ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the Inuit relationship with the environment is based on fine-tuning the senses and being able to relate particular locations against broader realms of experience. Learning one's way around the land, therefore, as a process of enskilment where novices come to relate to individual landmarks through perceptual and cultural engagement. The chapter proposes that, for Inuit, place names, and visual markers in general, are not only perceived as features associated to geographic locations, but also as events within broader spatial and experiential contexts. It focuses on the nature of place names, proposing that they reveal intricate connections of Inuit with the physical and natural environments in which they live. The geographic approach makes the perception, memorization and transmission of visual markers crucial in order to understand how Inuit relate to their territories, and how they define themselves within them. It is true for any Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic.
