Нанук с Севера, Р. Флаэрти, 1922 / Nanook Of The North, 1922, Robert J. Flaherty
by ЭтноКино / EthnoFilm on YouTube
Exactly 100 years ago, one of the first documentaries, Nanook of the North, was released. The film's creator, Robert Flaherty, worked as a geologist and cartographer around Hudson Bay and, imbued with Inuk life, he captured film footage about this northern people. The film contains staged images, but the bulk of the material is an anthropological documentation of Inuit life. Robert Flaherty and Alice Nevalinga (who played Nanook's wife, Nayla, in the film) had a relationship during filming, and even had a son, Joseph. Joseph later started a family - and if you visit Inukjuak and Gries Fjord, according to Robert Christopher, "you meet the large and thriving Inuit clan of Flaherty". Also, as it turns out, Alice wasn't the only Inuk companion Robert Flaherty had. Before that, during Robert's journey with his Christian wife Frances (maiden name Hubbard) to the Canadian Belcher Islands, he also fathered the son of another Inuit woman. This relationship is confirmed in Claude Massaud's documentary Nanook Revisited. It should be noted that marital customs among the Inuit were not strictly monogamous. According to Inuit Women: Their Powerful Spirit in a Century of Change, spousal exchange, polygamy, and polyandry were common, but “practices seldom taken lightly.” Spousal exchange, for example, occurred on a temporary basis – a few days to a few weeks – and required consent from all partners.
#america #canada #cinema #documentary #inuit #northamerica #past #polyandry #polygamy #tradition #video
originally posted on ussr.win