The Sea Woman

This study offers an in-depth examination of the role of shamanism in modern Inuit art and culture. Inuit shamans derived their healing skills and power over natural elements from their ability to communicate with supernatural beings, such as Sedna the sea woman. As the authors document here, despite the current domination of Christianity, contemporary Inuit life and culture is still powerfully shaped by the shaman tradition. They focus on representations of the sea woman as an example of shamanism contextualized in art and explore what these depictions reveal about the dialogue between Inuit and Western cultures in the twentieth century.

Jarich Oosten is a professor in the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden. Frédéric Laugrand is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and CIÉRA at the Université Laval in Quebec.