LOCATING THE ECOCENTRIC SELF 289 13 Locating the Ecocentric Self: Inuit Concepts of Mental Health and Illness LAURENCE J. KIRMAYER, CHRISTOPHER FLETCHER, AND ROBERT WATT I can still see my father drum dancing. He danced with great joy to my mother’s singing, chanting loud cries and reaching innermost insights and outermost spirits – making a connection to the past and to the land. The land is about stories. Inuit sim- ply means “the people,” those who live here. We are the place.” – PETER IRNIQ, “FOREWORD,” IN ROBERT SEMENIUK, AMONG THE INUIT (2007) I n this chapter, we present some reflections on Inuit concepts of mental health based on ethnographic research and clinical consultations in Nunavik, Quebec. Our aim is to iden- tify cultural knowledge and practices relevant to mental health services, promotion, and planning. At the same time, we hope to show how contemporary knowledge of mental health and illness is a complex and shifting outcome of cultural models of affliction, fam- iliarity with a variety of contemporary forms of counselling and healing practices, popular theories spread through mass media, and the exigencies of a rapidly changing way of life. More than 50,000 people in Canada identify themselves as Inuit (Statistics Canada 2008). Most live above the 50th parallel in the territories of Nunavut and Nunavik (north- ern Quebec), although increasing numbers make their lives in the major cities of Canada (see Figure 13.1). The Inuit have been among the most intensively studied peoples in the world since their long history of survival in the stark environment of the Arctic has cap- tured the imagination of explorers and anthropologists. In recent years, with increasing control over their land and systematic efforts to record their history and traditional knowledge, Inuit across Canada have become concerned with how to maintain or recu- perate the vital elements and values of their tradition while advancing the well-being of their people as equal citizens within a modern multicultural nation. This challenge is especially acute because of the recency and intensity of cultural, social, and economic change in Inuit communities, which has led to radical disjunctures between the experience of the generations (Brody 1975). Many Elders in the communities kirmayer.indd 289 kirmayer.indd 289 8/10/2008 9:00:53 PM 8/10/2008 9:00:53 PM