Monday, November 30, 2009

Labrador Inuit diary - documentary broadcast

A new feature documentary from Battery Radio can be heard on CBC Radio IDEAS Monday Nov 30th and Tuesday Dec. 1st

Listen online at: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/

ABRAHAM'S DIARY traces the tragic story of 2 Labrador Inuit families who travelled to Europe in 1880 to be exhibited in zoos.

The late 19th century saw the rise of scientific racism in Europe, and those who flocked to the zoo exhibit expected to gape at "exotics" from some "primitive race". What they found instead were Labradorimiut who spoke 3 languages, played German hymn tunes on violin, and who were keeping their own ethnographic notes on the "uncivilised" Europeans. Tragically, both families died of smallpox, but not before Abraham Ulrikab wrote his impressions of the trip in a remarkable diary.

The 2-hour special features the voices of Solomon Simeak, Robin McGrath, Tom Gordon, Rainer Baehre, Hans Rollman, Mary Simon, Aaju Peter, Aiden Flynn and others. Part One will be heard on Monday night, with Part Two the following evening.

You can find information and online audio at http://www.batteryradio.com/Pages/Abraham.html

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