Going Native: “Playing Inuit,” “Becoming Savage,” and Acting Out Franklin

Abstract

Qalasirssuaq is a fascinating example of how those involved in the search for the Franklin expedition played with, adapted, and cross-cultural boundaries. Intercultural contact worked reciprocally and mutually, shaping not only Inuit but also the Euro-Americans engaged in the search. Qalasirssuaq’s experience of living among British sailors is mirrored in American Charles Francis Hall’s accounts of living with Inuit in the 1860s. After McClintock’s expedition returned to England in 1859 with the Victory Point record—which confirmed Franklin’s death and convinced many that all 105 men who abandoned the ships in 1848 were long dead—Hall became fixated on discovering what “really” happened. Because McClintock established where Franklin’s ships had been abandoned and the approximate route the retreating men took, Hall thought it was obvious that further searches of King William Island would uncover relics and records from the expedition; he criticized the British government and the Admiralty for failing to recognize that “the truth could now so easily be obtained obtained, and the ground to explore so small and comparatively so easy of access!” (Life 3). Furthermore, Hall was certain that previous searches failed because no one had bothered to thoroughly interview Inuit: “neither McClintock nor any other civilized person has yet been able to ascertain the facts.