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Transcultural Psychiatry
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Inuit Interpretations of Sleep Paralysis

Samuel Law

University of Toronto, laws{at}smh.toronto.on.ca

Laurence J. Kirmayer

McGill University

Traditional and contemporary Inuit concepts of sleep paralysis were investigated through interviews with elders and young people in Iqaluit, Baffin Island. Sleep paralysis was readily recognized by most respondents and termed uqumangirniq (in the Baffin region) or aqtuqsinniq (Kivalliq region). Traditional interpretations of uqumangirniq referred to a shamanistic cosmology in which the individual’s soul was vulnerable during sleep and dreaming. Sleep paralysis could result from attack by shamans or malevolent spirits. Understanding the experience as a manifestation of supernatural power, beyond one’s control, served to reinforce the experiential reality and presence of the spirit world. For contemporary youth, sleep paralysis was interpreted in terms of multiple frameworks that incorporated personal, medical, mystical, traditional/shamanistic, and Christian views, reflecting the dynamic social changes taking place in this region.

Key Words: dreams • indigenous people • Inuit • shamanism • sleep paralysis

Transcultural Psychiatry, Vol. 42, No. 1, 93-112 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1363461505050712
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