Lost In The Barrens

The etymology of the names used to denote and specify Aboriginal or Indigenous peoples in northern Canada is complex and interwoven. It’s important to understand the difference between an exonym (the name given to a group by people outside that group) and an endonym (the name the group gives itself). Exonyms often reveal a chain of encounters and can be traced to a group’s conflict with, expansion into, or exploration of another group’s territory. These excursions were for hunting, fishing, and foraging, as depicted in Lost in the Barrens. Lost in the Barrens captures this intricately interwoven connectivity in revealing how people groups are named and described using exonyms, nicknames, and descriptive names. Some of these names, though common in the mid-20th century, are now outdated, offensive, or both.

In Lost in the Barrens, written in 1956, Mowat uses the word “Eskimo” to describe the “Inuit in the arctic regions of Alaska, Greenland and Canada, as well as the Yupik of Alaska and northeastern Russia, and the Inupiat of Alaska” (Parrott, Zach. “Eskimo.” Canadian Dictionary, 2000). “Eskimo,” now considered offensive, is an exonym with a complicated etymology. It is thought to have come from a word that originally meant “eaters of raw meat” or “one who laces snowshoes,” depending on which language origin one examines. While Mowat uses the exonym “Eskimo” in Lost in the Barrens, this guide, when not quoting the text, will defer to the endonym preferred by the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which rejects the term “Eskimo” and identifies the people in Mowat’s novel as “Inuit,” comprising “the Inupiat, Yupik (Alaska), Inuit, Inuvialuit (Canada), Kalaallit (Greenland) and Yupik (Russia)” (Parrott).

The Cree in Lost in the Barrens are the southernmost Indigenous people to appear in the novel, and thus they are the first that Jamie interacts with during his time in northern Canada. The word “Cree,” an exonym, “is derived from the French renderings […] of the Ojibway term Kinistino” (“Cree.” University of Saskatchewan Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia); unlike “Eskimo,” “Cree” is not considered pejorative. The endonym for the Woods (formerly, Woodland) Cree is Nīhithawīwin. This guide uses the term “Cree.” After traveling from Macnair Lake north to the Cree, Jamie next meets the Denésuliné (referred to in the text as “Chipeweyan”).

The term “Chipewyan” (“Chipeweyan” in the text), meaning “pointed skins,” is an exonym the Cree gave their northern neighbors, but the endonym many of this group prefer is “Denésuliné” or “Dene” (Mandeville, Curtis. “Goodbye Great Slave Lake? Movement to decolonize N.W.T. maps is growing.” CBC News, 2016). While some Dene continue to describe themselves as “Chipewyan,” others find it offensive because the Cree used the name to mock (others might say to describe) the pointed hoods on their native dress: “We are not Chipewyan. We are Dene. We all identify ourselves in our own category. But never insult us by calling us Chipewyans because we are not that” (Mandeville). In Lost in the Barrens, Mowat refers to the group as Chipeweyan, Idthen Eldeli, or “deer eaters” (7). Throughout the journey, Jamie and Awasin alternate in referring to this group as Idthen Eldeli, Chipeweyan, or Deer Eaters, saying, “They were called Deer Eaters because their whole lives were dependent on the caribou” (7). This guide will use “Denésuliné” except in quoted text.

Through encounters and explorations, the Indigenous names in Lost in the Barrens reveal a historical tapestry of connectivity, reflecting the dynamics of territorial expansion and cultural exchange. While some terms, such as “Eskimo,” have become outdated and offensive, the novel prompts a reflection on the importance of respecting the self-identifications and preferred terms of Indigenous communities, emphasizing the evolving nature of language and cultural sensitivity over time.