The Return of the Sun Suicide and Reclamation Among Inuit of Arctic Canada

Inuit have among the highest suicide rates in the world - ten times the national average. Narratives of Inuit who have lost family members to suicide or who have attempted it provide clues as to what can and in some cases has been done to combat the problem, but until recently these stories have not circulated far beyond Inuit communities themselves. At the same time, academic researchers have studied suicide among Indigenous peoples for the purposes of scholarly interest, but have stopped short of analyzing narrative accounts for their themes of cultural survival.

Based on two decades of participatory action and ethnographic research, The Return of the Sun is a historical and anthropological examination of suicide among Inuit youth in Arctic Canada. Anthropologist and psychologist Michael Kral carefully chronicles how colonial disruption of family and interpersonal relationships is behind the majority of social problems among Inuit today, including suicide. As such, a distinctive feature of this book is its focus on suicide among Inuit as a response to colonialism, and on how the Inuit have addressed this issue. Kral draws on research from psychology, anthropology, Indigenous studies, and social justice to understand and address this population and youth suicide in general. Central to the book are narrative accounts by Inuit of their experiences and perceptions of suicide and the lives of youth, and of their community action for change. As these Indigenous community success stories have not previously been widely retold, this book gives voice to a historically ignored community. Kral also locates this community action within the larger Inuit movement toward self-determination and self-governance. A unique and important examination of how Indigenous communities can develop successful suicide prevention strategies, The Return of the Sun will be of interest to a broad range of social scientists, as well as researchers and practitioners in the mental health fields.

Michael Kral, PhD, is a clinical/community/cultural psychologist and medical anthropologist working as an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work, Wayne State University. He has also taught at the universities of Manitoba, Windsor, Yale, and Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been conducting community-based participatory action research with Inuit in Nunavut, Canada for over 20 years. His research has looked at suicide, kinship, culture change, and youth resilience.

1. The Dynamics of Inuit Social Transformation

2. Colonial Impact on Family and Inuuqatigiingniq/Relatedness

3. "The Weight on Our Shoulders is Too Much, and We Are Falling": Suicide and Culture Change among Inuit Male Youth

4. Resistance and Reclamation

5. Communities Making a Difference: The Youth Take Action

6. Pikkunaqtuq and Footsteps into the Future

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