Crow Never Dies: Life on the Great Hunt

by Larry Frolick, Paul Carlucci (Foreword by)

Overview

"It was a different crow, but the same crow, you understand? Because there is only one Crow. God made them all black and identical-looking because there is no reason for them to be different birds. That's why you can never kill a crow, because it lives forever. Crow never dies!" — James Itsi

For over 50,000 years, the Great Hunt has shaped human existence, creating a vital spiritual reality where people, animals, and the land share intimate bonds. Author Larry Frolick takes the reader deep into one of the last refuges of hunting societies: Canada's far north. Based on his experiences travelling with First Nations Elders in remote communities across the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut, this vivid narrative combines accounts of daily life, unpublished archival records, First Nations' stories and Traditional Knowledge with personal observation to illuminate the northern wilderness, its people, and the complex relationships that exist among them. Foreword by Paul Carlucci.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772120851
Publisher:	University of Alberta Press
Publication date:	09/19/2016
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Larry Frolick (1948-2017) travelled and worked in the Arctic from 2005 to 2017. An award-winning author, he wrote about global culture. He worked with the Gwich'in Tribal Council in Inuvik, and was Communications Officer with the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Table of Contents

Foreword Paul Carlucci ix

Preface xiii

Introduction xv

Winter

1 Perfect Stillness 3

2 Hunting Is Trapping 21

3 Northern Dogs 33

4 The Drunken Forest 51

5 Near and Far 69

Spring

6 Ice over Water 89

7 The Mystery of the Blue Beads 103

Breakup

8 Willow Flats 123

9 Knife versus Ulu 139

Summer

10 Berry Picking 153

11 King Bear 167

12 Powers of the Fantastic 183

Fall

13 Thinking like a River 197

14 Pure Black 211

15 Crow Never Dies 229

16 Luck and Nothing 253

Afterword 269

Acknowledgements 271

Selected Heading List 273

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

"...informative, insightful, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and consistently compelling from beginning to end.... Crow Never Dies is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Canadian Aboriginal Culture reference collections..."—John Burroughs, Reviewer's Bookwatch
"The author writes with obvious delight, indeed lyricism, about the people and the environment... To potential readers who have a love for the Arctic, its landscapes, seasons, and peoples, I highly recommend this beautifully composed and lyrical description of the traditions and way of life that struggle to keep their place in the modern world."—John Andrews, Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research
"[P]art travelogue, part philosophical inquiry, part participant-observation ethnography—and a wholehearted celebration of the North. Crow Never Dies is laid out in four sections, documenting cultural events and subsistence activities associated with each season.... Every chapter is built around personal conversations with Northern elders, hunters, and story-tellers.... [R]eaders looking for a refreshing and off-the-beaten-path look at Canada's warming North, will not be disappointed by Crow Never Dies."
The Goose, Vol. 15:2—Kelly Shepherd, The Goose
"Larry Frolick sets out to immserse himself in the actual physical place of the North, as opposed to literary and imaginative vesions of it... The resulting volume is part travelogue, part philosophical inquiry, part participant-observation ethnography—and a wholehearted celebration of the North.... Every chapter is built around personal conversations with Northern elders, hunters, and story-tellers."—Kelly Shepherd, The Goose, Vol. 15, Iss. 2

From the Publisher

The author writes with obvious delight, indeed lyricism, about the people and the environment... To potential readers who have a love for the Arctic, its landscapes, seasons, and peoples, I highly recommend this beautifully composed and lyrical description of the traditions and way of life that struggle to keep their place in the modern world.

Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research - John Andrews

...informative, insightful, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and consistently compelling from beginning to end.... Crow Never Dies is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Canadian Aboriginal Culture reference collections...

Reviewer's Bookwatch - John Burroughs

[P]art travelogue, part philosophical inquiry, part participant-observation ethnography—and a wholehearted celebration of the North. Crow Never Dies is laid out in four sections, documenting cultural events and subsistence activities associated with each season.... Every chapter is built around personal conversations with Northern elders, hunters, and story-tellers.... [R]eaders looking for a refreshing and off-the-beaten-path look at Canada’s warming North, will not be disappointed by Crow Never Dies.

The Goose - Kelly Shepherd