The Chipewyan (Dënesųłı̨né), a First Nations people of northern Canada, historically had a deeply ingrained - and in many ways highly unique - wrestling tradition that was remarked upon by almost all of the early European settlers that they encountered. In this short episode, I briefly discuss the things that made Chipewyan wrestling so unusual, and explore some of the possible reasons behind its drastic divergence from many global grappling norms.
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References:
- Curtis, Edward S. The North American Indian Vol.18: The Chipewyan. The Western Woods Cree. The Sarsi. The University Press, 1928.
- De Poincins, Gontran. Kabloona. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1989.
- Hatton, Nathan. Thrashing Seasons: Sporting Culture in Manitoba and the Genesis of Prairie Wrestling. University of Manitoba Press, 2016.
- Hearne, Samuel. A Journey From Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay, to the Northern Ocean: Undertaken by Order of the Hudson’s Bay Company, for the Discovery of Copper Mines, a Northwest Passage, &C., In the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, and 1772. Champlain Society, 1911.
- Petrov, Rayko. The Roots of Wrestling: The Traditional Styles. Fédération internationale de lutte amateur, 2000.
- Smith, James G. E. “Local Band Organization of the Caribou Eater Chipewyan.” Arctic Anthropology, vol. 13, no. 1, 1976, pp. 12–24. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40315885.
- Thompson, David. The Writings of David Thompson, Volume 2: The Travels, 1848 Version, and Associated Texts. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015.
- Touchie, Rodger D.. Edward S. Curtis: Above the Medicine Line: Portraits of Aboriginal Life in the Canadian West. Heritage Group Distribution, 2010.
- Van Kirk, Sylvia. Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870. University of Oklahoma Press, 1983.