Rasmussen, Knud
Rasmussen, Knud (1879–1933) – Early 20th-century ethnographer of the Greenlandic angakkut who was born in Greenland, the son of a Danish missionary and a local Inuit woman. In 1910 Rasmussen and his colleagues established the “Arctic Station of Thule,” from which the Thule Expeditions set out in order to map areas of Greenland and explore Inuit cultures. During the most famous of these, the four-year Fifth Expedition, Rasmussen made extensive records of Inuit lore and shamanistic practices. His contribution to the study of Greenlandic shamanism and role as an advocate of the Inuit has been discussed by Merete Demant Jakobsen.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007
