Jesuits, the Iñupiat, and Catholicism on the Seward Peninsula Coast, 1898-1937
Taking the interactions between Jesuit missionaries and Iñupiat communities as its focus, this article interrogates the complexity of conversion in the Alaskan territory on Seward Peninsula. The Jesuits viewed their evangelizing efforts as a corrective of Native "superstitions" and, simult...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2019]
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| In: |
American catholic studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 130, Issue: 3, Pages: 37-66 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBQ North America KCA Monasticism; religious orders KDB Roman Catholic Church RJ Mission; missiology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Taking the interactions between Jesuit missionaries and Iñupiat communities as its focus, this article interrogates the complexity of conversion in the Alaskan territory on Seward Peninsula. The Jesuits viewed their evangelizing efforts as a corrective of Native "superstitions" and, simultaneously, Native communities of the Seward Peninsula brought Christianity alongside of, rather than in lieu of, Iñupiat religious practice. Particular focus is given to the Jesuit missionary Bellarmine Lafortune and the King Island community, just off the Seward Peninsula. Though he considered the pre-contact Iñupiat to be superstitious, Lafortune did not ascribe to a definition of conversion that required a full break with previous cultural traditions. This allowed for more fluidity in that space of conversion, and just as Iñupiat men and women converted to Catholicism, elements of Catholicism could be converted and made Iñupiat. After providing background information about the Jesuit mission to the Peninsula, the article considers Iñupiat cultures (mainly of King Island) and how the Jesuits attempted to evangelize these communities. The continued emphasis on dance and reciprocity in the King Island community demonstrates how Catholicism lived alongside indigenous cultures. |
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| ISSN: | 2161-8534 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/acs.2019.0051 |