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Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Plants
How can we know who we are, Aalasi Joamie asks, if we don't know about where we live? Having learned from her mother, Aalasi observed and harvested plants as a little girl in Pangnirtung in the 1940s and later as a mother in Niaqunngut (Apex) from the 1960s to today. In this introductory guide to traditional plant use, Aalasi shares her life learning and memories of eighteen plants commonly found around Pangnirtung, Niaqunnguuq, and across Nunavut.
117 pages, Paperback
First published June 12, 2009
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 5, 2019
This absolutely spectacular dual language (in English and Inuktitut) introduction to edible and medicinal Arctic plants is a true and much enlightening both reading and also research treasure. Not only describing in meticulous and appreciated both cultural and botanical detail the many uses of these plants (from medicine and food sources, to plants that the Inuit have traditionally utilised for fuel, diapers and even insulation) the accompanying photographs of Aalasi Joamie's Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns also clearly present and show that the Arctic, the Canadian Tundra, is actually and in reality anything but barren and devoid of life and vegetation.
The featured written text of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns is descriptive and even though very much factual, it also never does once read tediously or monotonously (and actually makes me really want to travel to the Arctic, to look at, to perhaps even forage for these plants and to perchance even sample some of the berries and teas so lovingly and informatively described). However, while the main narrative section of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns about the specific featured, presented plants and their myriad of uses by the Inuit has been penned by Anna Ziegler and Rebecca Hainu (who provides the Inuktitut translations, which appear as they should, in syllabics), the introduction itself is by Aalasi Joamie herself (an Inuit Elder who has provided ALL of the information on the presented plants, their uses and the like). And reading said introduction might indeed at first feel a bit choppy, as the text does seem to meander, to move back and forth from factual discussion to nostalgia. But indeed, the introduction has actually and in fact not really been "written" by Aalasie Joamie, but instead is based on oral interviews, on oral recordings (in Inuktitut) which have then been transcribed without adaptation and changes into English (into the introduction of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns). And personally, I am in fact and actually very much appreciative of the fact that the English transcriptions have not been altered and made to appear more "literary" as that would both diminish the palpable and lovely sense of immediacy and also basically change Aalasie Joamie's words into something they are not (which would be or at least could be, rather insulting and denigrating, in my opinion, and dimmish the impact of the introduction, of Aalsie Joamie's words and the nostalgic remembrances of her childhood and adulthood).
Highly recommended (but just like the authors have stated, many of the plants featured and described in Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns have or at least can have strong medicinal properties and they should, nay they must, therefore be used with prudence and care).
The featured written text of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns is descriptive and even though very much factual, it also never does once read tediously or monotonously (and actually makes me really want to travel to the Arctic, to look at, to perhaps even forage for these plants and to perchance even sample some of the berries and teas so lovingly and informatively described). However, while the main narrative section of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns about the specific featured, presented plants and their myriad of uses by the Inuit has been penned by Anna Ziegler and Rebecca Hainu (who provides the Inuktitut translations, which appear as they should, in syllabics), the introduction itself is by Aalasi Joamie herself (an Inuit Elder who has provided ALL of the information on the presented plants, their uses and the like). And reading said introduction might indeed at first feel a bit choppy, as the text does seem to meander, to move back and forth from factual discussion to nostalgia. But indeed, the introduction has actually and in fact not really been "written" by Aalasie Joamie, but instead is based on oral interviews, on oral recordings (in Inuktitut) which have then been transcribed without adaptation and changes into English (into the introduction of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns). And personally, I am in fact and actually very much appreciative of the fact that the English transcriptions have not been altered and made to appear more "literary" as that would both diminish the palpable and lovely sense of immediacy and also basically change Aalasie Joamie's words into something they are not (which would be or at least could be, rather insulting and denigrating, in my opinion, and dimmish the impact of the introduction, of Aalsie Joamie's words and the nostalgic remembrances of her childhood and adulthood).
Highly recommended (but just like the authors have stated, many of the plants featured and described in Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns have or at least can have strong medicinal properties and they should, nay they must, therefore be used with prudence and care).
July 24, 2018
Walking with Aalasi is a brilliant dual language (English and Inuktitut) book for adults that takes a solid look into the uses of plants in the Arctic.
Aalasi, a lifelong resident of the Arctic in Canada, shows the reader many different plants that exist on the Tundra, and different ways they can be useful (such as tea, lamp wicks, diapers, snacks, seasonings, pain relief, wound care, and more). The layout between the Inuktitut and English text worked very well. The photographs really brought the information alive for me.
Whether you live in the Arctic and are looking to familiarise yourself with the uses of the local plants or you live outside the Arctic and are looking to learn more about it, this book is a wonderful resource. This book would also make a useful resource for who reads one of the languages to learn to read the other languages, and is accessible in general for both English and Inuktitut readers.
Aalasi, a lifelong resident of the Arctic in Canada, shows the reader many different plants that exist on the Tundra, and different ways they can be useful (such as tea, lamp wicks, diapers, snacks, seasonings, pain relief, wound care, and more). The layout between the Inuktitut and English text worked very well. The photographs really brought the information alive for me.
Whether you live in the Arctic and are looking to familiarise yourself with the uses of the local plants or you live outside the Arctic and are looking to learn more about it, this book is a wonderful resource. This book would also make a useful resource for who reads one of the languages to learn to read the other languages, and is accessible in general for both English and Inuktitut readers.
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