Max in East Greenland: Teaching, Kayaking, and Living the Old Ways

The Dubcast With Dubside

GOFUNDME: Stories from the Arctic: Help Dubside Return to Greenland

In this episode of The Dubcast with Dubside, Dubside sits down for a conversation with Max at the 2024 Greenland National Qajaq Championship in Qaqortoq. Listeners may remember Max from our April 23, 2022 interview with Brian Schulz, who raised over $16,000 to bring Max and his students to the championships.

Originally from France, Max moved to the tiny, remote village of Tiniteqilaaq in East Greenland to learn firsthand how the Greenlanders lived—immersing himself in traditional practices like hunting, dog sledding, and kayaking. He has lived there ever since and now serves as the headmaster of the local school, where he passes on traditional kayaking knowledge to the next generation.

In this conversation, Max reflects on how East Greenlanders adapt to scarcity by building kayaks with whatever materials are available, and how he learned traditional techniques in the most unexpected ways—through Chris Cunningham’s book Building the Greenland Kayak, YouTube videos, Brian Schulz’s tutorials, and in-person instruction from Eichi Ito in Japan.

Now a bridge between generations, Max is inspiring his village’s youth to embrace kayaking from an early age and helping to keep Greenland’s qajaq heritage alive.