Anna Kûitse Thastum
Anna Kûitse Thastum (1942 – 13 July 2012) was a Greenlandic drum dancer. Born in Kulusuk, she lived variously in the United States and Denmark, before resettling there again. She was awarded a prize by the Greenlandic government in 2008 for her contributions to the culture of Greenland.
Early life[edit]
Anna Kûitse Thastum was born in Kulusuk among 13 siblings in 1942.[1] She said her grandfather, named Kûitse, was a piniartorsuaq—great hunter—who killed several polar bears.[2] All of her siblings were drum dancers, as well as her parents;[3] the practice, used in ceremonies, had been banned by early Christian settlers in Greenland.[4] When her sisters had left their home, she took care of her father until 1966, when he died.[3]
After his death, she married an American and moved to the United States, and then returned in 1984.[3] She remarried the next year to a Dane, Arvid Thatsum,[5] and moved to Denmark, where she lived for four years, returning again to Kulusuk.[3] She met both of her husbands at DYE-4, an early-warning defense system put in place by the United States government at Kulusuk.[6]
Career[edit]
She began drum dancing again after her final return to Kulusuk.[3] After the completion of an airport in the town, she and her brother performed a drum dance for the audience.[3] She taught drum dancing to the children of her community, and nurtured the art practice.[3]
In 2008, Thastum was awarded with a cultural prize by the minister for culture, Tommy Marø.[3] The prize is for awarded annually for outstanding contributions to the culture of Greenland.[7] After being awarded the prize, she went on a tour in Italy and the United States, then taught drum dancing to children in Kulusuk and Tasiilaq.[8] She had asked for drum dancing to be considered a part of UNESCO's list of cultural heritage practices.[4] She was profiled in the 2010 film ECHOES, discussing her views on her life: there was "lots of sadness" but "I'm still alive".[9]
Later life and death[edit]
She died on 13 July 2012, following a long illness.[3]
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ Langhoff 2012; Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq 2012.
- ^ Buijs 2010, p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Langhoff 2012.
- ^ a b Maqé 2010.
- ^ Elixhauser 2019, p. 123.
- ^ Elixhauser 2019, pp. 120–121, 123.
- ^ Naalakkersuisut.
- ^ Björnsson 2008.
- ^ Frank 2019, ch. 18.
Bibliography[edit]
- Björnsson, Björn Jóhann (20 July 2008). "Hundrað mínútur í annan heim" [One hundred minutes to another world]. Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- Buijs, Cunera (2010). "Related collections: Sharing East Greenlandic material culture and photographs". In van Broekhoven, Laura; Buijs, Cunera; Hovens, Pieter (eds.). Sharing knowledge and cultural heritage: First Nations of the Americas. Leiden: Sidestone Press. ISBN 9789088900662.
- Elixhauser, Sophie (2019). "Inuit responses to Arctic militarization: Examples from East Greenland". In Kehrt, Christian; Torma, Franziska; Herzberg, Julia (eds.). Ice and snow in the cold war: Histories of extreme climatic environments. New York: Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781785339875.
- Langhoff, Rune (13 July 2012). "Anna Kûitse Thastum er død" [Anna Kûitse Thastum is dead]. Sermitsiaq.AG (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- Frank, Ivalo (2019). "Reconciling the past: Greenlandic documentary in the twenty-first century". In Kaganovsky, Lilya; MacKenzie, Scott; Stenport, Anna Westerstahl (eds.). Arctic cinemas and the documentary ethos. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253040305.
- Maqé, Janus (18 November 2010). "Drømmer om at få trommedansen optaget ved Unesco" [Dreaming of having the drum dance recorded at Unesco]. KNR (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- "Kulturpris" [Culture prize] (in Danish). Naalakkersuisut. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- "Eqqaaniut" [Remembrance]. Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq (in Kalaallisut). July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2021.