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oapen-20.500.12657-433682024-04-27T07:55:01Z Arctic Madness Déléage, Pierre Howard, Catherine V. Social Science Anthropology General thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology The French missionary-linguist Émile Petitot (1838–1916) spent twenty years near the Arctic Circle in Canada, publishing numerous works on First Nations languages and practices. Over time, however, he descended into delirium and began to summon imaginary persecutions, pen improbable interpretations of his Indigenous hosts, and burst into schizoid fury. Delving into thousands of pages in letters and memoirs that Petitot left behind, Pierre Déléage has reconstructed the missionary’s tragic story. He takes us on a gripping journey into the illogic and hyperlogic of a mind entranced with Indigenous peoples against the backdrop of repressive church policies and the emergent social sciences of the nineteenth century. Apocalyptic visions from the Bible and prophetic movements among First Nations peoples merged in the missionary’s deteriorating psyche, triggering paroxysms of violence against his colleagues and himself. Whoever wishes to understand the contradictions of living between radically different societies will find this anthropological novella hard to put down. 2020-12-15T13:24:05Z 2020-12-15T13:24:05Z 2020 book 9781912808373 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/43368 eng application/epub+zip n/a external_content.epub HAU Books HAU Books 104977 b74962f8-84f3-4d30-ae61-396a70a5d3b0 b818ba9d-2dd9-4fd7-a364-7f305aef7ee9 9781912808373 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) HAU Books Knowledge Unlatched open access
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The French missionary-linguist Émile Petitot (1838–1916) spent twenty years near the Arctic Circle in Canada, publishing numerous works on First Nations languages and practices. Over time, however, he descended into delirium and began to summon imaginary persecutions, pen improbable interpretations of his Indigenous hosts, and burst into schizoid fury. Delving into thousands of pages in letters and memoirs that Petitot left behind, Pierre Déléage has reconstructed the missionary’s tragic story. He takes us on a gripping journey into the illogic and hyperlogic of a mind entranced with Indigenous peoples against the backdrop of repressive church policies and the emergent social sciences of the nineteenth century. Apocalyptic visions from the Bible and prophetic movements among First Nations peoples merged in the missionary’s deteriorating psyche, triggering paroxysms of violence against his colleagues and himself. Whoever wishes to understand the contradictions of living between radically different societies will find this anthropological novella hard to put down.
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