Shamans and leaders: Parousial movements among the Inuit of Northeast Canada (Patterns of leadership and competition and attempts of Christian missionary control on messianic movements among native North-Americans)

The existence of Parousial movements in Northeast Canada has remained large ly unnoticed in the literature on messianic movements. Yet many Parousial m ovements flourished among the Inuit of Northeast Canada in the first half o f this century. Recently, Inuit elders have shown themselves willing to dis cuss these movements with the authors. Their information sheds important li ght on the nature of these movements. On the basis of the existing literatu re, archival sources and oral information of the elders a new appraisal of these movements can be made. Eleven Parousial movements, some very poorly d ocumented are discussed by the authors. They argue that the Parousial movem ents can be considered as attempts to integrate Christianity in existing In uit beliefs and practices, notably shamanism. These movements developed in areas outside direct missionary control, and their development informs us a bout patterns of leadership and competition in Inuit society. Most of these movements were short-lived and ended by Inuit themselves. The negative ass essment of these movements by missionaries and secular authorities often re sulted in a distorted picture of these movements that can be corrected with the help of the information of Inuit elders. The Parousial movements const ituted an important chapter in the history of Inuit religion and played an important part in the acceptance of Christianity as the combination of Chri stianity and shamanism turned out to be unsuccessful.