I’m reading this book about the changing arctic and the author stayed with the Nunamiut people of inland alaska for a while and talked to this high school kid who was like “ugh I hate going to school in the spring I wish I was hunting caribou” and I thought that was charming. you often hear about people who are devoted to preserving their traditional culture and knowledge but it’s rare to hear about someone who’s invested in the old ways out of pure teenage selfishness. school is lame and hunting caribou is awesome
>the old ways
They use rifles
the timeline of one's cultural tradition is not suddenly invalidated by adaption to changing contexts, including tool usage. change, wrought by the passing of time, is a constant for all societies. indigenous ppl are no different. nunamiut teenagers keep a much older flame alive by being engaged in hunting caribou, even if they're complaining about school terms or using rifles while doing it (not to mention the nunamiut from anaktuvuk pass have had access to rifles since the 1940s). the value of dedication from younger generations is self-evident in upholding cultural preservation and cannot be validated nor invalidated by outsiders on the internet
