Isumataq

A few days ago, I came across the word isumataq again. I first encountered this word in the 1980s when reading Barry Lopez’s wonderful book, Arctic Dreams. At that time, I found the word particularly relevant to my college faculty development work.
 
In brief, isumataq, an Inuktitut word, refers to a person who creates the environment or atmosphere for a group of people in which latent wisdom can reveal itself. Inuktitut, spoken in the eastern Arctic of Canada, is one of five major Inuit languages.
 
What is wisdom? In brief, wisdom can be considered as a relationship to experience. Wisdom is not just what you know but how you act on the basis of what you know. Wisdom is down to earth and practical. To be wise is to act wisely.
 
Some synonyms for isumataq include listener, advisor, storyteller, facilitator, but not necessarily shaman or teacher.
 
As I think about the word isumataq again, it seems particularly relevant to the world in which we live these days, not just the world of faculty development!
 
To quote at length from Barry Lopez:
 
“And once in a great while an isumataq becomes apparent, a person who can create the atmosphere in which wisdom shows itself.
 
This is a timeless wisdom that survives failed human economies. It survives wars. It survives definition. It is a nameless wisdom esteemed by all people. It is understanding how to live a decent life, how to behave properly toward other people and toward the land.
 
It is, further, a wisdom not owned by anyone, nor about which one culture is more insightful or articulate. I could easily imagine some person … sitting with one or two Inuit men and women in a coastal village, corroborating with the existence of this human wisdom in yet another region of the world, and looking around to the mountains, the ice, the birds to see what makes it possible to put [such wisdom] into words” (298 – 299).
 
Looking around. Seeing. Perhaps not surprisingly the origins of the word wisdom are in ancient words meaning ‘to see’.
 
Image: Ken Kirkby, Inukshuk and Iceberg
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lo...
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
Lopez, B. (1986). Arctic dreams: Imagination and desire in a northern landscape. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 
https://innerjourneyevents.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/just-for-today-hold-space-as-an-isumataq/
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