultural” expedition will offer a unique view of people and their natural habitats in the world’s most isolated places that otherwise stay invisible to the eyes of decision makers and general audience worldwide. “Cultural Expedition Avannaa” will observe and thoroughly record life that exists in these areas today. Its main mission is to make sure that the voices of the indigenous inhabitants of these areas are heard.