The Intrusion of Industrial Time and Space into the Inuit Lifeworld

Abstract

For the Inuit of the Arctic regions of Canada, contact with the "outside" world has been characterized by great changes both within their culture and in the ways their cultural values have been altered to incorporate perceptions of the rapidly changing world around them. In many ways, traditional conceptions of time and space have been readjusted to meet the demands of externally imposed industrial time and space. This article examines the nature of these changes and their impact on Inuit society. The implications of the experiencing of dramatic time-space compression, combined with rapid technological change are explored from a behavioral perspective. A reformulation of the culturally acceptable perceptions of the changing time and space parameters of imposed modernity characterizes Inuit society today, as individuals struggle to come to terms with the challenges of moving from preindustrial to postmodernist societies within the span of a single lifetime.