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Prophecy, Sorcery, and Reincarnation
extraordinary experience in the Arctic. Rather than regarding these
pre-Christian beliefs and Christian doctrine as competing worldviews,
or mutually incompatible, I am now drawn to them as resources for
exploring how the Inuit make sense of their world, whether relying
on Inuit eschatology or on the message of the Gospel.
My conversion process has inspired me to explore more thoroughly
what I had previously discounted, the fact that Levi is the reincar-
nation of Jamasee Nowdluk, his namesake, or that his older sister,
Noodloo, is the reincarnation of Mary and Joe Tigguk’s son, who died
a year prior to Noodloo’s birth. Perhaps it was my destiny, like that
of so many who had trouble finding their faith in a world of reason
and skepticism, to suffer periods of doubt before I could reach a dif-
ferent plane of subjectivity, a greater willingness to be open to the en-
chantment of the world. Perhaps I was not ready in my mid- to late
twenties to consider the possibility that I am not a self-made individ-
ual, always responsible for making sense of my life without religion
or metaphysics but with resources of my choosing, desires, and fears
emanating from within me. Rather, I am part, if I choose to accept it,
of some larger plan, of some larger teleology, that makes us more cu-
rious about and enable to accept what is sacred, divine, and mystical.
In the remaining section of this essay, I will explore several features of
the supernatural (soul migration, prophecy, and sorcery) that I encoun-
tered while doing fieldwork in Iqaluit and at several outpost camps,
beginning in the summer of 1990 and continuing intermittently.
Repositioning Subjectivity
Renato Rosaldo’s essay, “Grief and the Headhunter’s Rage” ( 1989 ),
explores his own turmoil and transformation as a person grieving the
loss of his wife while conducting research among the Ilongot. This
life-changing event repositioned him with respect to the Ilongot, en-
abling him to understand more deeply their need to find a place to
carry the anger that comes with losing a cherished relative or friend.
Repositioning can also occur in the context of one’s religious identity
and spirituality. Frank Cushing, a scholar of Zuni culture and soci-
ety, was initiated into the sacred order of the Zuni Bow Priesthood in
