Poster Subject: Indigenous Studies

Poster Title: A Place for Us: Material Traces of the Enforcement of Monogamous Marriage among the Inuit of Nunatsiavut

Bio: Caylee Dzurka (She/They) is a Ukrainian Settler from Treaty 7 territory in Southern Alberta. As part of her doctoral work, Caylee is collaborating with 2SLGBTQ+ Inuit and their allies from Nunatsiavut to challenge and decolonize traditional interpretations of gender and sexuality within the field of Arctic archaeology. Lianna Rice (She/They) is a BA student in the Department of Archaeology, with a background in Front-End Web development. She is also the co-founder of Mother Tongues Network and L.O.V.E. Inuktut, two initiatives promoting Indigenous language and culture. 

Abstract: Policing the sexual and interpersonal relationships of colonized peoples is a key mechanism of colonization. Western colonial powers often use the law, money, resources, and social norms to obliterate the presence of non-Western gender and sexual practices in colonized communities, erasing the presence of 2SLGBTQ+ identities and practices in non-Western communities. By forcing communities to shift from multi-generational, plural, and queer kinship structures to nuclear, two parent, heterosexual kinship structures, sexual colonization had a distinct impact on the archaeological record since household architecture shifted to accommodate these new types of families. For the Inuit of Nunatsiavut, the arrival Moravian Missionaries in the 1700’s resulted in drastic changes to family structure since polyamorous marriages were banned by the Moravians who encouraged - and often forced - Inuit to follow a heterosexual monogamous relationship structure. This shift in relationship dynamics for all Inuit would have disproportionately affected 2SLGBTQ+ Inuit since the place for them that would have existed in a polyamorous Inuit community would not have existed in a monogamous Inuit community controlled by Moravian Missionaries. One of the objectives of the akisevallianik angutimut/anguniarnek project is to determine if this colonial enforcement influenced the archaeological record. Through our oral history and archival research, we have found evidence that a key concern of the Moravians was preventing Inuit from committing “sins of the flesh” and likely resulted in a change in housing structures throughout the colonial period. 

Corresponding Author's Email: cndzurka@mun.ca