Taxidermy is the art of creating animal representation through the preparation, padding, and mounting of some parts of animals, such as skins and bones. The process is prefaced with the preservation of animal parts after being acquired through hunting. A well-maintained taxidermy can remain intact for over fifty years. People living in the 21st century know about dinosaurs that existed over sixty-five million years ago, courtesy of taxidermy (Casado 370). Other than preserving history, taxidermy has been used as a form of decoration and maintaining heroism by keeping memories of animals that were caught with great difficulty. The process is part of reproductive politics and is conducted in vertebrates such as mammals, fish, birds, and other reptiles. It is prudent to note that when completing the process on birds and other tiny organisms, precision is required. A hunter in a dense forest can make his effort known to the world by creating a representation of the struggles in the woods and the corresponding achievement. Taxidermy is, therefore, one of the essential foundations of anthropology.
Nanook of the North is a documentary film capturing the life of an Inuit leader with his family and followers as he navigates the shores of Hudson Bay in search of food. Although the group depends solely on the ocean for food, hunting is also part of their story. The primary means of movement from one place to another is kayaks. People come across scary animals searching for food, such as polar bears, white foxes, deer, and walruses. It takes courage and bravery to hunt and kill such animals. The Nanook participates in trade and moves to the market center once in a while with a pile of the skins of animals he has hunted. Preservation of hides and skin becomes paramount as the hunter has to make the skins stay until the market day (Furtado 650). Further, as he interacts with people of western civilization, he is amused by the growing technology. The concept of taxidermy is critical as Nanook tries to explain his achievements and part of their lifestyle to the people of western civilization. As people of the Western culture showcase their achievements, taxidermy is the only option for the Nanook to share the experiences of the indigenous community.
The film’s plot shows the manifestation of indigenous life previously hidden from the media and history. Were it not for taxidermy, the struggles of the Nanook as he navigated the arctic and the ocean shores for food could not have been brought to the light. While modern society has numerous means of preserving histories, such as magazines and television, the indigenous people depend on taxidermy to share their stories and experience. The problem the film is portraying is how the indigenous community shares its story as they interact with the modern world. A common challenge affecting the indigenous communities is that their history is never shared once they come into contact with the contemporary world. They become engulfed and finally lose their cultural orientation by being assimilated by the modern customs (Gonçalves 451). The life of the Itivumuit is an example of a tradition that is on the verge of vanishing when they interact with other people. Taxidermy is, therefore, a solution to preserving the history and cultural orientation of the indigenous people as it preserves the history of their means of livelihood.
Works Cited
Casado, Santos. “Taxidermy as Quotation: Making Nature Represent Itself in Early-Twentieth-Century Spanish Natural History Displays.” Configurations 28.3 (2020): 359-392.
Furtado, Gustavo. “The Indigenous “Contact Film” and Its Afterlives in Latin American Cinema.” A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture (2022): 646-657.
Gonçalves, Marco Antonio. “Nanook’ s smile: the documentary and ethnographic cinema of Robert Flaherty.” Sociologia & Antropologia 9 (2019): 543-575.