Historical Dictionaries of Peoples and Cultures Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1. 2.
The Kurds, by Michael M. Gunter, 200...
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Historical Dictionaries of Peoples and Cultures Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1. 2.
The Kurds, by Michael M. Gunter, 2004. The Inuit, by Pamela R. Stern, 2004.
a-Dunn title.qx 11/15/99 5:32 PM Page 2
Historical Dictionary of the Inuit
Pamela R. Stern
Historical Dictionaries of Peoples and Cultures, No. 2
The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Oxford 2004
SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com PO Box 317 Oxford OX2 9RU, UK Copyright © 2004 by Pamela R. Stern All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stern, Pamela R. Historical dictionary of the Inuit / Pamela R. Stern. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of people and cultures ; no. 2) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8108-5058-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Inuit—History—Dictionaries. 2. Inuit—Social life and customs— Dictionaries. I. Title. II. Series. E99.E7S825 2004 971.9004'9712'003—dc22 2004005347 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America.
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Contents
Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff
ix
Acknowledgments
xi
A Note on Orthography
xiii
Acronyms and Special Terms
xv
Maps 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6.
The Inuit Circumpolar North Inuit Territories and Contemporary Ethnonyms Greenland Nunavik Inuit Communities Iñupiaq, Yupik, and Alutiiq Native Corporations Created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Inuvialuit and Nunavut Inuit Land Ownership after Land Claims Agreements
xvii xviii xix xx
xxi xxii
Chronology
xxiii
Introduction
1
THE DICTIONARY Appendix A:
Appendix B:
17
Dates and Locations of Inuit Circumpolar Conference Meetings
161
Inuit Circumpolar Conference Leaders
163
vii
viii ● CONTENTS
Appendix C:
Website Addresses for Inuit and Arctic Organizations
165
Bibliography
167
About the Author
199
Editor’s Foreword
Among the many peoples which inhabit the globe, there is one most of us think we know pretty well: the Inuit. Or perhaps better, the Eskimo, as they were called when we were young. We just close our eyes and see them huddled together in an igloo or out hunting seals through the ice. That image never was terribly accurate and certainly did not apply to the community, but it also gets in the way of our understanding their present way of life. That is considerably less bucolic and, for many of them, terribly difficult. They are torn between traditional and “modern” values, some of them adopted voluntarily, many more imposed without thinking too much as to whether they were really appropriate. By now the Inuit have had enough and are taking things into their own hands, not an easy task when you consider just how few they are compared to the countries (not one but four) they are subject to. But they are getting on, somewhat better than might be expected, although with a lot further to go. This Historical Dictionary of the Inuit does have an entry on the igloo and the kayak and subsistence hunting and whaling. But this is only part of the broad historical coverage, reaching back to the first inhabitants, and it is balanced by extensive coverage of the current period, with entries on educators and writers, environmentalists and politicians, to say nothing of voluntary associations and governmental agencies. Along with their culture, there are entries on the society, economy, and politics. Just like any other people, you may say, and that is why this book is so interesting. Moreover, to better grasp the constantly changing situation, there is a broad introduction and a chronology, to say nothing of a seemingly endless list of acronyms. For those who want to know more about any particular aspect, there is also the bibliography. Writing a historical dictionary about a people is in some ways harder than writing about a country. You have to provide information about the society, economy, and politics, but you also have to base this in history and anthropology. And, of course, you must find the right balance. This has been done very nicely by Pamela R. Stern. Her basic training is as an an-
ix
x ● EDITOR’S FOREWORD
thropologist, and her research among the Inuit began two decades ago. Fortunately, her research interests have been rather broad, ranging from rather traditional anthropological topics such as child and adolescent development and parenting to the more contemporary interests in economic development, self-government, and health care. Indeed, her Ph.D. thesis was titled “Modernity at Work: Wage Labor, Unemployment, and the Moral Economy of Work in an Inuit Community.” Dr. Stern is presently assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo. She has written frequently for scholarly journals, is the coeditor of a forthcoming book, Inuit Studies in an Era of Globalization, and is beginning work on a social history of alcohol regulation in the Canadian North. She can thus show us how unwise it would be to continue our childhood musing rather than see the Inuit as they are at present, but in a gentle if persuasive manner. Jon Woronoff Series Editor
Acknowledgments I owe a debt of gratitude to a great many people and institutions whose assistance and support over the past two decades enabled me to produce this dictionary. I first became acquainted with the field of Inuit Studies when, as a young scholar struggling to discover my unique interests, I attended a public lecture given by Richard Condon-a scholar only a few years my senior but many years ahead in defining his life's work. Rick's talk about his own dissertation research in the Canadian Arctic excited me in ways that nothing else I had heard or read in graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh had. After that day, Rick and I became friends, then colleagues, and eventually we married. He introduced me to the Inuvialuit and Inuinnait people of Holrnan in Canada's Northwest Territories who welcomed me with kindness and friendship. Rick taught me how to do ethnographic fieldwork, and we worked on several projects together. Sadly, our partnership and our collaborative research were cut short by Rick's death in a fieldwork accident in 1995. Much of what I know first hand about Inuit culture I have learned from people in Holman who continue to put up with my impetuous questions. My teachers at the University of California, Berkeley, especially Professor Nelson Graburn assured my development as a scholar. I could not have prepared this manuscript without the excellent collection of Arctic materials in the University of California, Berkeley, libraries. Carol Zane Jolles and Ludger Miiller-Wille answered questions for which I could not locate the answers in books. Beatrice Collignon generously granted me permission to include her map of Inuvialuit and Nunavut Inuit land ownership. Larissa Muller helped me adapt the remaining maps for this volume. A two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Prevention Research Center and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health afforded me the time to produce this volume. Finally, I owe much thanks to my family, Kimberly and Morgan Condon and Peter Hall, for their patience and forbearance while I was working and for their willingness to distract me when I needed to stop working.
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A Note on Orthography
Written versions of Inuit languages have existed for only 300 years. Christian missionaries, interested in translating the Bible for Inuit, were responsible for the first efforts to develop methods to write Inuit words. Each religious sect developed their own unique and often imprecise spellings, which also sometimes varied by regional dialect. The early producers of written Inuktitut and Yupik were rarely trained linguists, and used the sound systerns of Danish, English, French, Russian, and German to render Inuit sounds. The result was a cacophony of orthographies for Inuit languages in Roman, Cyrillic, and Syllabic scripts. In the 20th century, professional linguists and Inuit themselves attempted to standardize the way that Inuit languages are written. Although there have been several calls to establish a single standard orthography for Inuit languages, none yet exists. Instead, there are standard orthographies created by professional linguists for each of the regional dialects of Inuktitut and Yupik. There are regional variations in the proper spelling and pronunciation for many of the Inuit terms in this volume. Where a dictionary entry is associated with a particular region, I have used the spelling appropriate to the regional dialect. Where there are several correct spellings, I have simply chosen one. Whenever possible I have included alternative spellings of words and proper names that readers might encounter in the Inuit Studies literature.
...
Xlll
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Acronyms and Special Terms
AEC AEWC AFN AIP AMAP ANCSA ANRC APTN ASNA ASRC AVCP CBC COPE CRTC DDT DIAND EEC GNWT HBC IA IBC ICAS ICC ICI ICNI ICS ICYC IDC IFA IK
Atomic Energy Commission Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission Alaska Federation of Natives agreement-in-principle Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Alaska Native Review Commission Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Arctic Slope Native Association Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Association of Village Council Presidents Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Committee for Original People’s Entitlement Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development European Economic Community Government of the Northwest Territories Hudson’s Bay Company Inuit Ataqatigiit Inuit Broadcasting Corporation Iñupiat Community of the Artic Slope Inuit Circumpolar Conference Inuit Cultural Institute Inuit Committee on National Issues Inuvialuit Communications Society Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council Inuvialuit Development Corporation Inuvialuit Final Agreement indigenous knowledge
xv
xvi ● ACRONYMS AND SPECIAL TERMS
IQ IRA IRC IRCS ISR ITC ITK IWC JBNQA LIA LIDC MP NANA NATO NCF NIC NOAA NQIA NSB NT NTI NWT PCBs POPs RAIPON RCMP SDWG TEK TFN TNI TVNC Y-K
Inuit qaujimajatuqangit Indian Reorganization Act Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Inuit Regional Conservation Strategy Inuvialuit Settlement Region Inuit Tapirisat of Canada Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami International Whaling Commission James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement Labrador Inuit Association Labrador Inuit Development Corporation Member of Parliament Northwest Arctic Native Association North Atlantic Treaty Organization Nunavut Constitutional Forum Nunavut Implementation Commission National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Northern Quebec Inuit Association North Slope Borough Nunavut Territory Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. Northwest Territories polychlorinated biphenyls persistent organic pollutants Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sustainable Development Working Group traditional ecological knowledge Tungavik Federation of Nunavut Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. Television Northern Canada Yukon-Kuskokwim
Chronology
c. 3000-2200 BC Small groups of Siberian hunters cross the Bering Sea and spread across the North American Arctic. c. 2500 BC Paleoeskimos arrive in Greenland. c. 2200-800 BC Arctic Small Tool Tradition. c. 2200-1900 BC Arctic Small Tool Tradition Culture spreads from Alaska across Arctic North America. c. 2000 BC Likely separation of Aleut and Eskimo languages. c. 1500 BC Bow and arrow in use. c. 1000 BC Norton Eskimo Culture develops in western Alaska. c. 200 BC-AD 500 Old Bering Sea Culture in Chukotka and Saint Lawrence Island. c. 800 BC Greenland.
Beginnings of Dorset Eskimo Culture in arctic Canada and
c. AD 500
Beginnings of Birnik Culture in North Alaska.
c. 500-1000 Old Bering Sea Eskimo Culture develops into Punuk and expands through far eastern Chukotka and North Alaska. c. 982 Norseman Erik the Red flees Iceland and sails to Greenland resulting in the establishment of Norse colonies on Eskimo land.
xxiii
xxiv ● CHRONOLOGY
c. 1000 Bowhead whale-hunting Thule Eskimos, the ancestors of modern Inuit, spread east into Canada and Greenland from Alaska and the Bering Sea region. Linguistic and cultural divergence between Yupik and Iñupiaq Eskimos. c. 1000-1500 Paleoeskimo Dorset culture replaced by Thule Eskimo culture. Possible contacts between Inuit and Norse in Greenland, Labrador, and Baffin Island. 1576 First of three voyages by Martin Frobisher from England to Baffin Island in search of a Northwest Passage. Frobisher fails to find a sea route to Asia but kidnaps three Inuit and takes them to England. 1600s Siberian Yupiit living in northern and western Chukotka are pushed toward the Bering Strait by the movement of other indigenous Siberians. 1700s Thule Eskimo cultural adaptation evolves into historic Inuit cultural adaptation as the climate cools. 1721 Europeans recolonize Greenland with the arrival of DanishNorwegian priest Hans Egede hoping to minister to the lost Norse colony. 1728 Vitus Bering sails north from Kamchatka Peninsula to the Bering Sea islands of King, Saint Lawrence, and Little Diomede. The party encounters Inuit on Saint Lawrence Island. 1730 Bering proposes Second Kamchatka Expedition to find a sea route from Russia to Japan and America. 1741 Second Kamchatka Expedition headed by Bering finally departs from Petropavlosk. July 15: Alexi Chirikof, Bering’s second-in-command, makes landfall in southeast Alaska. Eventually returns to Petropavlosk after a brief stop in the Aleutian Islands. c. July 17: Bering’s ship sights Mount Saint Elias in southeast Alaska. November: Bering is shipwrecked in the Commander Islands west of the Aleutians and dies. 1742 Bering’s surviving crew build a boat from the ship’s wreckage and return to Petropavlosk with many furs, touching off Russian colonization of Alaska. 1744
The four Gospels translated into Kalaallisut.
CHRONOLOGY ● xxv
1766
Kalaallisut translation of the New Testament completed.
1838 Yupik population of Norton Sound nearly wiped out by smallpox epidemic. 1845
Danes establish teachers training college for Greenland Inuit.
1850s Qillaq and his followers move from the region of Pond Inlet across Devon Island and Smith Sound to North Greenland. They take up residence with the Inughuit and reintroduce the kayak, the bow and arrow, and other technologies to this isolated group. 1860s Greenland divided into 13 districts with local councils responsible for the regulation of civil affairs. 1861
January 1: Atuagagdliutit begins publication in Nuuk.
1867 October 18: United States purchases Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. 1870 July 15: Government of Canada purchases Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company. 1871 Moravian missionary and linguist Samuel Kleinschmidt publishes a grammar and orthography for Kalaallisut which remains the standard until the early 1970s. 1875 Canadian Parliament enacts Northwest Territories Act providing for the administration of Rupert’s Land. 1878-79 Two-thirds of the Yupiit population of Saint Lawrence Island die of starvation. 1880 July 31: Canada takes possession of Arctic Archipelago from Great Britain. 1883 Danish cartographer Gustav Holm sails to East Greenland and “discovers” the Iit.
xxvi ● CHRONOLOGY
1884 First tupilak carvings made by Iit for Gustav Holm. May 17: U.S. Congress enacts the Organic Act, providing the basis for the protection of Native lands in Alaska. 1887 Approximately 50 Iit relocate from East Greenland to Kap Farvel in Southwest Greenland to be closer to trading stores. 1889
First commercial whalers enter Beaufort Sea.
1890s First commercial whaling ships winter in Alaskan and western Canadian waters. Iñupiat from North Alaska accompany whalers into Mackenzie Delta region. 1891 Presbyterian missionary Sheldon Jackson imports reindeer herds to Alaska to provide economic opportunities for Alaska Natives. 1895 American explorer Robert E. Peary removes two meteorites known as “The Dog” and “The Woman” previously used as a source of iron by the Inughuit, from Cape York and transfers them to the American Museum of Natural History. 1897 Peary transports a third, massive Cape York meteorite known as “The Tent” to New York. He also brings six Inughuit, including Minik, to New York. 1900 Inuit of the Mackenzie Delta region devastated by measles brought by whalers. 1903 Aglait Illunainortut ceases publication. Canadian government establishes two police posts in the Arctic. 1912 Internal boundary change in Canada places the land of the Ungava Peninsula within the province of Quebec, and the Inuit and Indians in the region under provincial jurisdiction. Alaska Native Brotherhood organized. June: Volcanic eruption of Mount Katmai destroys two Alutiiq villages on the Alaska Peninsula. August 24: Alaska is made a formal territory of the United States with the passage of the Second Organic Act. 1913 Last commercial whaling ship leaves Inuit territories. Oblate missionaries Jean-Baptiste Rouvière and Guillaume Le Roux killed by Sinisiaq and Uloqsaq near Bloody Falls.
CHRONOLOGY ● xxvii
1914 c. 1915
First Kalaallisut novel, The Dream by Mathias Storch, published. First baleen basket made at Barrow.
1917 August 14-17: Sinisiaq tried and acquitted in Edmonton, Alberta, for the murders of Fathers Rouvière and Le Roux. August 22: Uloqsaq and Sinisiaq tried in Calgary, and convicted of the murders of Rouvière and Le Roux. 1922
Nanook of the North, first ethnographic film about Inuit, released.
1923-25 Fourth Cape York meteorite, named “Savik,” removed from Northwest Greenland and transported to Denmark. 1923 February 27: 37,000-square-mile-area on Arctic Slope of Alaska designated as “Naval Petroleum Reserve #4” by the U.S. Navy and Department of Interior. 1925 Seventy Iit families are relocated from Ammassalik to Ittoqqortoormiit. 1926
Greenland Radio established.
1927-29 Explorer-anthropologist Knud Rasmussen directs Inughuit in setting up a local government in the form of a Hunters’ Council. 1928 March 31: Canadian Order-in-Council assigns responsibility for the administration of Canadian Inuit to Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. 1930s Soviet officials assign surnames to the Yupiit of Chukotka. Soviet scholars develop writing system for northern indigenous languages based on the Roman alphabet. First rumblings in Greenland about ending Danish colonial rule. 1930s-40s Canadian government assigns disc numbers to Inuit as official identification. . 1933 International Court of Justice at The Hague awards the whole of Greenland to Denmark.
xxviii ● CHRONOLOGY
1934 Percy Ipalook becomes first Iñupiaq ordained as a Presbyterian missionary. 1936
U.S. Indian Reorganization Act extended to cover Alaska Natives.
1937 Soviets replace northern orthographies with new ones based on the Cyrillic alphabet. 1938
Greenland issues its first postage stamp.
1941 Inuit counted as part of Canadian census for the first time. Canadian government makes Inuit “wards of the state.” West Greenlanders are tested for tuberculosis. 1945 Canadian government initiates annual screenings of Inuit for tuberculosis and forces the evacuation of infected Inuit to southern sanitaria. U.S. Navy contractors drill first oil well in the Naval Petroleum Reserve #4. 1947 Dr. Roy Ahmaogak begins to translate the New Testament into Iñupiaq. 1948 Cold War tensions prevent Siberian and Alaskan Yupiit families on either side of border from continued contact. Last Iñupiaq residents of Big Diomede Island forced to move. Canadian Handicrafts Guild hosts first exhibition of Canadian Inuit art. 1950 First privately owned businesses permitted in Greenland. June 30: Canadian Inuit first able to vote in federal elections. 1951-52 Thule Air Force Base built by the United States on land occupied by Inughuit. 1951 National Gallery of Canada holds first exhibition of Inuit Art in Canada. July 9: Convoy of 120 ships and 1,200 construction workers arrive at Uummannaq to construct Thule Air Force Base. 1952 Atuagagdliutit merges with Grønlandsposten to become the bilingual Atuagagdliutit / Grønlandsposten. 1953 Greenland’s status changes from a colony of Denmark to a county able to elect representatives to the Danish Parliament. Administration of Inuit affairs in Canada brought under the control of a single federal agency,
CHRONOLOGY ● xxix
the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources, later renamed Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND). Canadian government reverses Arctic policy and encourages Inuit to settle in permanent communities. Forced relocation of Inuit families from Inukjuak in Nunavik and Pond Inlet on Baffin Island to the High Arctic, creating the communities of Grise Fjord and Resolute. June 4: Forced relocation of 27 Inughuit families from Uummannaq to Qaanaaq to make way for the U.S. occupation of an expanded Thule Air Force Base. June 5: Greenland Inuit granted Danish citizenship. 1955 Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line installation begun in the Canadian Arctic. 1956 Approximately 10 percent of Canadian Inuit are confined to tuberculosis sanitaria in southern Canada for treatment. Cape Dorset Crafts Centre, precursor of the West Baffin Co-op, established. 1957 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission proposes Project Chariot. Beginning of print making in Cape Dorset. 1958 First Inuit community council in Canada formed at Baker Lake. Soviets close Yupik villages of Chaplino and Naukan and relocate residents. April: U.S. Atomic Energy Commission identifies Cape Thompson as site for Project Chariot atomic explosion. July: Edward Teller travels to Alaska to promote Project Chariot. 1959 West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative at Cape Dorset opens. Canada’s DIAND begins publication of Inuktitut Magazine, published in English, Inuktitut syllabics, and French. January 3: Alaska admitted as 49th state of the United States. Transfer of the title of land from the federal government to the state begins. 1960s Conflicts over Native land claims in Alaska multiply with attempts by the State of Alaska to secure state title to land. Canadian Inuit population concentrated into permanent villages. Resettlement policies in Greenland and Arctic Canada lead to the concentration of Inuit into larger towns and villages. 1960 First aboriginal language radio program in Canada broadcast in Inuktitut on shortwave radio by the Northern Service of the CBC. Spring: U.S. Atomic Energy Commission informs Iñupiat residents of North Alaska of its plans for Project Chariot.
xxx ● CHRONOLOGY
1961-68 Alaska Natives file protests with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior over the State of Alaska’s land selections. 1961 First exploratory oil well in Canadian High Arctic drilled on Melville Island. Radio cable connections established between Greenland and Denmark. February 6: First CBC-Radio broadcasts in Iqaluit. March 3: Point Hope village Health Council writes President John F. Kennedy to oppose Project Chariot. May 31-June 2: Barrow Inupiat stage “Duck-In” to protest hunting regulations that interfere with subsistence hunting. November: Alaska’s Iñupiat and Yupiit hold a conference in Barrow in a first effort to develop a unified political voice. 1962 First regional meeting of Yupik village leaders in preparation for the establishment of the Association of Village Council Presidents two years later. October 1: Tundra Times, first statewide Native newspaper in Alaska, founded. 1963 Alaska Natives petition the U.S. government to halt all transfers of Native land to the State of Alaska. Iñupiat Paitot joins in loose confederation with the Tanana Chiefs and the Alaska Native Brotherhood in a move that is a precursor to the establishment of the Alaska Federation of Natives. 1964 Association of Village Council Presidents founded. March 27: Magnitude 9.2 Good Friday earthquake and tsunami destroy several Alutiiq communities. 1965 Inuk Abraham Okpik becomes first Native appointee to Northwest Territories Council. The Eskimo, Indian, and Aleut Publishing Company, publisher of the Tundra Times, files articles of incorporation. 1966 Northwest Arctic Native Association forms to press the land claims of the Iñupiat of Northwest Alaska. January 15: Founding meeting of the Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA) in Barrow. September 19: Simonie Michael becomes first elected aboriginal member of the Northwest Territories Council. October 18: Alaska Federation of Natives founded. November: U.S. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall issues temporary injunction on land transfers to the State of Alaska pending the settlement of Native land claims. 1967-71 Various proposals made for the settlement of Alaska Native land claims.
CHRONOLOGY ● xxxi
1967 Administration of the Northwest Territories moved from Ottawa to Yellowknife. Elected local councils established throughout the Northwest Territories. First Alaska Native land claims settlement bills introduced in the U.S. Congress. January 23: Maniilaq Association incorporated. December 26: Prudhoe Bay oil strike made. 1968-72 Project Surname, headed by Abe Okpik, assigns surnames to replace disc numbers for Canadian Inuit. 1968 First book written entirely in Inuktitut syllabics, The Autobiography of John Ayaruaq, published. January: U.S. Interior Secretary Udall suspends all the State of Alaska’s oil and gas leases and formalizes freeze on Alaska land transfers pending the settlement of Native land claims. January 16: Prudhoe Bay oil strike announced. January 21: NATO B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons crashes on the ice of Bylot Sound near Thule, Greenland, fragmenting the bombs and dispersing nuclear materials. 1969 September 10: First lease sale of North Slope oil nets $900 million for the State of Alaska; protested by Arctic Slope Iñupiat. December 2: Canada, the United States, Denmark, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics agree to participate in a permanent secretariat concerned with problems of the Inuit. 1970s Greenlanders accelerate move from small hunting and fishing villages to large towns and urban centers. 1970 Kenojuak print “Enchanted Owl” used on six-cent Canadian postage stamp to commemorate 100th anniversary of the Northwest Territories. January 28: Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) formed at a meeting in Coppermine (Kugluktuk). Fall: Bilingual education at four Bureau of Indian Affairs schools in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. September 25: COPE formally incorporated. October: Arctic Slope Native Association withdraws from Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) in dispute over land claims settlement negotiations. December: ASNA rejoins AFN. 1971 Canadian government provides core funding to Native associations enabling them to press land claims and other political demands. Inuit Monthly, later Inuit Today, begins publication. Eleven Iñupiat students from the North Slope Borough die in plane crash on the way to boarding school in Sitka. January 4: Radio Tuktoyaktuk begins broadcasting in English and Inuktitut and begins Native language broadcasts in Canada. February 18:
xxxii ● CHRONOLOGY
Inuit Tapirisat of Canada founded at a conference in Ottawa. May 13: KYUK-AM, first Native American-owned radio station in the United States launched in Bethel, Alaska. October 5: Charlie Edwardsen Jr. and the Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA) file suit in U.S. federal court against Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton to force him to protect Iñupiat lands from trespass by developers. December: Alaska Local Boundary Commission holds hearing in Barrow on Arctic Slope Native Association petition to incorporate as the North Slope Borough. December 14: Alaska Native Claims Settlement bill approved by U.S. Congress and sent to President Richard M. Nixon for signature. December 16-18: Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) convenes in Anchorage to approve the Alaska Native Claims Settlement. December 18: Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) signed into law by President Nixon. 1972 U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act bans the import of sealskin and other marine mammal products made by Canadian and Greenland Inuit into the United States. Tuberculosis wing of Alaska Native Hospital in Anchorage closed due to lack of patients. Iñupiaq delegates to first Bilingual Conference vote to accept new Iñupiaq orthography. Northern Quebec Inuit Association (NQIA) founded. Project Surname completed. Soviet Union restricts Yupik whaling to collectivized commercial activity. February: Alaska’s Local Boundary Commission approves creation of North Slope Borough (NSB). March: Coalition of oil companies and industrial firms doing business on the North Slope of Alaska file petition in Anchorage Superior Court to block the establishment of the NSB. June 24: Anchorage Superior Court clears way for the establishment of the NSB. July 1: Eight Iñupiaq villages unite to form the NSB. August: Molly Hootch case filed in Anchorage Superior Court. 1973 New orthography for Kalaallisut introduced. The band Sume releases first album of Greenlandic rock music, Sumut (“Where to”). Twentyseven Iñupiat families from Barrow resettle the abandoned village of Nuiqsut. First telephone and television service provided to Canadian Inuit communities via Anik A satellite. Residents of Igloolik, Nunavut vote not to receive television signals. Inuit Cultural Institute, based in Rankin Inlet, founded. Supreme Court of Canada recognizes the existence of aboriginal title. January: Greenlandic Home Rule exploratory committee established following a request from the Provincial Council of Greenland. April 19: U.S. Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. rules in favor of the Iñupiat plaintiffs in the case of Edwardsen versus Morton. May: Representatives from arctic indigenous peoples’ organizations participate in international conference on hydrocarbon resource development in the Arctic in Le Havre,
CHRONOLOGY ● xxxiii
France. August 8: Canadian government agrees to negotiate land claims with Inuit and other indigenous Canadians. September: Labrador Inuit Association (LIA) formed. October: LIA becomes affiliate of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC). November 15: Quebec Inuit and Cree win a court injunction halting construction on the James Bay hydroelectric project. November 19: Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa agrees to negotiate land claims with Inuit and Cree in order to pursue hydroelectric development. November 22: Quebec appeals court lifts injunction on James Bay hydroelectric project. November 22-25: Arctic Peoples’ Conference, precursor to Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), held in Copenhagen, Denmark. 1974 Communications society, Taqramiut Nipingat Incorporated (TNI), started by the Northern Quebec Inuit Association. Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry created by an Order-in-Council. ITC establishes the Inuit Language Commission, and its Advisory Committee on Inuktitut Orthography begins work. January: Alaska Superior Court rules against Molly Hootch plaintiffs. May: Alaska Supreme Court affirms Superior Court decision in Molly Hootch case. July: Office of Native Claims established within Canada’s DIAND. Fall: Iñupiat University opens doors in Barrow. November 15: James Bay and Northern Quebec land claims agreement-in-principle signed. 1975 Nunatsiakmiut Community Television broadcasts over Anik A satellite from Iqaluit. LIA incorporated under Newfoundland provincial law. March: Mackenzie Valley Pipeline hearings open in Yellowknife. April: Mackenzie Valley Pipeline hearings move to villages, beginning with Aklavik. May: Canadian Department of Communication offers ITC access to Anik B satellite as part of an experiment in indigenous broadcasting. August: State of Alaska proposes to settle the issues raised in the Molly Hootch case. October: Inuit delegates participate in the First World Council of Indigenous Peoples held in Port Alberni, Canada. October 9: Home Rule Committee of Greenlandic and Danish Politicians established. October 28-November 2: Canadian Inuit delegates to ITC conference in Pond Inlet authorize the organization to proceed with land claims negotiations with the Canadian federal government. November 11: Northern Quebec Inuit Association (NQIA), Grand Council of the Crees, Hydro-Québec, James Bay Development Corporation, James Bay Energy Corporation, and the governments of Canada and Quebec sign the James Bay and Northern Quebec land claims agreement. 1976 COPE withdraws from membership in ITC. Jose Kusugak and Inuit Cultural Institute’s language commission present a proposal to revise
xxxiv ● CHRONOLOGY
and standardize the writing system for Inuktitut. January: Inuit Language Commission made part of Inuit Cultural Institute. February 27: First Nunavut land claim presented to Canadian government includes call for creation of Nunavut Territory. August: Nunavut land claim proposal withdrawn by ITC. Fall: Bilingual education begins at North Slope Borough schools. October: Consent decree issued in Molly Hootch case. November: James M. Nageak ordained as first Iñupiaq seminary-trained Presbyterian minister. November 19: Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry hearings conclude in Yellowknife. 1977 March: Labrador Inuit Association submits land claim for 3,500 Labrador Inuit and Settlers. April 5: Willie Adams of Rankin Inlet appointed Senator for the Northwest Territories and becomes the first Inuk to sit in the Canadian Parliament. April 15: Report of Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry recommends a 10-year moratorium on construction of a gas pipeline along the Mackenzie River. May: COPE submits Inuvialuit land claim. June: International Whaling Commission (IWC) votes to suspend bowhead whaling by indigenous peoples. June 13-19: Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) founded in Barrow, Alaska. June 20: First oil flows through Trans-Alaska Pipeline. August 29: Alaska Inuit form the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC). October 31: James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) becomes Canadian law. December 6-7: Iñupiat and Inuvialuit delegates attend IWC meeting in Japan to lobby for bowhead whaling rights for northern Natives. December 14: Northwest Territories Inuit Land Claims committee proposes division of the NWT. 1978 Residents of Igloolik, Nunavut again vote to keep television from their community. Torngasok Cultural Centre of Labrador established in Nain. Kativik Regional Government established in Nunavik. Hunters from Gambell, Savoonga, Nome, Wales, Shismaref, and Diomede form Alaska Eskimo Walrus Commission. January 20: Greenland issues a postage stamp to commemorate the Cape York meteorites used by the Inughuit as a source of iron for tools. February 8: Residents of Killiniq (Port Burwell), Nunavik forcibly relocated by the Canadian government. May 1: NSB Mayor Eben Hopson addresses Greenland Landsting on the occasion of Greenland’s impeding Home Rule. June 23: Makivik Corporation established to succeed Northern Quebec Inuit Association. August 31: Saputik Museum opens in Puvirnituq. October 31: COPE and federal government of Canada initial Inuvialuit land claims agreement-in-principle. November: NQIA dissolves and reforms as Makivik Corporation. November 29: Greenland Home Rule Act passed by Danish Parliament.
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1979-81 Inukshuk Project and Nalaakvik II experimental projects show the viability of Inuit-produced television programming in Inuktitut. 1979 NANA Corporation joins with oil companies to bid on leases in the Beaufort Sea in opposition to the North Slope Borough. Canadian government adopts legislation requiring Inuit to obtain a permit to hunt bowhead whales. Inuit Tapirisat of Canada and the Hamlet of Baker Lake seek a court injunction to stop uranium mining activities on the upper Thelon River. Creation of Inuit Committee on National Issues (ICNI) to represent ITC on constitutional and other national political issues in Canada. First issue of Atuaqnik published. Greenland holds its first elections for its Home Rule parliament. January 17: Home Rule elections in Greenland. February: ITC dissolves its Land Claims Commission and begins reorganization. February 21: Denmark passes legislation to enable Greenland Home Rule. May 1: Greenland Home Rule agreement implemented. May 22: Peter Ittinuar becomes first Inuk elected to Canada’s House of Commons. Summer: Kalaallit-Nunaata Radioa admitted as associate member of European Broadcasting Union. November 15: Court ruling in Baker Lake case goes against Inuit plaintiffs, but holds that Canadian Inuit possess “aboriginal rights.” 1980 Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) obtains observer status in the International Whaling Commission. ITC resumes land claims negotiations with the understanding that the creation of the Nunavut Territory will be an endpoint. Canada Post issues set of commemorative stamps bearing Inuit designs. July: ICC adopts official charter at its inaugural General Assembly in Nuuk, Greenland. September 29: Inukshuk Project begins broadcasting via the Anik B satellite. December: ITC submits application to Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the creation of Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). 1981 Torngasok Cultural Centre founded in Nain, Labrador. March 26: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration delegates authority for the management of Alaska Inuit whale hunting to the AEWC. April: ITC granted network television license for IBC. May 1: Avataq Cultural Institute founded. May 6: Greenlandair begins weekly flights between Nuuk and Iqaluit. June: IBC is created as an independent organization following the completion of the Inukshuk Project. August: Kalaallit-Nunaata Radioa begins television broadcasting in Greenland. 1982 Tungavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) incorporated as the political arm of ITC. Inuit Development Corporation becomes Nunasi Corpora-
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tion. Nunatsiakmiut Film Society of Iqaluit merges with IBC. Okalakatiget Society, a communications society, established in Nain, Labrador. January: Labrador Inuit Development Corporation (LIDC) created to improve economic situation of Labrador Inuit. January 11: IBC airs first programs to 26 northern Canadian communities. February: Constitutional Alliance of Native organizations and member of the NWT Legislative Assembly established to push for constitutional reform in the NWT. February 23: Greenlanders narrowly vote to withdraw from the European Economic Community (EEC). March: Greenland formally opposes Canada’s Arctic Pilot Project to carry natural gas in supertankers from the High Arctic through Davis Strait. April 14: NWT voters approve the concept of separate Nunavut and Denendeh Territories. August: Denmark repatriates Aron of Kangeq’s watercolor paintings to Greenland. August 24: IBC President Josepi Padlayat refuses to attend launch of Anik D satellite to protest the continued mass importation of southern programming to Canadian Inuit communities. November 26: Canadian DIAND Minister John Munro announces Ottawa’s support for the division of the Northwest Territories. 1983 EEC bans the import of seal products. Residents of Igloolik, Nunavut finally agree to permit television broadcasts into the community. Former residents of Killiniq (Port Burwell) file suit against the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories over compensation for their forced removal in 1978. January 11-12: COPE announces support for the creation of a Nunavut Territory and expresses interest in including Inuvialuit lands in the new territory. February 2: Inuit Institute, precursor to Ilisimatusarfik (University of Greenland), established as a degree granting institution and begins classes. February 7: ICC granted nongovernmental (NGO) status with the U.N. Economic and Social Council. June: First students graduate from Greenland’s School of Journalism. July: IBC serves as host communicator for the third ICC General Assembly in Iqaluit. July 24: ICC initiates Alaska Native Review Commission (ANRC) to be headed by Justice Thomas R. Berger. September: ICC enacts an antinuclear resolution calling for a ban on nuclear tests, dumps, or mining in the Arctic. October 4: Nunavut Constitutional Forum (NCF) begins fact-finding tour of 20 Eastern Arctic communities. November 10: Residents of Akiachak, Alaska vote to dissolve their municipal government in order to establish tribal governance by the newly declared Yupiit Nation. 1984 Pauktuutit, the Inuit Women’s Association in Canada, founded. Sorlak, the Greenland Youth Council established. February 20: ANRC hearings begin. May 22: Danish Parliament ratifies Greenland’s withdrawal from the EEC. May 24: Inuit Language Commission for Northern Quebec
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established at Inukjuak. June 5: Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA) signed by COPE and the federal government of Canada. November: Inaugural performance by Silamiut, Greenland’s first professional theatre troupe. 1985 Inuit Art Foundation established. January 1: Greenland formally withdraws from the EEC. June 21: Greenland flies its first national flag. June 25: Inughuit relocatees submit formal request for compensation for losses from 1953 move. September: ANRC issues report. 1986 First Annual Howard Rock Poetry Competition for Alaska Natives. The ICC adopts framework for its Inuit Regional Conservation Strategy (IRCS) at General Assembly in Kotzebue, Alaska. New community of Umiujaq established on the east coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik. July: Siberian Yupik drummers and dancers visit Greenland in first pan-Inuit cultural exchange permitted by Soviet authorities. October 29: Greenlandair begins transatlantic air service. 1987 The ICC brings IRCS before the United Nations. Inuit Committee on National Issues disbands as funding expires. Town of Frobisher Bay, the future capital of Nunavut, reverts to its original Inuit name, Iqaluit, meaning “place of fishes.” January 15: Nunavut and Western Constitutional Forums reach boundary agreement to divide the Northwest Territories. 1988 The ICC receives U.N.’s Global 500 Award for its conservation initiative, Inuit Regional Conservation Strategy. The ICC Executive Council holds talks with Soviet and Chukotkan officials regarding Siberian Yupiit participation in ICC. Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) withdraws from membership in the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN). Bottling plant for beer and soft drinks built in Nuuk, Greenland. Killiniq (Port Burwell) Inuit reach a monetary settlement with the governments of the NWT and Canada resolving claims related to their forced removal a decade earlier. February: U.S. Congress amends ANCSA to resolve most of the “1991” issues. Some 140,000 liters of fuel oil spill at a Canadian Department of Defense site into Saglek Bay in Labrador. June 13: Eighty-two Alaskans, many of them Yupiit and Iñupiat, travel from Nome to Provideniya, Chukotka to renew ties severed by the Cold War. July: Labrador Inuit land claim accepted for negotiation under the 1973 Canadian policy on aboriginal land claims. September 7: Soviet Yupiit pay a return visit to Nome. 1989 Inuit Institute expands to become Ilisimatusarfik (University of Greenland). Inuit Tapirisat assumes the publication of Inuktitut Magazine
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from Canada’s DIAND. Canadian government recommends creation of an international Arctic Council. The EEC extends ban on importation of sealskins and seal products indefinitely. The Soviet Union and United States sign agreement to permit visa-free travel across the Bering Strait for Native people. January: The LIA begins land claims negotiations with the governments of Newfoundland and Canada. March 24: Exxon Valdez oil spill disrupts the economy and social life of Alutiiq communities. August: Siberian Yupiit delegates from the Soviet Union attend Inuit Circumpolar Conference General Assembly in Sisimiut, Greenland as “associate members.” ICC passes a resolution calling for a single writing system for Inuktitut. 1990 Government of the NWT amends Official Languages Act to make aboriginal languages equal to French and English. January: Association of Numerically-Small Peoples of Chukotka and Kolyma holds first meeting. February: Soviet officials invite ICC representatives to Moscow for environmental talks. March: ICC President Mary Simon addresses founding conference of Association of the Small Peoples of Soviet North. March 31: The Association of the Small Peoples of the Soviet North established at a Moscow conference. April 30: TFN and Canadian federal government initial agreement-in-principle on Nunavut land claim. June 18: Television Northern Canada incorporated. August: Regional Society of Eskimos of Chukotka founded. October 19: Government of the NWT initials Nunavut agreement-in-principle clearing the way for division of the territory. 1991 Russian Association of Numerically-Small Peoples becomes Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia, and the Far East of the Russian Federation. June: ICC hosts first Arctic Leaders Summit in Denmark. September 3: Inuvialuit hunters in the Beaufort Sea capture a bowhead whale after a 40-year moratorium on bowhead whaling in the western Canadian Arctic. October 28: Television Northern Canada (TVNC) licensed by the CRTC to provide educational and cultural television broadcasts to Canada’s arctic communities. November 14: Inuvialuk Nellie Cournoynea becomes premier of Northwest Territories. December 16: DIAND Minister Tom Siddons announces land claims agreement between TFN and the federal government of Canada. 1992 Yupiit from Chukotka become full members of the ICC. January: TFN board of directors recommends approval of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. January 21: TVNC begins broadcasting across northern Canada. April 27: TFN, the government of the Northwest Territories, and Canadian federal government initial political accord on the creation of the Nunavut Territory. May: ICC participates in the U.N. Conference on the
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Environment in Rio de Janeiro. Labrador land claims negotiations discontinued. May 4: NWT plebiscite approves division of the Northwest Territories enabling the creation of the new Nunavut Territory. September: Iñupiat of Point Hope, Alaska learn that in 1962 the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission buried radioactive material in the soil near the village as part of a research project. October 30: Agreement to divide the Northwest Territories signed by the TFN and the governments of Canada and by the NWT. November 3-5: Inuit residents of future Nunavut Territory vote to ratify the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. 1993 Inuk Mary May Simon appointed to Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. April: Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples hears testimony from surviving High Arctic relocatees. Tungavik Federation of Nunavut becomes Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated. May 25: Nunavut Land Claims Agreement signed. June 10: Nunavut Act receives Royal Assent. July: Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and Nunavut Act adopted by the Canadian Parliament. August 1: Remains of four of the six Inughuit taken from North Greenland to New York in 1897 reburied in Greenland. 1994 Nunavut Implementation Commission (NIC) established. Inuit Circumpolar Youth Council (ICYC) founded in Kuujjuaq. September: Three Igloolik hunters defy Canadian wildlife regulations and illegally kill a bowhead whale to satisfy an elder’s desire to eat bowhead once more before his death. October 31: Inuk Mary May Simon becomes first Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs. November: Discovery of massive mineral deposits at Voisey’s Bay, Labrador revives stalled Labrador Inuit land claims negotiations. 1995 January 16: Helen Maksagak becomes first Inuit Commissioner of the NWT. March 31: NIC releases Footprints in New Snow, a proposal for the design and implementation of the Government of Nunavut. May 13: Alutiiq Museum and Archeological Repository opens. June: United States agrees to participate in the establishment of an Arctic Council. August: Makivik Corporation President Zebedee Nungak announces that Nunavik Inuit will hold their own referendum on Quebec sovereignty. December 11: Nunavut voters select Iqaluit as capital of the new territory. 1996 Hingitaq ’53, representing the Inughuit forcibly relocated to make way for Thule Air Force Base, file suit in Danish courts for compensation. ICYC hosts first Indigenous Youth Summer Theatre School in conjunction with Silamiut, Greenland’s national theatre company. March: High Arctic
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relocatees settle their claims against Canada for $10 million. August 12-17: Inuit in the Eastern Canadian Arctic conduct their first legal bowhead whale hunt in the modern era. September 19: Arctic Council officially established as an international forum for the eight circumpolar nations and international circumpolar indigenous organizations. October 21: Footprints 2, a revised plan for the design and implementation of the Government of Nunavut, released. 1997 Inuit Anglican leaders in Nunavik and Nunavut undertake 5,000mile snowmobile Trek Against Suicide. April: Jack Anawak appointed interim Commissioner for Nunavut. May 26: Nunavut-wide plebiscite rejects proposal for gender parity in the new territorial legislature. July: Canadian Inuit travel to Siberia to promote cultural and economic exchanges between indigenous communities. August: Yupik Eskimo Society of Chukotka founded at Provideniya. October: LIA and officials of the governments of Canada and Newfoundland initial land claims agreement-inprinciple. November: 250 Labrador Inuit and Innu stage a joint protest at the site of the Voisey’s Bay nickel mine. November 5: LIA passes a resolution accepting land claims agreement-in-principle. 1998 Canadian Parliament makes amendments to the Nunavut Act. These receive Royal assent. Inuit Heritage Center in Baker Lake, Nunavut opens. January 7: Canada formally apologizes for its past treatment of aboriginal Canadians. July: Inuit Circumpolar Conference once again raises the issue of developing a single common writing system for Inuktitut. September 17-18: First ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council is held in Iqaluit. December 8: Southwest Alaska village of Tuntutuliak responds to new Alaska law making English the official state language with a local ordinance requiring all official business in the village to be conducted in Yupik. December 18: Negotiations on Labrador Inuit Association land claim and self-government agreement complete. 1999 TVNC receives CRTC permission to become the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and is included in basic cable packages throughout Canada. Home Rule government of Greenland establishes selfgovernment commission. January: Canadian Inuit send more than $300,000 in aid to the Chukchi and Yupiit of Chukotka. February 15: Elections held for the first Nunavut Legislative Assembly. March 3: Group of Inughuit file suit in Copenhagen over their 1953 forced removal for Thule Air Base. March 5: Nunavut Legislative Assembly selects Paul Okalik to be the first Premier of Nunavut. March 26: Inuk Helen Maksagak appointed first Commissioner of the Nunavut Territory. April 1: Nunavut
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Territory established officially as a new political jurisdiction in Canada. August 20: Danish High Court rules that 1953 forced removal of the Inughuit was unlawful and awards compensation to families relocated to make way for the construction of Thule Air Force Base. September 1: First full day of broadcast programming by APTN. November 5: Nunavik Accord establishing self-government negotiations for Nunavik signed by Makivik Corporation and the governments of Quebec and Canada. 2000 August 7: ICC issues statement strongly opposing U.S. plans for National Missile Defense. September 15: Inuk Karla Jessen Williamson becomes executive director of the Arctic Institute of North America. 2001 January: Three white men in Anchorage shoot Inuit with paintballs and videotape their racist attacks. A homeless victim is arrested and jailed for disorderly conduct when he complains to police. April 5: Nunavik Commission tables report on the creation of a new public government for Nunavik. May 21: First Inuktitut-language feature-length film, Atanarjuat, wins Camera d’Or at Cannes Film Festival. June: University of the Arctic launched. June 25: LIA ratifies agreement-in-principle for land claims with the governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador. August: ICC signs agreement with Roman Abramovich, the governor of Chukotka, to permit economic cooperation between the Inuit and Yupik in Canada, Greenland, and the United States and Chukotkan Yupik. September: Inuit throat-singers gather in Puvirnituq, Nunavik for a first-of-its-kind workshop to promote the continuation of this traditional musical form. October: The Gwich’n and Inuvialuit of the Northwest Territories reach an agreement-in-principle with the governments of Canada and the NWT for limited self-government. October 17: Makivik Corporation obtains mandate to continue to negotiate with provincial and federal agents for Inuit self-governance of Nunavik. December 5: Inuit Tapirisat of Canada votes to change its name to Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK). December 12: The film Atanarjuat receives seven Genie nominations. 2002 Inughuit represented by Hingitaq ’53 petition the Danish Supreme Court for the right to return and live in the area around Thule Air Base. February: U.N. working group on indigenous peoples, part of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights passes a resolution supporting Hingitaq ’53. February 7: Inuit film Atanarjuat sweeps Canadian Genie Awards. February 18: LIA board of directors begins touring member communities to promote its negotiated land claims agreement. February 19: Inuktitut Magazine receives award from Canadian Magazine Publishers Association. April: Atanarjuat opens in commercial cinemas. April 9: Province of Que-
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bec agrees to pay $475 million to 14 Nunavik communities for the right to expand the James Bay Hydroelectric Dam complex. Summer: Canadian peacekeeping soldiers in Afghanistan erect an Inukshuk to memorialize four members of the Canadian Armed Forces killed by U.S. fighter pilots in a “friendly fire” incident. October: Inuit Circumpolar Conference Canada receives inaugural Global Award for the Environment from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations for its efforts to combat persistent organic pollutants (POPs). October 18: Elisapee Ootoova of Pond Inlet, Nunavut becomes one of six Canadian women awarded the 2002 Governor General’s Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case. December 12: Nunivak Island Cup’ik Eskimos resume traditional dancing 65 years after Christian missionaries forbade the practice. 2003 January 17: Nunavut Inuit Zacharias Kunuk, Tagak Curley, Elisapee Ootoova, and Helen Maksagak appointed to the Order of Canada. May 4: Danish Broadcasting Corporation news program “Søndagsmagasinet” reveals the existence of 54 heavy metal dumpsites at Thule Air Force Base. August 29: Labrador Inuit land claims agreement initialed in St. John’s. September 22-October 15: Canadian Inuit Peter Irniq, Mary May Simon, Sheila Watt-Cloutier and Pita Aatami accompany Canada’s Governor General Adrienne Clarkson on high-profile and controversial tour of circumpolar nations. October 8: Jordin Tootoo of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut becomes first Inuk to play in the National Hockey League as a member of the Nashville Predators. November 5: Nunavut Legislative Assembly passes human rights bill on narrow margin over concerns with the inclusion of gay rights. November 28: Danish Supreme Court rules against the petition by Hingitaq ’53 to regain the lands lost during the construction of Thule Air Force Base stating that monetary compensation previously awarded was sufficient. December: Gold seam with commercial potential discovered near the Greenland capital, Nuuk.
Introduction
The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Circumpolar North. Archeological data indicate that, like Amerindians, the ancestors of contemporary Inuit originated in Central Asia and traveled across the Bering Strait, settling first in the area that is now Southwest Alaska. By 1,500 years ago, the ancestors of contemporary Inuit were well established on Alaska’s Bering Sea coast and had begun spreading out, settling for several centuries in North Alaska before moving east into the Arctic Archipelago and along the northern fringe of North America and into Greenland. These Inuit ancestors, known as Thule Eskimos or Thule Inuit, were not the first inhabitants of arctic North America. A Paleoeskimo people whom archeologists have called Dorset Eskimos preceded them. Inuit oral histories also describe prior residents. Known to Inuit as Tuniit, these first inhabitants were said to be physically quite small but extraordinarily strong. Other stories say that the Tuniit were very tall and had extremely long arms and legs (Boas 1964: 226-228). The Tuniit (Dorset Eskimos) disappear from the archeological record soon after the time that Inuit begin to appear. Some oral histories describe hostile relations between the Inuit and the Tuniit or suggest that the Tuniit moved away following a period of conflict with the newcomers. While there is no certain archeological evidence to explain what happened to the Tuniit, it is probable that some were absorbed into the social groups of the new arrivals. Other, possibly isolated, groups of Tuniit may simply have died out. The climate at the turn of the previous millennium was considerably warmer than it is today or than it had been in previous eras. Consequently, it is generally assumed that the maritime adaptations and technologies of the Thule Inuit, which had permitted their eastward migrations, were better suited than Dorset technologies to exploiting food resources. The ethnonym (or ethnic name) Inuit is applied in two distinct but related contexts. The word Inuit (sing. inuk) means “the people” in Inuktitut, the Inuit language. In this context, Inuit are defined by language; in other words, they are the peoples whose ancestral language is a dialect of 1
2 ● INTRODUCTION
Inuktitut. Thus, Inuit is the collective ethnonym of the indigenous peoples of North Alaska, arctic Canada including Labrador, and Greenland. The ethnonym includes peoples who are also known as Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Inuinnait, Kalaallit, Inughuit, and Iit as well as peoples who call themselves simply Inuit. In the context of international indigenous rights and politics, the name Inuit has come to stand for all the indigenous peoples who were once (and in some cases still are) referred to as Eskimos. In addition to the Inuktitutspeaking peoples, this broader grouping includes the linguistically, culturally, and historically related Yupik and Yuit peoples of Chukotka, Russia, Southwest Alaska, and Saint Lawrence Island; the Alutiiq people of south central Alaska; and the Aleut people of Alaska and Russia. This second, wider application of the term Inuit dates to the 1977 establishment of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) as the international political forum representing the collective interests of these northern indigenous peoples. It is this second, more inclusive definition of Inuit, minus the Aleut, that is employed for this volume. Except in Alaska, the term Eskimo has come to be considered pejorative and is no longer used to refer to contemporary northern peoples. Although it is widely reported that the name Eskimo is a French corruption of a Montagnais (Innu) Indian word meaning “eaters of raw meat,” this is a myth that is not borne out etymologically. It is more likely that the term, while ultimately from the Montagnais language, referred not to Inuit eating habits, but to the style of their snowshoes (Damas 1984: 6). Nonetheless, most people, Inuit included, prefer to be known by their own cultural and ethnic designations rather than by names applied by outsiders. Historically, Inuit had little or no need for ethnic designations and used the suffix –miut, meaning “the people of,” with place names to categorize particular groups of people. Place names continue to be used alongside other ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and political identities. For example the Iglulingmiut are the people who make their home at Igloolik in Nunavut, Canada, while Tikigaqmiut designates the people who live at Tikigaq, a village in North Alaska labeled Point Hope on most maps. Tikigaqmiut also identify themselves as Iñupiat, as Alaska Natives, and as Americans as well as Inuit. Iglulingmiut may also call themselves Nunavummiut, meaning “the people of Nunavut,” Canadians, aboriginal Canadians, and Inuit. The label an individual chooses at any moment is an outcome of both the historical processes by which group identities are created and of the specific identity or identities a person wants to mark. By and large, Inuit use regional/linguistic ethnonyms on a daily basis. Thus in Alaska, Inuit refer to themselves as either Yupik or Iñupiat Eskimos, while Inuvialuit hail from the Northwest Territories of Canada, and Greenland is home to three
INTRODUCTION ● 3
regionally distinct populations of Inuit: the Inughuit of Northwest Greenland, the Iit of East Greenland, and the majority Kalaallit who historically occupied the southern and western coasts of the world’s largest island. One final note about the term Eskimo: All contemporary Inuit are descendents of the whale-hunting Thule peoples, but earlier North American arctic peoples were not. Nor have the names by which these older arctic populations knew themselves survived. Thus it remains correct to refer to the archeologically known prehistoric populations of the North American Arctic as Eskimos. Archeologists today distinguish between the Paleoeskimos, who were the first inhabitants of this northern region and the Neoeskimos (the Thule peoples and their descendents) who followed. Inuit lands extend from Greenland to the eastern tip of Chukotka, Russia, and from Hudson Bay and Southwest Alaska to Ellesmere Island and Northwest Greenland. This territory, which is more than 8,200 kilometers east to west and 3,000 kilometers south to north lies within the borders of four nations: Denmark (Greenland), Canada, the United States (Alaska), and Russia (Chukotka). The current Inuit population, estimated to be between 125,000 and 150,000, is thinly dispersed across this enormous territory. The largest numbers of Inuit live in Greenland and Alaska. While many Inuit live in small arctic towns and villages, growing numbers of Inuit live in cities such as Nuuk, Yellowknife, Copenhagen, Ottawa, Montreal, and Anchorage. Inuit are more widely covered in the popular media than probably any other Fourth World or indigenous people. Consequently, Inuit are both widely known and stereotyped in literature, films, and other forms of popular culture. For example, the most common images of Inuit men as furclad hunters patiently poised for days with a harpoon over a seal’s breathing hole or of smiling women in snowhouses using their teeth to soften their husband’s boots are highly simplified exaggerations drawn from adventurers’ descriptions of Inuit in Canada. In actuality, while there is a high degree of continuity, especially regarding language and cosmology, across the entire Inuit Circumpolar North, owing to the relatively recent common ancestry, in terms of attributes like group size and social organization, family form, diet, house construction, clothing styles, and economic organization, Inuit groups varied considerably. For example, the Iñupiat of North Alaska, dependent on bowhead whales, lived in relatively large, relatively permanent villages with houses built of wood and sod. Other groups of Inuit also built sod and stone houses but used them only seasonally. Still others made extensive use of driftwood for house construction. Some Inuit groups consisted of several related nuclear families. Others were organized as extended families headed by a senior
4 ● INTRODUCTION
male. Some Inuit groups relied almost exclusively on marine mammals, while others ate diets comprised largely of caribou or of fish. Contemporary Inuit groups have much in common, but there are also significant regional differences in culture, economic concerns, politics, and social organization. Many of these differences derive, at least in part, from distinct colonial experiences and differences in national administrations. At various times, groups of Inuit have found themselves subject to the administrative powers exercised by such quasigovernmental entities as the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Russian-American Company, and the Royal Greenland Trade Company; various Christian missionary societies; and a number of sub-national governments including the province of Quebec and the state of Alaska, as well as by czarist Russia, the Soviet Union, and postSoviet Russia, the United States of America, Great Britain, Denmark, and Canada. While Inuit are not simply passive victims of colonial exploitation, they have been subject to numerous political, economic, and social forces beyond their immediate control. Inuit struggle today to regain local control over economic and political matters and to maintain a sense of cultural integrity and difference in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world. At the same time Inuit are also concerned with exercising their rights as citizens. Of special interest to contemporary Inuit are matters related to sovereignty and self-government and to the protection and exploitation of their traditional lands and resources. Colonial and Precolonial Histories In the popular imagination Inuit were isolated from and unknown to the outside world prior to their “discovery” by European explorers. Like many other popular notions about Inuit, this is incorrect. Inuit participated in long-distance trade networks linking peoples on both sides of the Bering Strait. Trade fairs could attract as many as 2,000 people from various communities. These annual events were opportunities to exchange both goods and information, to renew acquaintances, and to make marriage commitments or arrange adoptions. It is often assumed that there were hostile relations between Inuit and other northern peoples. While this was true in some isolated parts of the North American Arctic, by and large Inuit got on well with their neighbors. Normally, Inuit and other northerners occupied different ecological niches, with Inuit using the treeless coastal zones and adjacent sea ice while Indians occupied forested, often inland regions. Archeological evidence and oral histories indicate long-standing amicable relations between Alutiit and neighboring Tlingit Indians and between the Yupiit (pl.) and Athabaskan Indians. Siberian Yupiit or Yuit, who relied extensively on maritime
INTRODUCTION ● 5
resources, had frequent interactions and exchanges, including marriage, with reindeer-herding Chukchi peoples. The same can be said for relations between the Inuit and Montagnais or Innu in Labrador and northern Quebec. Europeans, too, appear to have had contact with Inuit at least as early as the turn of the first millennium. Norse sagas record a race of arctic North Americans labeled Skraelings who were undoubtedly Inuit. Archeological evidence from Canada indicates that Inuit there were well aware of, if not in direct contact with, the Norse colony in South Greenland, and several traditional stories collected from Greenlanders refer to the Norse (Rink 1997). It is probable, too, that Inuit had contact with Basque North Atlantic whalers and other seafarers in the middle of the 16th century. It was not until the end of 16th century that regular and prolonged contacts between Europeans and Inuit affected either Inuit or European activity and settlement in the North. In 1576 Englishman Martin Frobisher became the first in a succession of European adventurers searching for a northern sea route to the Far East. Making landfall on southern Baffin Island, he entered the bay that now bears his name. After sailing 150 miles without reaching the endpoint, Frobisher became convinced that he had indeed discovered the Northwest Passage to Asia. In addition to this error in geography, Frobisher convinced himself and his wealthy backers that some metal-bearing rocks he had collected on Kodlunarn Island contained gold. The two mining voyages which followed were the first of many efforts by outsiders to exploit the resources contained in Inuit lands. Frobisher and his crew met Inuit during the first of three voyages to Baffin Island. The encounter appears to have started off well, but concluded with the Inuit capturing five members of Frobisher’s crew. Frobisher, in retaliation, kidnapped three Inuit and took them to England. The search for a northern sea route to Asia continued for the next three centuries, producing many meetings between Inuit and explorers. While some were decidedly hostile, many others were not. The Europeans provided Inuit with metal implements and other manufactured goods, and there are numerous examples in which explorers would not have survived in the arctic climate were it not for assistance provided by Inuit (Berton 1988). The many cross-cultural meetings are recorded in the written records made by explorers and in the oral histories recounted by Inuit. Commercial whalers, who began regularly plying Inuit waters in the 19th century, brought major changes to the North and to Inuit. The ships, mostly operated by Scottish and American interests, were crewed by men from all over the world. The whalers, even more than the explorers, relied on Inuit to provide them with fresh meat and winter clothing. Inuit men assisted in capturing whales, and many Inuit women became the wives of
6 ● INTRODUCTION
whalers (Ross 1975). Inuit relocated to the sites of whaling stations in order to take advantage of trade and employment opportunities presented by whalers. While the interactions with whalers were probably more egalitarian than is often assumed, the relations were not always positive for Inuit. The decision to work for whalers came at the expense of other subsistence activities and the whalers depleted game resources that Inuit depended on for their own survival. In addition, whalers introduced both alcohol and communicable diseases for which Inuit had no natural immunity. The modern colonization of Inuit lands began almost simultaneously at both edges of the Inuit world during the first half of the 18th century. In 1721 the Kingdom of Denmark and Norway sent a party to Greenland hoping to reestablish ties with the Norse colonists with whom they had lost contact some 300 years earlier. Finding no sign of the Norse, the head of the expedition, Norwegian missionary Hans Egede, turned his attention to converting the Inuit. Egede had little success initially, but by 1782 Denmark had set up mission-colonies all along the west coast of Greenland and had established a trading monopoly. The Danes attempted to both missionize and carry on trade with indigenous Greenlanders without altering their social and economic lives, but eventually this became untenable. Traders encouraged Inuit to participate in trade at the expense of subsistence consumption, and the Lutheran evangelical training demanded that Inuit remain at the mission posts for extended periods. Over time Inuit were recruited to become Lutheran catechists forging a split between those Inuit who were literate, lived in towns, and did not hunt and those Inuit who continued to pursue a somewhat traditional, though modified, subsistence lifestyle. The tension between an idealized traditional rural life and a modern urban reality is a theme of contemporary Greenlandic culture and literature, and is an aspect of modern politics in Greenland. In 1728, Russian czar Peter the Great sent a captain in his Navy, Vitus Bering, a Dane, to explore the northwest coast of North America in order to establish trading colonies with the indigenes. Decades earlier the Russians had pushed overland to the Pacific coast incorporating into the Russian state peoples from whom they could demand fur tributes. Now it was time to extend the Russian empire into North America. Bering failed in his first attempt to reach North America from Kamchatka, and was shipwrecked and died on his second attempt in 1741. Nonetheless, the surviving crew members returned to Kamchatka with an abundance of valuable furs, and the rush to colonize Alaska was on. Within two years Russian fur hunters and traders had begun their colonization of North America, pushing up the Aleutian Archipelago to the mainland of Alaska, and enslaving the indigenous Aleut in the process. By 1762 the Russians reached Kodiak
INTRODUCTION ● 7
Island, home of the Alutiit, and established permanent colonies there using Kodiak as a base to move first south to areas occupied by Tlingit Indians and later north to Bristol Bay. When the Tlingit resisted Russian colonization, the Russians used Alutiit to attack and raid Tlingit villages. Like the Danes, the Russians created a state monopoly over trade under the auspices of the Russian-American Company and a state monopoly over conversion of the Natives. Russian Orthodox missionaries followed closely behind the fur traders. By 1867, when Russia sold its interests in Alaska to the United States, it had succeeded in converting Alutiit and other Alaska Natives to Russian Orthodoxy. Most other parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North were not colonized by settlers, but Inuit were not left to manage their own affairs either. Inuit lands in the Canadian North were included in the territory Great Britain granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670. Two centuries later, following Canadian Confederation, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold its interest in those lands to the new Canadian nation. Britain transferred its claim to the Arctic Islands to Canada in 1880. Although the two regions became part of Canada’s Northwest Territories, Canada had little interest in or use for the Inuit lands. Scottish and American whalers continued to operate in Canadian waters unchecked by any authority. It was not until 1903, following a boundary dispute with the United States, that Canada made any official attempt to occupy its northernmost regions. Even then, its assertion of sovereignty over Inuit lands consisted of the establishment of police posts at two whaling stations used by American whalers and occasional patrols of Inuit camps. It was only after World War II that Canada fully established jurisdiction over the Inuit and their lands, but still avoided providing housing, health care, or education until the 1960s. Instead, while leaving the day-to-day administration of the Inuit to the police, fur traders, and the Catholic and Anglican churches, it attempted to prevent Inuit from settling near missions and trading posts. Anthropologist Alan Marcus has described the Canadian position as deriving from a mistaken romantic notion that the Arctic was a sort of pristine Eden and that as long as Inuit could be kept living a “traditional” subsistence life they would remain independent and unspoiled by civilization (Marcus 1995). To the contrary, over the previous century Inuit had adapted their culture and their economies to the various opportunities and challenges presented by newcomers. Labrador remained a British colony until joining Canada as part of Newfoundland in 1949. Nonetheless, Great Britain paid little heed to its last remaining North American possession. Labrador and its indigenous peoples were administered as a trade and religious monopoly by the Moravian Brethren who had established a colony there in 1770. The Moravians built a
8 ● INTRODUCTION
hospital, established schools, and encouraged the Inuit to take up commercial fishing. Non-Moravian settlers arrived throughout the 19th century. Although they formed communities separate from the Inuit, good relations existed between the Inuit and settlers and intermarriage was common. U.S. policy toward Alaska Natives was both a reflection of and in reaction to Indian policy in the lower 48 states, swinging between paternalistic attempts at protectionism and efforts to assimilate indigenes to a Euroamerican way of life. For example, although the 1884 Organic Act which created the Alaska Territory guaranteed Alaska Natives aboriginal rights to their traditional lands, a 1906 allotment act aimed to break up collective holdings. A generation later, the 1936 extension of the Indian Reorganization Act to Alaska provided for the establishment of tribal entities which could own land collectively. Although the United States assumed formal responsibility for Alaska Natives in 1867 it provided little in the way of services. Instead the territory was divvied up by various missionary sects which provided education and health care. In 1885 Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary, became the first federal agent for education in Alaska, using that post to move Alaska Natives from a subsistence way of life to ones viewed by Americans as more civilized. Jackson was responsible for the importation of reindeer herds from Siberia to Alaska, based on the assumption that reindeer herding represented a more stable, and thus more advanced, economic activity than subsistence hunting. Although reindeer herding never really caught on, several of the reindeer herds Jackson established in Alaska still remain. Alaska Natives were subject to a variety of colonial pressures. Whalers, who plied Alaskan waters from the 1840s until around 1910, disrupted Iñupiaq communities in North and Northwest Alaska. A gold rush in Nome in the 1890s brought hoards of fortune seekers displacing the Iñupiat who occupied the Norton Sound region. It was during this period that many Iñupiat moved eastward into the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea region, eventually becoming Inuvialuit. The most significant changes for Alaska Natives came following World War II when the non-Native migrants to Alaska began to outnumber indigenous Natives and placed increasing pressure on the lands and resources used by Alutiit, Yupiit, Iñupiat, and other Native Alaskans. Alaska statehood in 1959 brought the impending crisis over land rights to a head. Inuit Lands and Resources In the era prior to sustained contact with Europeans Inuit lived a subsistence life. This is not to say that they suffered materially, but rather that the foods
INTRODUCTION ● 9
they ate, the housing they occupied, the clothing they wore, and the tools they used were the products of their direct labor. Life could be difficult. Accidents occurred and a sustained period of bad weather could lead to hunting failures or even starvation and death for some localized groups, but in general this was not the case. In fact, Inuit culture and technology permitted them to sustain themselves and to thrive in the extreme climate of the Far North. It is important to note that even after the relatively warm climate that had permitted the Thule Inuit to populate the North American Arctic started to deteriorate around AD 1200, the ancestors of contemporary Inuit did not die out as did the Greenland Norse. Rather, Inuit made the cultural and social adjustments necessary to survive and to prosper. A subsistence life requires an intimate knowledge of the natural environment. This kind of knowledge, sometimes referred to as indigenous knowledge, was gained through close observation, patience, and practice and was passed on through stories and oral histories. It included information about reading the weather and ice conditions, astronomy, medicine, child development, etc., as well as information concerning the ecology of the animals which provided the bulk of the Inuit diet. Inuit knowledge about the natural environment was also reinforced by a cosmology that defined the relationships between humans, animals, spirits, and other parts of the natural world. According to Inuit cosmological beliefs animals, like people, possessed souls that were born again and again. An animal allowed itself to be captured by hunters who had in that animal’s past lives treated it with respect. For Inuit, respect for animals and other humans involved observing a wide variety of taboos, but it also meant sharing meat and helping others materially. The requirements for generosity and for the observance of taboos extended to all members of an Inuit community. Anthropologist Barbara Bodenhorn has recorded many Iñupiat observations regarding the relationship between hunting success and human social relations. One hunter whom Bodenhorn interviewed claimed that it was not he, but rather his wife, who was responsible for his hunting successes. According to this man, animals came to him because their souls were pleased by his wife’s generosity and by the beautiful clothing she had made from their pelts (Bodenhorn 1990). Inuit now live in permanent towns and cities, work at wage labor jobs, and enjoy many of the benefits of modern life. Yet, subsistence remains an important aspect of contemporary Inuit culture. For some the involvement with subsistence is limited to consuming some traditional foods or to brief hunting or fishing trips, while for others subsistence continues to be a more all-encompassing way of life reflecting the traditional interdependence of people in northern communities. This involves not only continued use of
10 ● INTRODUCTION
animals and other renewable resources, but especially, maintaining traditional Inuit moral values associated with sharing. In the modern era, the nonrenewable resources on Inuit lands have drawn the attention of commercial interests and national governments alike. Inuit lands also hold strategic military importance for circumpolar nations. Inuit have struggled to maintain control over their aboriginal lands and to protect them for subsistence uses. Yet, as nonrenewable resources such as oil and gas have been developed it has also become important to Inuit to derive benefit from those resources. The various land claims agreements negotiated by Inuit during the last quarter of the 20th century recognized the need to protect traditional users while, at the same time, permitting development. Iñupiat and other Alaska Natives have clearly benefited from the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline and the development of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields, but it is important to remember that Alutiiq and other small commercial and subsistence fishing communities bore the brunt of the damage caused by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Despite their continued dependence on the natural environment, Inuit today do not maintain a subsistence way of life in the strictest sense of the term. The transition away from a strictly subsistence livelihood began as soon as Inuit entered into trading relationships with non-Natives. In Greenland, Inuit went from purely subsistence hunting to subsistence hunting combined with trading blubber, meat, and skins in the 18th and 19th centuries to sheep herding and commercial fishing along with subsistence hunting in the 20th century. Although most Greenlanders today live in cities and large towns and purchase most of their food, the continuing possibility of subsistence remains important to maintaining an Inuit cultural identity. The same can be said of Inuit in other parts of the North. No matter whether they live in cities or northern villages or whether they are commercial fishermen, factory workers, government bureaucrats, or corporate executives, the ability to use their traditional lands and to share the products of their labors remains socially and culturally valuable. Sovereignty Inuit are indigenous peoples with cultural traditions and rules of social behavior that are rightly understood as traditional laws. Inuit are also citizens of modern nations, and are therefore subject to the laws of those nations. The forms of government which exist in Inuit regions today are based in the laws and traditions of those nation-states, which until relatively recently ignored Inuit norms and values. Historically, the primary social group consisted of groups of related families, and kinship relations continue to be extremely important in many
INTRODUCTION ● 11
Inuit communities. Some people might have greater skills than others, but there were no occupational specialists other than shamans, and usually the only division of labor was by sex. Leaders, who in the past were almost always male, were usually chosen on the basis of their personalities, age, and the ability to command respect. In the past there were no formal leadership offices, although in some cases a leader might be called umialik (boat owner) or isumataq (one who thinks). Nor did leaders have authority to compel action; rather they led by example and by suggestion. In general, a leader had greatest influence among his closest kin. Although traditional Inuit leaders had no formal authority, Inuit culture had many mechanisms and social values that encouraged people to cooperate on tasks and to minimize opportunities for conflict. Inuit regard individuals, even children, as capable and thoughtful. Individuals are expected to help others, but at the same time people should avoid imposing on others by making demands or questioning another person’s decisions. Great value was placed in avoiding situations that could threaten a community’s survival. Thus Inuit especially respected people who kept their own emotions in check, who were generous and helpful, and did not try to impose their own will on others. Of course this was an ideal and was not always achieved (Briggs 1970). If interpersonal tensions grew too much a group might fission temporarily or permanently. Because Inuit moved with the seasons in order to take advantage of different resources, it was common for some families to go in one direction while others went in another. Inuit continue to value conflict avoidance, but in contemporary communities it is no longer possible for people to avoid conflicts by moving away. As colonial administrators and Christian missionaries asserted control in the North, Inuit were forced to abandon many of their cultural traditions. In particular, Inuit had to accept new rules regarding marriage, family form, naming, education, religion, and medicine. Even seemingly beneficial changes introduced by the outsiders could have unexpected negative consequences. For example, the extension of Canada’s family allowance benefits to Inuit in the 1940s enabled increased scrutiny and regulation of Inuit childrearing practices. At first Hudson’s Bay Company traders were charged with distributing the payments when Inuit came in to trade. Usually, however, in regions where Inuit were living in camps, only the men traveled to the trading posts. Yet, because Family Allowance was intended for mothers, husbands were prevented from collecting the monthly sum. Women were expected to pick up the payment themselves, and were expected to spend the small payment at the trading post. One effect was to encourage Inuit to move closer to trading posts. In some cases Inuit parents were threatened with the loss of the small Family Allowance payment if
12 ● INTRODUCTION
children did not attend school. However, since in those days the only schools for Inuit were boarding schools, parents were faced with the dilemma of allowing their children to be removed from their care or forgoing the tiny, but needed, source of cash. Control over education has been a major concern for Inuit. Until recently, in most parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North, schooling was in the national language rather than in Inuktitut or Yupik. In addition, neither the curriculum nor the mode of instruction took Inuit culture or values into consideration. Further, while Inuit understood that formal schooling was necessary if Inuit were to participate in the wider society, the requirements of schooling were often incompatible with children’s participation in subsistence. Inuit have found ways to assert control over northern educational institutions. For example, the James Bay and Northern Quebec land claims agreement provided for an Inuit-run regional school board. In Alaska, Iñupiat desire to assert control over education was part of the rationale for the incorporation of the North Slope Borough. In contrast, Yupiit Nation communities in southwest Alaska found that only by dissolving their state-chartered municipal governments could they create educational structures that they find culturally appropriate. The Yupiit School District has developed a Yupiit Culture Curriculum in which the Yupik language, traditions, and indigenous knowledge are not merely supplemental, but are integrated into the standard curriculum. The Inuit languages are no longer in danger of becoming extinct, and Inuit control of education has been crucial to their survival. There are also Inuit institutions of higher education which offer both technical and university degrees. These include Ilisimatusarfik (University of Greenland), established in 1983, Ilisagvik College in Barrow, Alaska and Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit. There has been a teachers training college in Greenland since 1845. The contemporary governance structures in the Inuit Circumpolar North developed incrementally. In Greenland, Danish colonial authorities established elected municipal and provincial councils in 1908. At the same time Denmark’s policies toward Greenland were isolationist and paternalistic. Very few Greenlanders were educated outside of Greenland. Also, through its monopoly on trade, the Crown was able to restrict the types of goods Greenlanders could purchase. The Crown also prevented forms of development that it felt would harm the indigenous hunting economy. Yet, economic and social change occurred, and gradually an educated Greenlandic elite emerged in the developing towns. Issues related to the changing economy and the developing national identity of Greenland were discussed in the pages of Atuagagdliutit and other publications.
INTRODUCTION ● 13
Greenland’s isolation ended following World War II, and in 1953 Greenland became a full province of Denmark. The social and economic changes that ensued, far from integrating Greenland into Denmark, fueled a desire for greater independence. In 1979 Greenland was granted Home Rule status. Under Home Rule the Greenland Parliament or Landsting has authority over all matters except defense and foreign policy. Ironically perhaps, the transfer of governing authority from Denmark to the Home Rule government led to an increased migration of Danes with technical skills to Greenland. Home Rule in Greenland is based on territory rather than ethnicity. The major political issues in Greenland have been economic matters related to the degree of closeness of the relationship to Denmark, and until very recently questions related to aboriginal rights to land have not figured prominently in Greenland politics. In the post-Cold War era these have begun to emerge as the descendents of Inughuit displaced in 1953 by a U.S. Air Force base have sought both compensation and the right to return to their traditional lands. Inughuit claims rest, in part, in their assertion that they are an indigenous people distinct from the majority Kalaallit. The Inughuit have found support from other Greenlanders, particularly members of the leftist Inuit Ataqatigiit party, who opposes a plan by the United States to construct National Missile Defense facilities in Greenland. Militarization of the North was also a factor in political development in Alaska. Plans by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to test a nuclear device on Iñupiaq lands near Point Hope were an important catalyst for efforts by Iñupiat and other Alaska Natives to organize to protect their lands and their communities from development. Ultimately, those organizing efforts led to the settlement of Native land claims in Alaska and to the institution of local governments. By and large, Inuit in Alaska have established state-chartered public governments rather than the ethnically based tribal governments similar to those on Indian reservations in other parts of the United States. Indian reservations proposed for Alaska Natives did not protect the title to large tracts of land and consequently many Alaska Natives rejected the reservation formula. The North Slope Borough, which was formed in 1972, is an example of a state-chartered municipal government intended by its founders to allow Iñupiat control over land-use planning, education, social services, economic development, and public safety. In general this has been the case, but as the population of the borough and especially its largest town, Barrow, have become more ethnically mixed, Iñupiat have not been able to control all local governance decisions. One of the most contentious issues has been the sale of alcohol, with the majority of non-Natives favoring easier access to
14 ● INTRODUCTION
alcohol and the majority of Iñupiat favoring restrictions. In Barrow, which is approximately 50 percent non-Native, there have been repeated referenda on the issue, and the town has changed from “wet” to “dry” to “damp” (meaning alcohol can be imported for personal use, but not sold locally) several times. The Iñupiaq founders of the North Slope Borough viewed the borough as a mechanism to protect the Inuit subsistence economy through land-use regulation and by levying taxes on the Prudhoe Bay oil installations. Overall this has been the case, but it should be noted that there is nothing to prevent future borough governments from choosing a different development path that does not protect Inuit subsistence uses. The same issue looms as a potential matter of concern in the Nunavut Territory of Canada. Like Greenland and the North Slope Borough, Canada’s newest territory has a nonethnic public government. Although it is official Nunavut policy to govern in accordance with Inuit traditional values and to use the authority of government to protect Inuit cultural traditions, future demographic changes in the territory may contribute to different political values. Land claims agreements in Canada provide some additional safeguards for continued Inuit participation in land-use decisions that are not part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Dissatisfaction with several provisions of ANCSA, and a particular concern that ANCSA might lead to the alienation of Alaska Natives from their lands, caused several Yupiit communities to dissolve their state-chartered governments and form the Yupiit Nation, an ethnically based tribal government, under the provisions of the 1936 federal Indian Reorganization Act (IRA). The Yupiit Nation is the only ethnically based Inuit regional government to date, but IRA tribes handle some governmental functions in other parts of Alaska. The Canadian government has negotiated several self-government agreements with various regional Inuit groups, though it remains to be seen precisely how Inuit will use these agreements to govern according to Inuit cultural values. The Pan-Inuit Movement Over the course of three centuries, Inuit went from conceiving of themselves as members of localized kin-based social groups to seeing themselves as an international indigenous people who share a common history and culture. Indeed, Inuit in each of the circumpolar nations have a number of common concerns. These include, but are not limited to, environmental protection, health, and sustainable development.
INTRODUCTION ● 15
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), established in 1977 (see Appendix A), was created as a forum for Inuit in Greenland, Canada, the United States, and the Soviet Union to address these common issues and to support each other in their search for political solutions to their problems as indigenous peoples. In many respects ICC has been remarkably successful, and it is an influential player in the international indigenous rights movement. Soviet (now Russian) Inuit were initially prevented from participating in the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, but have attended since 1989. In 1983 ICC became a nongovernmental observer at the United Nations. It is also a permanent observer at the Arctic Council. In both these organizations, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference has been most effective in galvanizing international support for and action toward environmental monitoring and protection of the Arctic ecosystem. Inuit culture and society have changed a great deal since Hans Egede and Vitus Bering first sought to colonize their lands, but Inuit will continue to exist as a distinct people for many generations. Sources Cited Berton, Pierre. The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909. New York: Viking, 1988. Boas, Franz. The Central Eskimo. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964 (published originally in 1888). Bodenhorn, Barbara. “‘I’m Not the Great Hunter, My Wife Is’ Iñupiat and Anthropological Models of Gender,” Études/Inuit/Studies 14(1-2): 5574, 1990. Briggs, Jean L. Never in Anger. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970. Damas, David. “Introduction,” Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5 Arctic, David Damas, ed., Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1984, pp. 1-7. Marcus, Alan R. Relocating Eden: The Image and Politics of Inuit Exile in the Canadian Arctic. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995. Rink, Hinrich. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1997 (published originally in 1875). Ross, W. Gillies. Whaling and Eskimos, Hudson Bay 1860-1915. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1975.
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The Dictionary
-A-
ABORIGINAL RIGHTS. Broad and often legally vague term used to refer to land title as well as to cultural, political, and economic rights invested in aboriginal peoples by virtue of their status as the indigenous inhabitants of a region. In the United States and Canada, the recognition of aboriginal rights to land provided the basis for land claims negotiations. However, it is precisely through the settlement of land claims, that some of those rights, namely aboriginal land title, have been extinguished in exchange for cash and fee simple title to a portion of the aboriginal lands. At the same time land claims settlements have served to affirm some aboriginal rights. These include co-management of wildlife resources and the right to continued subsistence hunting. Additionally, self-government negotiations in Nunavik, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and Labrador, as well as the creation of Nunavut Territory, recognize some sort of continued aboriginal political rights within the framework of Canadian multiculturalism. The notion of aboriginal rights rests on the contention that prior to European, Canadian, and American colonization, Inuit and other indigenous peoples were independent and governed themselves in accordance with their own cultural values. The United States and Canada have, since the 1970s, recognized the continued existence of aboriginal rights in places where they were not previously extinguished by treaty and where the indigenous population was able to maintain their traditional practices and land uses. Greenland’s Home Rule government, on the other hand, regards all Greenlanders regardless of occupation, ethnicity, or residence as citizens, and therefore, does not recognize the existence of any traditional rights to land for aboriginal citizens. The question of aboriginal rights has not been tested in Russia. In the Soviet 17
18 ● ABORIGINAL TITLE
Union, indigenous peoples’ traditional lands became part of collectives and state farms, and Inuit and other indigenous peoples became employee/citizens. In the post-Soviet period, many of these enterprises have been disbanded and in some cases the lands have become available for private ownership. There is a very real possibility that Russia’s indigenous peoples could become alienated from their lands. ABORIGINAL TITLE. See ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; LAND CLAIMS. ADAMS, WILLIE (1934- ). Canadian senator. In 1977 Willie Adams became the first Inuk to be appointed to the Canadian Senate. Appointed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to represent the Northwest Territories, Adams became the senator from Nunavut following the division of the two territories in 1999. Adams was born in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik and was educated at mission schools. He eventually moved to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, where he was an electrical contractor and operated several businesses. He was a member of Northwest Territorial Council from 1970 to 1974, and served two terms as chairman of the hamlet council in Rankin Inlet. As a senator, Adams has been concerned with energy and natural resources, aboriginal affairs, and land claims. In 1998, he supported an unsuccessful effort to redraw the boundaries of Tuktut Nogait National Park in order to transfer mineral resources to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Adams argued that mining would create sorely needed jobs and that the Inuvialuit possessed sufficient traditional ecological knowledge to prevent environmental damage from mining. AGLAIT ILLUNAIRNORTUT. Possibly the first Inuktitut language newspaper. Aglait Illunairnortut was published by Moravian missionaries in Nain, Labrador in the 19th century until 1903. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. AINANA, LUDMILLA. Journalist and political leader. As chairperson of the Yupik Eskimo Society of Chukotka, Ainana has been an international activist for sustainable whaling by Chukotka Yupiit. She lives in Provideniya. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. ALASKA ESKIMO WHALING COMMISSION (AEWC). Wildlife management body. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission was formed in 1977 in response to a resolution passed that year by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banning all bowhead whale hunting, including that by indigenous peoples for subsistence pur-
ALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES ● 19
poses. Commercial whaling during the late 19th and early 20th centuries had decimated whale populations, and the IWC believed that bowhead whales numbered fewer than 800. Despite efforts by the U.S. secretary of the interior, the U.S. government refused to oppose the whaling ban. The AEWC then undertook its own study of bowhead populations with financial support provided by a consortium of oil companies and the North Slope Borough (NSB). The study established that the bowhead population numbered at least 3,800 animals. Consequently, the AEWC reached an agreement with the IWC for a closely managed whale hunt. The AEWC attends the IWC meetings as part of the U.S. delegation, and quotas for the number of strikes and kills are set annually. The AEWC is composed of whaling captains from each of the 10 Iñupiaq and Yupik whaling villages in Alaska. In 1981 the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) delegated its management authority over the Eskimo whale harvest to the AEWC. Indigenous whaling, however, remains subject to the ultimate authority of the IWC and, thus, to geopolitical concerns. In 2002 Japan threatened to withdraw its support for indigenous whaling if it was not permitted to resume commercial whaling. A last-minute settlement was reached; but if Japan had followed through on its threat, Eskimo whaling would likely have been banned for five years beginning in 2003. See also HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT. ALASKA FEDERATION OF NATIVES (AFN). Statewide social and political organization of Alaska’s indigenous peoples. The Alaska Federation of Natives was founded in 1966 to address the pressing concern of Alaska Native land claims in the face of resource development. The AFN was active in the shaping of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), and was a driving force behind the 1987 amendments to ANCSA and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. The AFN remains the most important statewide Native organization in Alaska. Initially called the Alaska Federation of Native Associations, the AFN was chartered as an umbrella organization for the growing number of regional Native organizations in Alaska. Emil Notti of the Cook Inlet Native Association was the first president. Howard Rock, founder and first editor of the Tundra Times, was an early advocate of the AFN as was Willie Hensley, but other Iñupiaq leaders were concerned that Iñupiaq issues would be overshadowed by those of concern to the more numerous Indian groups. Hensley chaired the organization’s land claims committee. One of the AFN’s first acts was to call upon the U.S.
20 ● ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT
secretary of the interior to halt land transfers from the federal government to the state government until the issue of Native claims could be resolved. The AFN saw some immediate successes, including the election of several of its members to the Alaska House of Representatives. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall issued a temporary injunction on land transfers late in 1966. The following year the State of Alaska established a Land Claims Task Force headed by AFN member and then Alaska state representative Willie Hensley. The AFN was able to use its political clout to keep the injunction on land transfers in place after the election of President Richard Nixon in 1968 and the appointment of the former Alaska governor, Walter Hickel, as the new secretary of the interior. The AFN actively participated in negotiations over, and lobbying on behalf of, and ultimately ratified the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which was passed in December 1971. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; ARCTIC SLOPE NATIVE ASSOCIATION. ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT (ANCSA). The first of the modern land claims agreements. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which was signed into law in December 1971, provided the model for subsequent indigenous land claims agreements in North America and elsewhere in the world. The provisions of ANCSA are dramatically different from those of traditional Indian treaties in North America. Those 19th and early 20th centuries treaties and the reservations they created were believed by many observers to be responsible for the enduring poverty and other social problems suffered by Native peoples in Canada and the United States. ANCSA was meant to settle the indigenous land claims in Alaska while avoiding earlier mistakes. Although the 1867 Treaty of Cession, which conveyed the Alaska Territory from Russia to the United States, the 1884 Organic Act, and the Alaska Statehood Act of 1957 all acknowledged the existence of aboriginal rights to traditional lands, none of these legal documents defined what those rights were, and non-Native miners, commercial fishermen, and others routinely trespassed on Native lands with the full support of governing authorities. The first half of the 20th century saw increasing outside encroachment on Alaska Native lands. In 1923 the U.S. federal government declared 37,000 square miles on the Arctic Slope to be a Naval Petroleum Reserve. In the 1950s the federal government proposed to build a hydroelectric dam on the Yukon River and to use a nuclear explosion to create a deepwater harbor near the Iñupiat community of Point Hope. The latter project, dubbed Project Chariot, was stopped only after the Alaskan scientific community and
ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT ● 21
environmental and peace activists raised opposition. Alaska statehood in January 1959 intensified the threat to indigenous land rights. With statehood, Alaska obtained the right to select approximately 42 million hectares of public land. Alaska Natives protested many of the state’s selections, and filed competing claims for land title. By the mid-1960s the competing Native and state claims to land exceeded the total number of hectares of land in Alaska. Finally, in 1966 U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall issued an injunction against further land transfers to the state until Native land claims could be settled. The “land freeze” exacerbated some of the animus between Alaska Natives and prodevelopment non-Natives, but also helped move discussions about Native land rights along. In 1967 the state established a Land Claims Task Force headed by the newly elected State Representative Willie Hensley. The January 1968 announcement of the Prudhoe Bay oil strike, however, proved to be the true catalyst for the settlement of Alaska Native land claims. Oil companies proposed moving the North Slope oil to the all-seasons port of Valdez via a Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and needed the legal issues surrounding land title settled in order to do so. Although land claims legislation had been debated in Congress since 1967, the pressure to settle the matter in order to proceed with hydrocarbon development gave the issue a new urgency. The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), an organization established to advocate for Native land claims, was deeply involved in the negotiations and lobbying efforts concerning the legislation. The final bill passed both houses of Congress on December 14, 1971, and President Richard Nixon signed it into law on December 18, 1971, following the bill’s formal acceptance by AFN. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act extinguished all aboriginal title to lands in Alaska in exchange for a cash settlement of US$962.5 million and fee simple title to just under 18 million hectares of land. The unique feature of ANCSA was the creation of 13 for-profit regional Native corporations and more than 200 village (either forprofit or nonprofit) corporations. The regional corporations were constituted primarily, but not exclusively, on the basis of common culture. Each Alaska Native living on December 18, 1971 received 100 shares of stock in a regional corporation. The distribution of land and moneys among the regional corporations was to be determined on the basis of population. The Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA) protested this latter provision claiming that because of their small population relative to their traditional land usage the Iñupiat were disadvantaged
22 ● Alaska Native Review Commission
by this provision of ANCSA, and the distribution formula was changed. The rationale for establishment of regional corporations lay in the presumption that North American Natives had suffered because they had not participated in North American capitalist prosperity. Native ownership of corporations was meant to remedy this. As the ANCSA legislation was written initially, the shares of stock in the regional corporations were protected from alienation only until 1991. At that time the shares could be sold to non-Natives. This raised that specter that the corporate assets including Native lands could be lost to corporate raiders or to creditors. In addition, the start-up and management costs were extremely high and beyond the expertise of most Alaska Native communities. Nearly all of the regional corporations lost money at first, and many stayed afloat only through a temporary provision in the U.S. tax law which permitted the sale of tax losses to profitable corporations desiring a tax credit. Many of the regional corporations invested in businesses meant to produce jobs for shareholders. Few of these were successful. In general, later investment strategies have been more successful. ANCSA also did not protect subsistence uses of the land—a point that was repeatedly made in the hearings held by the Alaska Native Review Commission. And finally, the law made no provision for stock issuance to children born after the legislation was signed. Many of the most serious problems with ANCSA were resolved by amendments enacted by Congress in 1988, but ANCSA has not been a panacea for Alaska Natives and has not eliminated poverty in Native communities. ANCSA with its corporate and private property mentality represents a clash of values with the cooperative and common property values that characterized Alaska Native communities. Many Alaska Natives have expressed the view that ANCSA should be scrapped. See also ARCTIC SLOPE REGIONAL CORPORATION; EDWARDSEN VERSUS MORTON; ROCK, HOWARD; TUNDRA TIMES; YUPIIT NATION. ALASKA NATIVE REVIEW COMMISSION (ANRC). Body established by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) in 1983 to review the impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) on Alaska Natives. Thomas R. Berger, who had headed the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, was the sole commissioner for the ANRC. As he had done for the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, Berger held public hearings in Native villages. More than 1,450 Native people testified at the hearings which produced over 800 hours of audio-tapes. The
ALUTIIQ ● 23
primary impetus for the ANRC was a growing concern that despite the land claims settlement, Alaska Natives were not in control of their lands, and in fact, there was a real danger that both the lands and control of Native corporations could be alienated from them. The book Village Journey (1985) is the commission report. It contains several recommendations to improve the social and economic well-being of Alaska Natives including the transfer of land ownership from Native corporations to tribal governments. See also YUPIIT NATION. ALASKA NATIVES. Term which encompasses all of the indigenous peoples of Alaska, including the Unangan or Aleut and various Indian groups as well as the Iñupiat, Alutiit, and Yupiit. Historically the United States has distinguished between Native Americans from the lower 48 states with whom it had treaty relationships and Alaska Natives with whom it did not. See also FIRST NATIONS. ALEUT. Ethnonym applied by 18th-century Russian colonists and fur traders to the indigenous Unangan peoples of the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska region. In the modern period the name Aleut is used as an ethnonym by the indigenous peoples of the Aleutian island chain and by Alutiiq people indigenous to Kodiak Island, the lower Kenai Peninsula, and the southern Alaska Peninsula. ALLAKARIALLAK (?-1923). Played the title role in Robert Flaherty’s classic film, Nanook of the North. Allakariallak was from the Nunavik region of the Canadian Arctic. Little is known of his life. Flaherty recorded that Allakariallak died of starvation two years after completion of the film; however, other evidence suggests that Allakariallak may have suffered from tuberculosis. ALUTIIQ. Ethnonym used since the 1980s to refer to the indigenous peoples of the Kodiak Archipelago, Prince William Sound, the lower Kenai Peninsula, and the southern Alaska Peninsula who are also known as Aleut and as Sugpiat. The latter term is the original self-designation of the Alutiit (pl.). The term Aleut, on the other hand, originated with 18th-century Russian fur traders to refer, not only to Alutiit, but also to the indigenous Unangan of the Aleutian island chain. Anthropologists and others previously applied the names Chugach, Koniag, and Pacific Eskimos to Alutiiq communities. The Alutiiq language is closely related to Central Yupik, and traditional Alutiiq culture is similar to Yupik culture, but also shares elements with the cultures of Northwest Coast Indian groups. Archeological evidence suggests that the Alutiit
24 ● ALUTIIT
have continuously occupied the coastal zones of the western Gulf of Alaska for approximately 7,000 years. The prehistoric Alutiit had a maritime economy dependent on sea mammals and fish. Hunting by kayak was the norm. Trade between villages and with neighboring groups throughout southeast Alaska was common. During winter Alutiiq families lived in sod-houses in permanent villages, but generally moved to fishing camps during summer. Leadership was hereditary, but also depended upon ability and personality. Prehistorically a prosperous maritime culture, the Alutiit faced several challenges to their culture and economy in the modern era. At the time of Russian contact in the 18th century, there were approximately 20,000 Alutiit living in 65 villages. By the end of the 20th century Alutiit numbered approximately 5,000 persons. Like the Unangan, the Alutiit were brutally subjugated, enslaved, and forcibly converted to Orthodox Christianity by Russian fur traders and colonists. The Russian imprint on contemporary Alutiiq communities can be observed in religious practices, surnames, food preferences, and language. With the sale of the Alaska territory to the United States in 1867, Alutiit came under American administration and a new set of assimilationist pressures. The Alutiit have suffered additional cultural and natural crises. The collapse of the sea otter population from overhunting led the United States to impose a ban on otter hunting in 1911. Several Alutiiq villages were destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1912, and others were destroyed in the 1964 magnitude 9.2 Good Friday earthquake and accompanying tsunami. In 1989 the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, damaging Alutiiq commercial and subsistence fishing. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) established three Alutiiq Native corporations: Koniag, Chugach, and Bristol Bay (which also enrolled Yupik shareholders). Since the 1980s Alutiit have been engaged in a bit of a cultural revival, opening a cultural center, beginning a dance troupe, sponsoring elders’ conferences and workshops to advance knowledge of cultural traditions, among other activities. See also HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. ALUTIIT. Plural of Alutiiq. AMAGOALIK, JOHN (1947- ). Canadian Inuit political leader. As chief commissioner of the Nunavut Implementation Commission (NIC), John Amagoalik led the organization charged with creating the institu-
ANGAKKUQ ● 25
tional framework for governing the new Nunavut Territory. For this and his involvement with Inuit land claims, Amagoalik is sometimes referred to as the “Father of Nunavut.” He was an advocate of the failed gender parity proposal for representation in the Nunavut Territorial Assembly. Amagoalik served as president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) during the 1980s, and served on the Executive Council of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) from 1980 to 1983. In 1980 Amagoalik was the only indigenous member of the Thérrien Commission on northern broadcasting in Canada. The Commission’s report led to the creation of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). Amagoalik is a columnist for Nunatsiaq News, and has advocated the establishment of a single orthography for writing Inuktitut in order to promote both literacy and Inuktitut language retention. Amagoalik is one of the “High Arctic Exiles” who was moved from Inukjuak, Nunavik to Resolute Bay in 1953. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; WRITING SYSTEMS. AMAUTI. Woman’s parka containing a pouch at the back to carry a baby. In 1999 protecting the Inuit nature of the design of the amauti became a matter of concern to Pauktuutit, the Canadian Inuit women’s association. In particular they became concerned that commercial clothing designers would take Inuit designs as their own. Pauktuutit has since taken steps to protect the amauti as Inuit intellectual property. See also ARTS. ANAWAK, JACK (1950- ). Nunavut politician. Born in Repulse Bay, Anawak was a land claims negotiator for Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) and was part of the group that presented the 1976 Nunavut Land Claim to Canada. Anawak entered Canadian federal politics in 1988 when he was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party. He resigned from Parliament in 1993 to become the interim commissioner for the new Nunavut Territory. Anawak was widely expected to become the first premier of Nunavut, but was defeated for that post by Paul Okalik. He is a member of the Nunavut Territorial Assembly. ANCSA CORPORATIONS. See NATIVE CORPORATIONS. ANGAKKUQ. A shaman or traditional religious specialist. Angakkuit (pl.) were also medical practitioners. Inuit cosmology was based on a system of moral injunctions and beliefs intended to regulate the complex relationships between people and between people and animals and
26 ● ANGALKUQ
the natural world. Spirits were part of the natural world. There were an immense number of taboos which were sometimes violated, putting an entire community at risk. For example, it was believed that animals might withhold themselves from hunters if certain taboos were broken. A shaman might be required to divine which taboos had been violated and by whom. The violator was then made to confess in order to make things right. Inuit shamans often worked by going into trance and traveling in spirit to the source of the trouble. Masiiñ, who was thought to be the last shaman in the Iñupiaq community of Point Hope, is said to have killed Stalin in March 1953 during a shamanistic trance. Not all shamans worked in the best interests of their communities. In fact, shamans’ spiritual powers often permitted them to behave in despotic ways. Shamanism essentially disappeared with conversion to Christianity, and often shamans were the first in a group to convert to the new religion. See also ATANARJUAT; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH; SEA WOMAN MYTH; TUPILAK. ANGALKUQ. See ANGAKKUQ. ANGATUQ. See ANGAKKUQ. ANGILIRQ, PAUL APAK. See APAK, PAUL. ANGUKUK. See ANGAKKUQ. APAK, PAUL (1954-1998). Writer and filmmaker. Apak, along with Zacharias Kunuk, Pauloosie Qulitalik, and Norman Cohn, founded Igloolik Isuma Productions in 1990. Apak was the screenwriter for Isuma’s award-winning film, Atanarjuat. He became involved with video-production and broadcasting in 1978 as a trainee with the Inukshuk Project and joined the staff of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) when it was created in 1981. Apak participated in and filmed two modern re-creations of historic Inuit expeditions: Through Eskimo Country, a voyage by walrus-hide boat through the Bering Strait, and The Qitdlarssuaq Expedition, which retraced the migration of the Qillaq and his followers from north Baffin Island to northern Greenland in the mid-19th century. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. ARCHITECTURE. In the modern era, Inuit live in homes constructed of imported and manufactured materials. While single-family homes are
ARCHITECTURE ● 27
the norm in much of the Canadian Arctic and Alaska, many Greenlanders and Chukotkans as well as Canadian and Alaskan Inuit in larger communities have become apartment dwellers. In general in the North, governments have provided housing with little or no consultation with the proposed residents. Where Inuit domestic space was once commonly used for processing game and repairing subsistence equipment this move to “modern” dwellings has had profound implications for economic activities and social life. Vernacular architectures in the Inuit Circumpolar North, as elsewhere, were influenced by a combination of environmental, social, and economic factors. These included such practical things as access to raw materials, weather conditions, household size, and degree of mobility as well as aesthetic sensibilities. For example, while the domed snowhouse is the architectural form popularly associated with Inuit, it was widely used only by Inuit of the central and eastern Canadian Arctic (who generally lacked access to other building materials) and then only during winter and early spring. Inuit in other parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North built more permanent houses of wood and turf or of stone and turf. In some cases these houses were intended to be occupied for much of the year, while in other cases they were occupied year after year on a seasonal basis. Despite the wide variety of architectural styles across the Inuit Circumpolar North, the vernacular architectures shared several features. Although they may have had a storage porch, houses were generally single rooms divided into a raised sleeping area and an activity area. Usually, too, houses were semi-subterranean and were entered through a long downward-sloping tunnel that acted as a cold trap. Stone lamps or qullit often provided heat. Iñupiat of north Alaska used whalebone or driftwood covered with sod to build rectangular houses. The living area generally had a planked floor and there was often a membrane-covered window in the roof to let in light. In addition to these living spaces, Iñupiat also built larger communal qalgit or men’s houses associated with individual whaling crews. Yupiit in southwest Alaska and Alutiit in south-central Alaska also built rectangular houses, but the greater availability of wood meant that it was the primary building material. In many cases houses were constructed of whole logs covered with sod. Like the Iñupiaq houses, these too were semi-subterranean, but Yupiit employed both downward sloping winter entrances and ground-level summer entrances. The Alutiit, who occupied an even more temperate zone, needed only ground-level doorways. Central fireplaces provided heat. Yupiit also built men’s
28 ● Arctic COUNCIL
houses, called qasgit, but in contrast to the similar Iñupiaq structures, these Yupik men’s houses were also places for men to sleep. Yupiit on King Island in the Bering Strait used semi-subterranean houses in winter, but in summer moved into adjacent stilt houses. These small boxlike structures consisted of a wooden frame covered with walrus skins. The use of stilts solved the problem of the absence of level ground on the coastline. In Labrador and in parts of Greenland, people built longhouses which sheltered several families. These were constructed almost entirely of stone and sod although driftwood might be used for rafters. The Inughuit in northwest Greenland, however, constructed smaller houses large enough for only a nuclear family. These had a triangular shape and were constructed of cantilevered stone and dug into a hillside. The size and shape was similar to the qarmaq built by Inuit in the eastern Canadian Arctic. In addition to these relatively permanent structures, Inuit throughout the North used tents in summertime and when traveling. These are still in use, but the original seal or walrus skin covering has been replaced by canvas. In a large, sparsely populated landscape, evidence of prehistoric occupations is often recognized from architectural remains. These include tent rings left by Paleoeskimos associated with the Arctic Small Tool Tradition and Dorset longhouses. The latter were probably not dwellings, and it is likely that Dorset Eskimos constructed snowhouses in which to live while later Thule Eskimos used whale bone as a construction material. ARCTIC COUNCIL. Permanent international forum for the discussion of issues of concern to the eight circumpolar nations (Russia, United States, Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland) and the indigenous peoples of the North. The nations are full voting members of the Arctic Council. International indigenous organizations, such as the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and the Saami Council, have observer status. The Arctic Council was inaugurated in 1996, largely spearheaded by Canada. The chair rotates among the voting members. Inuk Mary Simon is Canada’s first ambassador to the Arctic Council. Major projects of the Arctic Council include the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG), and the University of the Arctic, a decentralized degree-granting university with courses offered via distance delivery systems. See also HEALTH; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS.
ARCTIC PILOT PROJECT ● 29
ARCTIC PEOPLES CONFERENCE. First of its kind international conference of northern indigenous peoples’ held in Copenhagen in November 1973. The meeting, which was organized by Robert Petersen, representing Peqatiqiit Kalaallit (Association of Greenlanders in Denmark) and the University of Copenhagen and Helge Kleivan of the University of Copenhagen, brought together representatives of indigenous organizations in the Arctic to discuss issues of common concern. These included citizenship rights, colonialism, subsistence rights, and economic development. Local indigenous control over hydrocarbon development in the North was an issue of particular concern, and in fact, the impetus for the Arctic Peoples Conference was a meeting earlier that year in Le Havre, France of representatives of indigenous organizations and representatives of the oil and gas industry. Participants in the Arctic Peoples Conference included Saami, Dene, and Inuit. Of the Inuit, Greenlanders were especially well represented with delegates from organizations of Greenlanders in Denmark and from several Greenlandic institutions and associations. Others, who did not attend, sent position papers. Representatives of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) and the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) attended the conference, but no Alaskan organizations sent delegates. The conference passed two resolutions. The first called for government recognition of the citizenship rights of aboriginal peoples in their nations. This differed from later aboriginal demands for the recognition of aboriginal rights. The second resolution called for the creation of an ongoing Circumpolar Body of Indigenous Peoples. Although no organization representing the interest of all of the northern indigenous peoples resulted, several multinational indigenous organizations were formed including the World Council of Indigenous Peoples in 1975 and the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) in 1977. Arctic indigenous organizations have been especially active in international indigenous rights movements, but it was not until the establishment of the Arctic Council and associated Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat in 1996 that a truly pan-Arctic indigenous organization was established. ARCTIC PILOT PROJECT. Joint venture between Dome Petroleum and the Canadian crown corporation, PetroCanada, in the 1980s to move liquefied natural gas by tanker from Melville Island in the High Arctic through the Davis Strait. The project was vigorously opposed by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and by Inuit organizations in Canada and Greenland. Inuit negotiators for the Nunavut Land
30 ● Arctic Slope NATIVE ASSOCIATION
Claims Agreement insisted that Inuit territory included the marine environment and its ice cover. The proposed year-round tanker movement for the Arctic Pilot Project would require ice-breaking equipment which would threaten marine habitats and Inuit subsistence hunting. Plans for the mega project were put on hold. See also HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. ARCTIC SLOPE NATIVE ASSOCIATION (ASNA). Iñupiaq political organization which was the precursor to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC). Originally called the North Slope Native Association, the ASNA was founded by Charlie (Etok) Edwardsen Jr. in January 1966. The primary objective of the organization was to resolve Iñupiaq land claims. Through the ASNA the North Slope Iñupiat claimed aboriginal title to all of the land north of the Brooks Range. The ASNA was a powerful member of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), but temporarily split with AFN over differences in the land claims settlement distribution formula. The ASNA was also critical to the political unification of the North Slope Iñupiat into the North Slope Borough (NSB). After the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the ASRC was spun off and became the Iñupiaq regional nonprofit corporation. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; NATIVE CORPORATIONS. ARCTIC SLOPE REGIONAL CORPORATION (ASRC). One of the most successful of the Native corporations created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Incorporated in 1972, the ASRC is a for-profit corporation established to manage the cash and land granted to the Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA) as a result of the land claims settlement. The region encompassed by the ASRC is contiguous with the North Slope Borough (NSB), and its shareholders are primarily Iñupiat. The ASRC defies the stereotype of the materially impoverished Native who remains tied to a traditional subsistence lifestyle. It is one of the largest corporations in Alaska. Although the ASRC is a highly diversified corporation, it is heavily invested in hydrocarbon development and support services in Alaska. It owns subsurface rights to approximately 90,000 acres of land surrounding the village of Kaktovik and within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and has actively lobbied the U.S. Congress in favor of oil and gas drilling there. Earlier in its history the ASRC was instrumental in developing the infrastructure of the North Slope Borough. In 1974 it funded the construction of housing for 27 Barrow families who decided to reoccupy
ARNAIT VIDEO PRODUCTIONS ● 31
the previously abandoned village of Nuiqsut. The ASRC also came to the aid of other Inuit aboriginal rights organizations, providing a loan to the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) during the latter group’s land claims negotiations with the Canadian government. ARCTIC SMALL TOOL TRADITION. Widely dispersed Paleoeskimo cultural tradition known archeologically for finely crafted, small chipped stone tools. Archeologists date the Arctic Small Tool Tradition from approximately 2200 BC to approximately 800 BC. Arctic Small Tool Tradition sites are located along coastal tundra areas and along rivers. In Alaska the appearance of the Arctic Small Tool Tradition appears to indicate the arrival from Siberia of a new group of people and is recognized from an assemblage of tools referred to as the Denbigh Flint Complex. Further east, in Canada and Greenland, Arctic Small Tool Tradition people are the earliest known inhabitants. The earliest known sites in Canada and Greenland are all located in the High Arctic. This earliest archeological culture is referred to as the Independence stage (c.2000 BC-c.1700 BC), designated after Independence Fjord in northeast Greenland. Independence was followed by an extremely widely dispersed pre-Dorset stage (c.1700 BC-c.800 BC). The Arctic Small Tool Tradition ended with the cultural complex known as Dorset. Archeologists differ as to whether Independence, pre-Dorset, and Dorset reflect cultural change among the same group of people or separate waves of migration from coastal Alaska. The Arctic Small Tool Tradition peoples depended upon a wide variety of animal resources including birds, musk ox, polar bear, caribou, seals, and walrus. They hunted both with harpoons and with bows and arrows. ARNAIT VIDEO PRODUCTIONS. Women’s Video Workshop of Igloolik. Formerly Arnait Ikajurtigiit, meaning “women helping each other,” the Arnait Video Productions was established in 1991 in Igloolik, Nunavut as a nonprofit collective and sister organization to Igloolik Isuma Productions. The works created by Arnait Video Productions include both documentaries and animated fiction. The subjects of video are chosen for their cultural relevance and because they are specific to the concerns of women. Their productions include “Qulliq” (1992), a 10-minute reproduction of a traditional women’s activity— the use of a stone lamp or qulliq—and “Ningiura” (2000), a 29-minute fictional story based on oral histories and contemporary life in Igloolik. The videos are in Inuktitut with English and French subtitles. During
32 ● Aron of Kangeq
the summer of 2001 Arnait Video Production filmmaker Mary Kunuk introduced a satellite webcast from the outpost camp of her parents, Vivi and Enuki Kunuk, in order for people both in and outside of the Arctic to learn more about Inuit life from the perspective of Inuit. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. ARON OF KANGEQ (1822-1869). Kalaaleq hunter and artist, one of many who answered Hinrich Rink’s call for legends and stories depicting traditional Inuit life. Aron of Kangeq provided a long story about a legendary figure called Aqissiaq, and illustrated it with woodcuts. Aqissiaq was said to be the child of an Inuk father and a Tunit mother, which gave him a number of unique qualities. The story, which Rink published in both Danish and Kalaallisut, has become a classic of children’s literature in Greenland. Aron of Kangeq is perhaps best known for his many watercolors and other artwork depicting Inuit history and culture. A large collection of these was repatriated from Denmark to Greenland in 1982. See also ARTS. ARQALUK. See MØLLER, LARS. ARTS. Arts and crafts made for sale are among the most common representations of Inuit outside of the Arctic, but Inuit have long made art for themselves: tattooing their skin, carving masks, decorating utilitarian objects, and sewing fine clothing. Archeological specimens prove a long tradition of art making, and historically, Inuit may have made art to please the animals they hunted as well as to please themselves. Art for sale or trade can be traced to the first contacts between Inuit and non-Native explorers, traders, and whalers. Visitors wanted souvenirs of their travels, and Inuit quickly learned that they could obtain useful or interesting manufactured items in exchange for producing souvenirs. Many of the early trade items were miniatures of everyday items. During the 19th and early 20th centuries collectors working for museums bought up many traditional items of material culture, some of which were becoming obsolete. Although there certainly were regional stylistic differences in Inuit art prior to contact with outsiders, items of traditional material culture were similar from region to region. The same cannot be said of commercially produced arts and crafts. The differences in the latter are due to differences in the way commercial art production was institutionalized in different regions. In fact, there are very different and distinctive art styles and genres produced by Inuit in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.
ASATCHAQ ● 33
Contemporary Inuit art in Canada is usually traced to the actions of James Houston, an artist, and in the late 1940s, a northern service officer. In 1948 Houston arranged to exhibit a number of miniature soapstone sculptures from Inukjuak (Port Harrison), Nunavik at the Canadian Handicrafts Guild in Montreal. The success of the show suggested that art production might prove to be a viable form of economic development in the Canadian North, and consequently the Canadian government encouraged and supported the establishment of arts and crafts cooperatives in many Inuit communities. It established an umbrella organization known as Canadian Arctic Producers to manage the purchase of supplies, the hiring of art advisors and cooperative managers, and the marketing of the finished artwork. It also created the Canadian Eskimo Arts Committee, a group of southern art experts, as advisors on quality and stylistic matters. This latter organization, and its later incarnations, performed a sort of gatekeeper function which prevented art that the committee viewed as “non-Inuit” (i.e. not primitive) from reaching the market. Although Canadian Inuit art takes many forms, two in particular, the soapstone sculpture and the graphic print, dominate. Although the Arts Committee no longer exists, much contemporary Canadian Inuit art continues to fit within the primitive genre. Art production in Alaska and in Greenland was much less centralized. Several of the best-known artists, including Joseph Senungetuk of Alaska and Hans Lynge of Greenland, were formally trained at art academies. In other cases missionaries or traders encouraged Inuit to take up art production as a way to generate income. Trader Charles Brower is credited with encouraging Iñupiat to produce coiled baleen baskets, and missionary-ethnographer Hinrich Rink encouraged and promoted the artwork of Greenlander Aron of Kangeq. Masks, basketry, and dolls are among the primary forms of Inuit (including Yupik) art in Alaska. As in Canada, much of the Alaska Inuit artwork is clearly identifiable as indigenous. In contrast, in Greenland artwork is Greenlandic stylistically, but is neither clearly indigenous nor primitive. See also CHARLES, NICHOLAS SR.; IPELLIE, ALOOTOOK; KENOJUAK; PITSEOLAK; PITSEOLAK, PETER; ROCK, HOWARD; TAGOONA, ARMAND; YUA. ASATCHAQ (1891-1980). Iñupiaq storyteller from Point Hope. Baptized as Jimmie Killigivuk, Asatchaq was part of the last generation of Iñupiat who were raised before the universal acceptance of Christianity in northwest Alaska. Many of his stories concerned shamanism and Iñupiaq spiritual beliefs. Asatchaq traveled widely in his youth and was one of two men from Point Hope hired by Vilhjalmur Stefansson to be
34 ● Ashevak, Kenojuak
a hunter and dog-handler for the Canadian Arctic Expedition. He was away from the expedition’s ship, the Karluk, when it sunk, and made his own way back to Point Hope. For at least part of his time with the Canadian Arctic Expedition, Asatchaq served as an interpreter for Diamond Jenness. ASHEVAK, KENOJUAK. See KENOJUAK. ASHOONA, PITSEOLAK. See PITSEOLAK. ASSOCIATION OF VILLAGE COUNCIL PRESIDENTS (AVCP). Regional nonprofit Native corporation for the benefit of the mostly Yupiit residents living in the 56 villages of the Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Alaska. The AVCP was first created as a regional advisory council in 1964. In 1977, following the settlement of land claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the AVCP incorporated as one of 12 regional nonprofit corporations. The AVCP is a social services agency, tribal rights advocate, and economic development organization for the regional population. The area served by the AVCP is contiguous with that of the Calista Regional Corporation. See also YUPIIT NATION. ATANARJUAT (THE FAST RUNNER). First Inuktitut-language feature film. Atanarjuat is the work of Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn, and the late Paul Apak of Igloolik Isuma Productions. The film, which is based upon a traditional Inuit tale, won the Camera d’Or for a film by a new director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 as well as numerous awards at other film festivals. The story of Atanarjuat concerns longstanding family rivalries and competition which threaten the survival of the community. As with other Igloolik Isuma productions, the film emphasizes the nuances of Inuit social relations. In addition, the filmmakers strove for historical authenticity on the set and with the costuming. The film was shot at Igloolik, Nunavut using only local actors. See also ANGAKKUQ; ATIQ. ATASSUT PARTY. Centrist Greenlandic political party whose name means “Connecting Link.” The party was formed in 1981, and has worked for stronger ties between Greenland and Denmark. The party platform calls for free enterprise and the liberalization of trade. Atassut members favor Greenland’s membership in the European Economic Community (European Union). See also CHEMNITZ, LARS; GREENLAND, HOME RULE; GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE;
ATUAGAGDLIUTIT ● 35
INUIT ATAQATIGIIT; SIUMUT. ATEQ. See ATIQ. ATIQ. Name or name-soul. In Inuit and Yupik cosmology names are associated with the souls of persons, both living and dead. The birth of a child represents, and in many ways is presumed to be, the replacement for a recently deceased person. In other words, death and birth represent a recycling of souls, and the recycling of names connected to those souls is one of the ways that children are embedded in a web of social relations. A child will often be referred to by the kinship referent of his or her namesake. For example, the widow of the child’s namesake will likely refer to the child, not by name, but as “my little husband,” and will have a special kinship-like relationship to the child. Likewise the dead man’s children may call the child “my little father.” In some Inuit and Yupik communities there is a reluctance to speak the actual name of a person, and the kinship referents or nicknames are used almost exclusively. Historically, midwives or other wise individuals were responsible for recognizing the child’s name. Sometimes the wrong name was given, and in these cases children would become ill. If this occurred, changing the name was one way to cure the illness. Children, especially today, receive several names. Neither Yupik nor Inuit names are gender specific, but English (as well as Danish and Russian) names are. Both Native and non-Native names are bestowed as atiit (pl.). While it is common today for children to be named after any (and sometimes several) recently deceased, loved persons, people tend to regard the new baby as symbolic of, rather than the embodiment of, their namesake. Nonetheless, the relatives of the deceased atiq still use kinship referents for the child, and the name is often thought to carry personality or behavioral traits. ATUAGAGDLIUTIT. First Kalaallisut language newspaper. Meaning “Readings” in Kalaallisut, Atuagagdliutit was founded in 1861 by Hinrich Rink, then Inspector for South Greenland. Initially published 12 times per year (but distributed annually), the paper contained local Greenlandic as well as world news, fiction translated into Kalaallisut, travelogues, opinion pieces, and woodcut illustrations. Hymnist Rasmus Berthelsen was the first editor, and Greenland’s educated Inuit social elite wrote many of the articles. From the earliest issues, the articles reflect a strong Greenlandic national identity—Kalaallit Nunaat. During the early decades of the paper’s existence this identity was ex-
36 ● ATuaQNIK
pressed as a combination of pride in seal-hunting traditions (which were, in fact, in a period of crisis), satisfaction with the land of Greenland (described as a “gift from God”), Christian morality, and a belief in the beneficence of Danish colonialism. In 1952 Atuagagdliutit merged with the Danish-language paper Grønlandsposten to become Atuagagdliutit/Grønlandsposten. The paper is currently published twice weekly. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. ATUAQNIK. Independent newspaper which served Nunavik communities between January 1979 and July 1980. Its staff of four journalists, William Tagoona, Willie Adams, Alec Gordon, and Mike McGoldrick, handled all of the production tasks in addition to their reporting and editorial duties. The name Atuaqnik had the twin meanings of “the northwest wind” and “to read.” Although Makivik Corporation provided initial funding, Atuaqnik was truly an independent paper. As such it attracted contributions from individuals such as Taamusi Qumaq who had opposed the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. The bilingual English and Inuktitut syllabics journal covered news and political issues important to the largely Inuit readership. These included land claims, the health effects of mercury contamination, the Baker Lake case, education policy, and language. An extremely large number of letters-to-the-editor indicate the strong engagement of readers. Despite its popularity, Atuaqnik ceased publication after 18 months due to a lack of both independent funding and replacement staff. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; TUNDRA TIMES. AUGUSTUS. See TATANNUAQ. AVATAQ CULTURAL INSTITUTE. Successor organization to Taqramuit Ilisarnilirivinga Kupaip Inunginnut (TIKI). Avataq was founded in 1980 to be the official cultural affairs organization of the Inuit of Nunavik. Based in Montreal, Avataq maintains an archeology department as well as a library and archive. It is the primary sponsor of historical and cultural research on the Inuit of Nunavik and for the Inuit of Nunavik. In addition to sponsoring a biennial Inuit Elders’ Conference, Avataq supports Inuttitut-language and traditional skills programs. It is also involved in correcting the spelling of Inuit names, recording Inuit genealogies, documenting Inuit place names, and other traditional knowledges. See also INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE; INUIT CULTURAL INSTITUTE; LAND CLAIMS; MAKIVIK
BAKER LAKE CASE ● 37
CORPORATION; PROJECT SURNAME.
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BAFFIN WRITERS’ PROJECT. Enterprise to encourage the development of Inuit literature in English and Inuktitut. The project, which was inaugurated in 1988 as a writer-in-residence program to bring southern writers into schools in Baffin Island communities, soon evolved to include Inuit and First Nations authors. Inuit writers who participated in the project included Minnie Aodla Freeman, Alice Masak French, Alootook Ipellie, Michael Kusugak, and Sam Metcalfe. Alootook Ipellie also served as the one of project coordinators, and edited Kivioq, an Inuit literary magazine produced through the project. Over the life of the project the goals evolved from a school-based literacy project to include the wider community, and encouraged several Inuit to pursue writing. BAIDARKA. See UMIAK. BAKER LAKE CASE. Lawsuit brought by the Inuit of Baker Lake, Nunavut against the Canadian minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1979. The decision in the case was an important event in the legal establishment of aboriginal rights in Canada. The period after World War II, and especially the 1960s and 1970s, was an era of increased mining activity in the Canadian North. Canada regarded the Northwest Territories as Crown land, and exploration and extraction occurred without any consultation with Inuit or acknowledgment that Inuit might, in fact, possess aboriginal title to the lands. In 1978 a rich uranium deposit was discovered on the upper Thelon River near the hamlet of Baker Lake. Baker Lake Inuit feared that the mining activities would disrupt caribou migrations. In 1979 the Inuit of Baker Lake and Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) brought suit against the federal government and six mining companies asking for an injunction against further activities. The Inuit argued that mining operations on their lands were a violation of their aboriginal title to that land and were harming their traditional uses of the land for subsistence hunting. The trial judge, Patrick Mahoney, ruled against the Inuit; stating that Inuit had use rights to the land, but not actual title to the land itself.
38 ● Banksland, BILLIE
That, said the judge, had been granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company by Charles II of England in 1670. Furthermore, Judge Mahoney determined that the uranium mining did not harm Inuit subsistence activities. At the same time, the judge affirmed that Inuit did possess aboriginal rights, but left these unspecified. Thus, this case is often seen as a precedent in the establishment of aboriginal rights in Canada. See also LAND CLAIMS. BANKSLAND, BILLIE. See NATKUSIAK. BANKSLANDERS. Literally the Inuvialuit from Banks Island. More precisely, however, the Bankslanders, or Banks Island Trappers as they are sometimes known, developed as an identifiable group in the first decades of the 20th century. As the commercial whaling era drew to a close, some of the whalers in the Beaufort Sea, including some Iñupiat from north Alaska, turned to trading and to fur trapping. Many of the non-Natives married Inuit women. The 1920s, especially, was a period of both excellent trapping and high fur prices. Several of the whalerscum-trappers were able to purchase sailing schooners which they used to expand their trapping and trading territories. Several trappers went to Banks Island, the most westerly of the Canadian arctic islands, where they found excellent fox trapping conditions. Some of these families eventually settled at Sachs Harbour on Banks Island. Others continued to travel between Banks Island and the mainland or made trading forays to Victoria Island. The Bankslander identity eventually became subsumed within Inuvialuit as a consequence of the land claims negotiations in the 1970s and 1980s and the larger discourse on aboriginal rights. See also NATKUSIAK. BARROW DUCK-IN. See DUCK-IN. BERGER INQUIRY. See MACKENZIE VALLEY PIPELINE INQUIRY. BERTHELSEN, RASMUS (“KIKIK”) (1827-1901). Teacher, newspaper editor, and best known of the Greenlandic hymn writers. Berthelsen composed the hymn “Guuterput quisinnermiu” (Our Lord in Heaven), which is a Christmas standard in Greenland. He was also the first editor of Atuagagdliutit. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; MUSIC. BIRNIK CULTURE. Archeologically known Eskimo culture of north Alaska and coastal Siberia. Archeologists recognize Birnik, which be-
BROADCASTING ● 39
gan around AD 500, as a very early manifestation of the Thule tradition and it is therefore part of the cultural continuum that produced contemporary Inuit culture. Like the Thule Eskimos, the Birnik people were heavily dependent on sea mammals which they hunted on the open water and from the landfast ice. They also engaged in whaling, a practice that had been absent from the region for approximately 500 years. They also built semi-subterranean houses of turf and driftwood. The best-known site is called Birnik and is located near Point Barrow. See also ARCHITECTURE; NORTON TRADITION. BLADDER FEAST. Yupik traditional festival during which the seals caught during the year for food are honored and their souls are returned to the sea to be reincarnated. The Bladder Feast, called nakaciuq, literally “something done with bladders,” in the Yupik language, was a five-day celebration held during mid-winter. It was part of a series of winter feasts centered on both spiritual and physical rebirth and renewal. It marked the end of one year and the beginning of another. Both Inuit and Yupik cosmology holds that animals give themselves to hunters who treat them well. Additionally, while the hunter kills the body of the animal, he does not kill the soul or yua, which resides in the animal’s bladder and is reincarnated in a new body. The Bladder Feast enables humans to participate in the process of reincarnation and rebirth. The Bladder Feast occurred close to the time of the winter solstice when hunting activity was limited by darkness and cold. The bladders of the seals killed during the year were taken to the qasgi where they were feasted and sung to. In some regions men and women were expected to abstain from sexual activity during the period of the Bladder Feast; in others the Bladder Feast was associated with increased sexual activity. The five-day feast culminated with dancing and singing, village-wide feasting and gift giving. This was followed by returning the bladders (and thus the souls of the seals) to the sea so that they would be born again as seals. Remembering the hospitality they received from the villagers, the reincarnated seals would again offer themselves up as food. Although Bladder Feasts no longer occur in the traditional form, the social relations between people and between people and animals that the Bladder Feast celebrated and reinforced continue to permeate social life and subsistence activities in Yupik communities. See also NALUKATAQ. BROADCASTING. See JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING.
40 ● Brown, Emily IVANOFF
BROWN, EMILY IVANOFF (1904-1982). Writer and educator. Emily Ivanoff Brown was born in Unalakleet, Alaska. An advocate of bilingual education, Brown helped create a curriculum guide for teaching Iñupiaq in elementary schools. Brown published The Roots of Ticasuk: An Eskimo Woman’s Family Story (1981) and Tales of Ticasuk: Eskimo Legends and Stories (1987). She helped found the Alaska Heritage Writers Association, and in 1981 received the Gold Nugget Award from the Alaska Press Women in recognition of outstanding professional achievement. See also EDUCATION; LITERATURE.
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CAPE YORK METEORITES. Group of large meteorites that the Inughuit and their ancestors used as a source of iron for tools. Archeological finds of objects fashioned from these meteorites are evidence of widespread prehistoric trade networks. Tools linked to the Cape York meteorites have been found on Ellesmere Island and elsewhere, and one Thule tradition arrow point fashioned from meteoric iron was recovered from a Norse site in southern Greenland. In the historic period, the Cape York meteorites attracted the attention of European and American explorers and collectors. British explorer John Ross, in his account of his 1818 explorations, was the first to report their existence. As early as 1843 the Royal Danish Scientific Society mounted an unsuccessful effort to secure the meteorites for Danish museums. More expeditions, for Sweden, Denmark, England, and the United States were undertaken toward the end of the century. Nearly all failed to find the meteorites, much less remove them. Finally, in 1895, American explorer Robert E. Peary removed two of the meteorites known as the “Woman” (407 kg.) and the somewhat smaller “Dog.” Two years later Peary succeeded in removing the largest of the meteorites, the “Tent” weighing approximately 4,000 kg. All three meteorites were eventually sold to the American Museum of Natural History to finance Peary’s continued explorations. A fourth meteorite, known as “Savik,” wound up in Copenhagen’s Museum of Mineralogy. More meteorites were collected throughout the 20th century. The Cape York meteorites are cultural as well as mineralogical specimens. Although it is probable that the Inughuit were no longer using the meteorites as a source of iron when they were removed, they
CHARLES, NICHOLAS SR. ● 41
had used the meteorites until early in the 19th century. Sadly, removal of the meteorites destroyed much of the archeological evidence associated with their use. CARROTHER’S COMMISSION. A 1965-1966 Canadian Royal Commission of inquiry created by an Order-in-Council in the wake of mounting pressure by non-aboriginal settlers in the Northwest Territories (NWT) for political rights. At the time there was almost no local government in the NWT, and both the Commissioner for the NWT and the Territorial Commission were based in Ottawa. A.W.R. Carrothers, who was then dean of the law school at the University of Western Ontario, headed the inquiry. Officially established as the “Advisory Commission on the Development of Government in the Northwest Territories” the Carrother’s Commission mandate was to recommend to Ottawa how to extend public government to the residents of the Northwest Territories. In particular the Carrother’s Commission was to recommend whether the NWT should be divided into two separate territories—a western territory with many non-aboriginal settlers and a largely Inuit eastern territory. In contrast to the 1999 creation of the Nunavut Territory, this proposal for division came from non-Native residents whose ultimate goal was provincial status. Most observers at the time expected that the Carrother’s Commission would confine its inquiry to the political concerns of these non-Natives, but this was not the case. In addition to holding hearings in non-Native towns such as Yellowknife and Hay River, Carrothers took the inquiry to Inuit, Métis, and Indian communities. As a consequence, the Commission report recommended that steps be taken to extend local public government throughout the NWT. A direct result was the establishment of settlement councils in the newly created Inuit villages. Other recommendations led to the establishment of Yellowknife as the capital of the Northwest Territories, and the creation of the Government of the Northwest Territories and Legislative Assembly. Finally, the Commission Report recommended against division of the NWT until Native residents also had a voice in the process. See also SELF-GOVERNMENT. CHARLES, NICHOLAS SR. (1910- ?). Yupik artist and mask maker. Nick Charles was born on Nelson Island, but lived much of his adult life in Bethel, Alaska. His dance masks are recognizable by the use of a circle and dot decorative motif which, in Yupik iconography, is associated with spiritual vision and transformation. In the 1980s, along with his wife, Elena, Nick Charles was instru-
42 ● Chemnitz, Lars
mental in reviving traditional Yupik masked dancing and mask carving throughout the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. See also ARTS; BLADDER FESTIVAL; MESSENGER FEAST. CHEMNITZ, LARS (1925- ). Educator and chairman of the Greenland Landsräd (parliament) in the period leading up to the beginning of Home Rule. Chemnitz, who was born in Nuuk and educated in Denmark, worked as a teacher before entering politics in 1967. He rose quickly in the emerging political leadership of Greenland, and became the founding leader of Atassut, a centrist political party which favors continued ties between Greenland and Denmark. Chemnitz resigned from the Landsräd and from Atassut when Greenland achieved home rule status under the leadership of the Siumut Party. Chemnitz participated in the founding meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and was elected to its executive council. See also EDUCATION. CHORIS CULTURE. Archeologically known cultural complex found mainly in northwest Alaska and dating from approximately 1600 BC to around 500 BC. The cultural complex takes its name from the site where it was first recognized archeologically— the Choris Peninsula near present-day Kotzebue. Choris people may have spread as far east as the Mackenzie River Delta and Banks Island in the western Canadian Arctic. The Choris complex is sometimes classified as part of the Arctic Small Tool Tradition. At others times it is viewed as part of the Norton Tradition. It appears to have evolved from the Denbigh Flint Complex, though many more and more varied Choris artifacts have been recovered. Choris people built large oval houses, hunted both caribou and sea mammals, used Siberian-style pottery, Denbigh-style chipped stone tools, and polished stone tools. CHRISTIANITY. See RELIGION. CHUGACH ESKIMOS. See ALUTIIQ. CLIMATE CHANGE. Global climate shifts have occurred several times over the last several millennia. Much cooler temperatures 50,000 to 30,000 years ago resulted in an Ice Age permitting waves of people from Siberia to move across the Bering Sea land bridge into the Americas. Around a thousand years ago a relatively warm arctic climate enabled both the Thule Eskimos expansion east from Alaska and the Norse colonization of Greenland. While the Norse apparently died out
COPPER INUIT ● 43
when temperatures again cooled around AD 1500, the culture and technologies of the Thule permitted them to adapt to the new conditions. Global warming caused by industrialization and emissions of greenhouse gases in temperate zones is having a profound effect in the Polar Regions causing warmer winters and reducing the ice cover. While these arctic climate changes are likely to accelerate the global warming trend, the most immediate effect for northerners concerns threats to animal habitats and subsistence hunting. Inuit in several parts of the North have observed that freeze up is occurring later and breakup is occurring earlier than normal, making it dangerous for hunters to travel on the ocean ice. Furthermore, sea ice is an essential part of the habitat of polar bears, seals, walruses, and whales. Iñupiat are able to hunt bowhead whales from umiaks because the whales swim along the edge of the landfast ice on their northward migration. Polar bears spend most of their lives on the sea ice hunting seals. See also DORSET; INUIT REGIONAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. COLD WAR. See MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH. COMMERCIAL WHALERS. See WHALING. COMMITTEE FOR ORIGINAL PEOPLE’S ENTITLEMENT (COPE). Aboriginal rights organization. The Committee for Original People’s Entitlement or COPE was established in 1970 to be the political voice of the Native peoples living in the Mackenzie Delta region of Canada. Initially the COPE membership included Inuvialuit, Dene Indians, and Métis. Agnes Semmler, a Dene, was the organization’s first president. However, in 1976, COPE reorganized to represent the political and land claims interests of the approximately 2,500 Inuvialuit only. COPE was affiliated with Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (now Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami) from that organization’s founding in 1971 until 1976 when the ITC’s comprehensive land claim proposal was rejected by federal negotiators and withdrawn. The following year COPE submitted a separate land claim proposal, and reached an agreement-inprinciple in 1978. With the signing of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA) in 1984, COPE was dissolved and replaced by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). See also COURNOYEA, NELLIE; INUVIALUIT SETTLEMENT REGION. COPPER INUIT. See INUINNAIT.
44 ● COSMOLOGY
COSMOLOGY. See RELIGION. COURNOYEA, NELLIE (1940- ). Inuvialuit political leader. Nellie Cournoyea, who is from Aklavik, was one of the founders of the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) which negotiated the Inuvialuit land claims agreement with the government of Canada. Cournoyea worked briefly in broadcasting and was elected to the territorial legislature for the Northwest Territories in 1979. She held several ministerial portfolios, and was the premier from 1991 to 1995. Since 1995, Cournoyea has been the chair and chief executive officer of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC). During Cournoyea’s tenure the IRC has become very active in nonrenewable resource development in the Beaufort-Mackenzie region of Canada. Cournoyea, as the leader of the IRC, was instrumental in the creation of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, a consortium of Native peoples formed in order to participate financially in the construction of a gas pipeline in the Mackenzie River Valley. See also HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT; INUVIALUIT SETTLEMENT REGION. CUP’IK. Central Yupik of the Bering Sea region of southwest Alaska. See YUPIK LANGUAGE. CURLEY, TAGAK (1944- ). Politician and businessman. Curley was born at Coral Harbour, Nunavut. As a founding member and first president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC), Curley was a leader in the Inuit land claims efforts. He was also a prominent advocate for the government of Canada to replace the term Eskimo with Inuit in all official documents. He edited the Keewatin Echo, the first bilingual InuktitutEnglish newspaper in Canada, and wrote a series of articles about the education of Inuit in Canada. Curley ran as a Liberal candidate for Parliament in 1979, but was narrowly defeated by Peter Ittinuar. He then joined the Northwest Territorial Assembly where he led an Inuit “shadow” caucus. Curley served as the president of Nunasi Corporation, a land claims-based Inuit development corporation and was also the business manager of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI). He was named president of Nunavut Construction Corporation, a subsidiary of Nunasi Corporation, in 1998. In 2003 Curley announced that he might reenter politics because of his opposition to the inclusion of gay rights in the recently passed Nunavut human rights bill. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; GENDER; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; NATIVE CORPORATIONS.
DOROUGH, DALEE SAMBO ● 45
-D-
DENBIGH FLINT COMPLEX. Archeologically known cultural complex from the Chukchi and Bering Sea coastal regions of Alaska dating from approximately 3000 BC to approximately 1000 BC. The Denbigh Flint Complex belongs taxonomically and temporally to the Arctic Small Tool Tradition. The name Denbigh Flint Complex derives from the site where the cultural complex was first observed archeologically— Cape Denbigh on Norton Sound in Alaska—and from the distinctive artifacts recovered—a large number of tiny and beautifully flaked stone tools. Similar stone tools are known from an earlier period in Siberia, and may indicate the origin of the Denbigh people. Sites are located along the coast and along streams in the tundra zone. Many of these are small and indistinct, consisting of a fire pit and tent ring and a few artifacts. Some sites located 50 to 250 kilometers inland were presumably used during winter. These are more substantial, and consist of constructed, semi-subterranean houses. The houses may have had cold trap entrances similar to historically known Inuit houses. The best-known inland site is Onion Portage located on the Kobuk River. See also ARCHITECTURE. DISC LISTS. See DISC NUMBERS. DISC NUMBERS. In Canada Inuit were not counted in the national census until 1941. As part of the census that year, Inuit were assigned identification numbers. Each Inuk received a small fiber disc embossed with his or her number. Individuals were expected to keep the numbers with them at all times. The numbers were prefixed by E or W for the eastern or western zones of the Canadian Arctic. These disc numbers, as they have come to be known, were used in place of Inuit names on all official records from 1941 until the early 1970s when all Canadian Inuit received legal names through Project Surname. Recently, some Inuit have spoken out against the dehumanizing aspects of being known by a number rather than one’s name. In the 1990s, as both an educational tool and a fundraiser, a group of Inuit elders on Baffin Island began issuing Q-numbers (Q stands for qallunaat, meaning non-Natives) to visitors to the North. DOROUGH, DALEE SAMBO. International human rights activist. In the
46 ● Dorset
1970s and 1980s, Dorough, who is Iñupiaq, was very active in the international political movement for indigenous rights by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), and served as the ICC coordinator for the Alaska Native Review Commission (ANRC). Dorough expressed a desire to stand for election to the presidency of ICC at its 1992 Assembly, but the Alaskan delegation nominated Eileen MacLean instead. Dorough has continued her activism on the part of indigenous communities as director of the Alaska office of the Indian Law Resource Center. DORSET. Cultural tradition from Greenland and the central and eastern Canadian Arctic known archeologically for its finely crafted, delicate, and precisely formed tools made from several types of stone as well as copper and meteoric iron. The tools, which are also notable for their small size, appear to have been widely traded across Greenland and arctic Canada. The Dorset tradition appears to have flourished from approximately 800 BC to around AD 1000, when a warming climate brought whale-hunting Thule peoples into their territory. The climate during the Dorset Period was generally colder than it was in either the previous or subsequent archeological period, and is characterized archeologically by a movement of people away from the most northerly parts of the High Arctic. After AD 1000 it appears that the Dorset people were pushed out of many places they had previously occupied, and they disappear from the archeological record completely by AD 1500. A few anthropologists, however, have suggested that the Iit of East Greenland and the Sadlermiut of Southampton Island may have been descendents of the Dorset Eskimos. Modern Inuit stories describe a race of large people called Tuniit, who were most likely Dorset Eskimos. The Dorset Eskimos appear to have lost or abandoned several items of technology that were used by earlier Paleoeskimos. The most significant of these was the bow and arrow. Some archeologists have suggested that the deteriorating climate, which marks the start of the Dorset Period, may have made bow hunting less reliable than other forms of hunting. Art, in the form of extremely well-made small amulets and masks, form a large portion of the Dorset Period artifacts in archeological collections. These artifacts include realistic renditions of animals and humans, and are thought to be evidence of shamanism. See also ANGAKKUQ; CLIMATE CHANGE. DUCK-IN. Organized act of civil disobedience by Barrow Iñupiat to protest wildlife regulations that interfered with traditional subsistence
EDUCATION ● 47
hunting. The 1916 international Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada, the United States, and Mexico forbids the hunting of waterfowl between March and September—when ducks and other migratory waterfowl happen to be in the Arctic. The incident that became known as the “Duck-In” occurred in the spring of 1961 after several Iñupiat were arrested for hunting eider ducks out-of-season. Following this initial event, three North Slope Iñupiat including John Nusunginya, a member of the Alaska State Legislature, intentionally shot and killed ducks in the presence of a federal wildlife officer. They were arrested. Next, 138 Iñupiaq hunters shot ducks and presented the game officer with written statements to that effect. They also presented him with a petition addressed to President John F. Kennedy demanding that the wildlife regulations be changed so as not to interfere with subsistence hunting. All charges were dropped, and there were no further attempts to enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty against subsistence duck hunting in Alaska. The incident was one of several events that were precursors to the settlement of land claims in Alaska. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; NEAKOK, SADIE BROWER.
-E-
EBIERBING. See IPIRVIK. EDMUNDS, WILLIAM (BILL) (1932-1983). Founding president of the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA). Born in Lake Harbour, Nunavut, Edmunds grew up in Hopedale, Labrador and attended boarding school at Makkovik, Labrador. Edmunds participated in the founding of the LIA in 1973 and remained its president until 1980. He was part of the Canadian delegation at the founding meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and served on several executive committees. The ICC has honored him by naming an award for service to Inuit after him. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; LAND CLAIMS. EDUCATION. Historically Yupik and Inuit education occurred in the household as part of everyday activities. Children learned primarily by observing adults and by practicing tasks. All this changed with the arri-
48 ● EDUCATION
val of missionaries and other colonial agents. Today Inuit and Yupik children are required by law to attend school, and education is one of the arenas that Inuit and Yupik have sought to control through various self-government initiatives. Control over education is reported to have been Eben Hopson’s primary purpose in establishing the North Slope Borough in 1972. Not only did Hopson and other Iñupiat feel that the schooling offered to Alaska Native children was inadequate and often inappropriate given the social and economic environment, but at the time most Alaska Native villages had only grade schools. Most Alaska Native villages obtained high schools only after 1976 following a classaction lawsuit known as the Molly Hootch case. Until then students who wished to continue their educations were required to attend distant boarding schools. Boarding schools were even more widely used in Canada, where until the 1960s children as young as six or seven often remained away from their families for nine months of the year. Through the middle of the 20th century, too, children at boarding schools were often punished for speaking Inuktitut or Yupik. Not surprisingly, the language of instruction has been a particular issue of concern for parents and community leaders throughout the Inuit Circumpolar North. At various times and places, however, parents have advocated both for schools to encourage the use of northern vernaculars and for there to be more and better instruction in national languages. At present, bilingual schooling, at least for the earliest grades, is the norm in Yupik-speaking areas of southwest Alaska, in Nunavik and in Nunavut. The situation in Greenland is somewhat different. There schooling has been Kalaallisut since schools were first established in the 18th century. Fluency in Danish, and sometimes English, however, is required for students who want to pursue university degrees and/or technical training. While Danish is provided as a second language, many parents have felt that their children’s opportunities would be improved if Danish were emphasized in the classroom. A teachers training college was established in Greenland in the mid-19th century, but it was only in 1983 that the Inuit Institute, a precursor to the University of Greenland became a degree granting institution. In Canada few Inuit have had to educational preparation necessary to be able to pursue university degrees, and there are no true universities in the Canadian North. Although in recent years there have been programs especially designed to enable Canadian Inuit and other northern Natives to earn technical certificates. The University of Alaska operates branch campuses in a number of Alaska Native communities and
EDWARDSEN VERSUS MORTON ● 49
has pioneered distance delivery for university instruction. Ilisagvik College, operated by the North Slope Borough in Barrow, offers both technical and university courses. See also BROWN, EMILY IVANOFF; KUSUGAK, JOSE; MACLEAN, EDNA; PETERSEN, ROBERT. EDWARDSEN, CHARLIE JR. (“ETOK”) (1943- ). Iñupiaq from the North Slope Borough (NSB). Edwardsen was a founding member of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), and the Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA). He was an activist for Alaska Native land claims, but after lobbying Congress for the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), actively opposed the final bill. Edwardsen’s objection to the legislation was in part due to the fact that the formula used to allocate proceeds of the agreement was based in part on population rather than traditional land use. In this regard, the North Slope Iñupiat, with a relatively small population, were thought to be at a disadvantage. In 1969 Edwardsen led a high-profile protest against a lease sale of Prudhoe Bay oil by the State of Alaska. He was also the lead plaintiff in the suit Edwardsen versus Morton in which the Arctic Slope Native Association sought money damages for oil exploitation that had occurred on Iñupiaq traditional lands prior to the passage of ANCSA. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT. EDWARDSEN VERSUS MORTON. Class action lawsuit filed by Charlie Edwardsen Jr. and other North Slope Iñupiat in order to force the United States to recognize and enforce Iñupiaq aboriginal land title. The suit, which was filed in 1971, just prior to the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), sought to require U.S. Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton to seek damages from companies and individuals who had trespassed on Iñupiaq lands to explore for or extract minerals and hydrocarbons. In April 1973 a federal district court held that the Iñupiat had, indeed, possessed aboriginal title to their traditional lands. Secretary of the Interior Morton filed a damage suit on behalf of the North Slope Iñupiat against Atlantic Richfield Oil Company, but the court held for the defendants. Subsequent to that loss, the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (ICAS) continued to pursue the matter by filing other claims for damages from trespass. U.S. federal courts ultimately ruled that aboriginal title had been retroactively extinguished by ANCSA, and that the ICAS was not entitled to money damages. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS.
50 ● EEGEESIAK, OKALIK
EEGEESIAK, OKALIK (1962- ). Politician from Nunavut and former president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) (1998-2000). Eegeesiak has been active in Inuit politics and aboriginal rights issues throughout her adult life. In 1997 she made an unsuccessful bid to become the Member of Parliament from Nunatsiaq. Eegeesiak ran as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party, supporting the gender parity initiative for the Nunavut Legislative Assembly and opposing national gun control legislation. As president of the ITC, Eegeesiak was especially active in promoting Inuit health care and employment training. In 1999, after theatrical puppets made in Pond Inlet and sent to the United States for fine tuning were seized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for containing marine mammal products in violation of the 1972 Marine Mammals Protection Act, she and Inuit Circumpolar Conference-Canada President, Sheila Watt-Cloutier became active in the struggle to have the puppets returned to the North. Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik appointed Eegeesiak to the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in 2001. EKAAK, QUTLIURAQ RUTH (c.1876-1945). Iñupiaq woman from the Buckland area. A relatively early convert to Christianity, Qutliuraq, along with her daughter Lily Savok, created a picture writing system for Iñupiaq. See also SYLLABICS; WRITING SYSTEMS. ENDALÊRAQ. See LUND, HENRIK. ERNERK, PETER. See IRNIQ, PETER. ESKALEUT LANGUAGE FAMILY. Linguistic classification or grouping of the Yupik language, Inuktitut, and the Aleut language. The languages share a large number of morphological, grammatical, and phonological features, and are presumed to have developed from a single language. Likewise, this linguistic relatedness suggests that the arctic indigenous peoples represented by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) were once part of the same culture or ethnic group. See also LANGUAGE. ESKIMO. Historically used synonym for Inuit and Yupiit. The term is largely out of favor, except in Alaska, having been replaced either by the term “Inuit” or by regionally specific ethnonyms. In Canada, in particular, the name “Eskimo” is incorrectly, but commonly, assumed to be derogatory. The origin of the word is uncertain, but variations appear in the explorer literature from the late 16th century, and the word
FLAHERTY, MARTHA ● 51
probably derived from a name applied to Inuit by maritime Indians. The word “Inuit,” meaning the “the real people” in Inuktitut, began to replace “Eskimo” in official Canadian publications in the 1970s, and in 1977 the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) adopted Inuit as the general ethnonym for all of its member communities regardless of cultural or linguistic affiliation. As noted, however, Alaskans find nothing pejorative about the term, and continue to distinguish between Iñupiaq Eskimos (who are linguistically “Inuit”) and Yupik Eskimos (who are not). The term “Eskimo” also continues to be appropriate when applied to archeologically known prehistoric populations. See also CURLEY, TAGAK; KALAALEQ. ETOK. See EDWARDSEN, CHARLIE JR. EYAK, KOLIRAQ RUTH. See EKAAK, QUTLIURAQ RUTH.
-F-
FIRST NATIONS. Term used in Canada to refer to peoples previously labeled Indians. The First Nations do not include Inuit. Canada has historically made legal distinctions between Inuit, Métis, and status and nonstatus Indians. Some of the legal distinctions between status and nonstatus Indians and Indians and Métis are no longer relevant in law, but Canada continues to recognize a slightly different set of rights and obligations to Inuit and First Nations peoples. See also ALASKA NATIVES. FLAHERTY, MARTHA (1950- ). Social activist. Born in Inukjuak, Nunavik, as a small child Flaherty was evacuated with her family to Grise Fjord and is one of the High Arctic Exiles. Flaherty was staff member in the office of Canadian Member of Parliament Peter Ittinuar and a translator and writer for Inuktitut Magazine. She was president of Pauktuutit, the Canadian Inuit women’s association, from 1991 to 1998. Flaherty is a frequent panelist at academic conferences on the status of women in the North, and has written forcefully about what she views as unequal relationships between Inuit and northern researchers.
52 ● forced relocations
FORCED RELOCATIONS. See RELOCATIONS, FORCED. FREEMAN, MINNIE AODLA (1936- ). Writer and filmmaker. Born in the Belcher Islands of James Bay, Nunavut, Freeman was raised by her grandparents. Freeman is fluent in Cree, Inuktitut, and English. In the early 1950s, while a patient in a tuberculosis sanitarium, she began translating for other patients. In 1957 she moved to Ottawa where she was employed as a translator by the Canadian government. Her book, Life among the Qallunaat (1978), is a memoir of her childhood and a reflection on the strange ways of white people in southern Canada. She is also the author of a one-act play entitled Survival in the South (1971). Freeman was involved with the establishment of the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), and has produced several documentary films. See also BAFFIN WRITERS’ PROJECT; LITERATURE. FRENCH, ALICE MASAK (1930- ). Inuvialuit writer. Alice Masak French was born on Baillie Island in the Canadian western Arctic in the closing years of the fox fur-trapping boom. She has published two memoirs. The first, My Name Is Masak, describes a childhood spent largely in a church-run residential boarding school punctuated by occasional brief visits to her family. The second book, The Restless Nomad, covers French’s adolescence and young adulthood. In it she describes her difficulty learning or relearning Inuvialuit language and culture after eight years spent away from her family and community. The book also covers French’s first and second marriages, the births of her children, and moving from town to town in southern Canada with her second husband, a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman. French and her second husband also spent several years living in Ireland on his ancestral family farm. They have since returned to Canada, living in Medicine Hat, Alberta. French initially began writing in order to share her family history and Inuvialuit culture with her children, but her narrative, more than just a personal story, conveys the changes and pressures experienced by Inuvialuit and other Inuit groups in the 20th century. See also LITERATURE.
-G-
GAS. See HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT.
GENDER PARITY PLEBISCITE IN NUNAVUT ● 53
GENDER. Gender, or the culturally determined expressions of sex, is one of the many human attributes which varies cross-culturally. Until relatively recently Inuit regarded that there were three genders: male, female, and a third gender called sipiniq. Sipiniit (pl.) were usually understood as biological males who, at birth, had transformed into females. These children were frequently raised as males, at least until puberty. There were also apparent biological males who were raised as females until puberty. Often sipiniit were the offspring of an angakkuq or traditional spiritual leader, and conversion to Christianity and other modern changes have changed Inuit gender beliefs. In Inuit and Yupik society historically males and females played distinct, but complementary, social roles. Males were generally expected to be hunters and food-providers, while females were responsible for processing the catch into food and clothing. Inuit and Yupiit believed that animals presented themselves as food to hunters who, along with their wives, behaved morally. This included thinking and acting respectfully toward animals, sharing generously, and preparing skins carefully and attentively. There was, in fact, a widely held belief that animals gave themselves to those hunters whose wives were skillful and industrious seamstresses. This was because the animals could be assured that their pelts would meet a similar happy fate in the hands of the seamstress. Thus, Inuit and Yupik cosmology supported the notion that male and female roles were equally important to subsistence. In practice females were often less valued and appreciated than males, and selective female infanticide did occur, though likely not with the frequency and regularity reported by missionaries and other colonial agents. Gender relationships and roles were changed through colonial practices and today largely resemble gender roles and relationships in the nations in which Inuit and Yupiit live. At present, males and females are equally represented in public life. See also GENDER PARITY PLEBISCITE IN NUNAVUT; PAUKTUUTIT. GENDER PARITY PLEBISCITE IN NUNAVUT. In 1992, after nearly two decades of negotiations, the Inuit in the Canadian Eastern Arctic reached two related agreements with the government of Canada. The first provided for the settlement of Inuit land claims; the second agreement established the Nunavut Territory as a new political entity within Canada. Although the Nunavut Territory would have a public government rather than an indigenous one, Inuit comprised nearly 85 percent of the population, and it was assumed the Inuit would be able to establish government structures that were socially and culturally appropriate for Inuit communities. An organization known as the Nuna-
54 ● GLOBAL WARMING
vut Implementation Commission (NIC) was created to advise the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories as well as Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) about the form and structure of the new territorial government. In 1994 the NIC opened a public discussion about the form of representation for the new legislative assembly and proposed that Nunavut adopt a proposal for gender parity in the new legislature. In other words, each district would have a male and female slate of candidates and would elect one legislator from each slate. The NIC asserted that this would ensure that women would be well represented in the new government. The NIC put the proposal to a public vote on May 26, 1997. Although the majority of Nunavut leaders and several organizations including Pauktuutit and the NTI supported the gender parity proposal, it was soundly defeated (57% vs. 43%) in a low-turnout election. Some of the arguments against the proposal included Christian-derived attitudes that men are the head of the household, and arguments that Canadian law made men and women equal, and therefore, no special women’s legislative slots were needed. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; SELF-GOVERNMENT. GLOBAL WARMING. See CLIMATE CHANGE. GORDON, MARK R. (1951-1989). Political leader, aboriginal rights activist, and former president of Makivik Corporation. Gordon was born in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, but spent most of his childhood and adolescence in southern Canada. He relearned Inuktitut after returning to Nunavik as a young adult. Gordon was one of the lead negotiators of the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA), and was a delegate to the organizing meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). In 1981 Gordon co-chaired the Aboriginal Rights Coalition with Métis leader Tony Belcourt. Their efforts resulted in the entrenchment of aboriginal rights within the Canadian Constitution. Gordon also lobbied for government compensation for the so-called High Arctic Exiles and their descendents, and may have coined the term “human flagpoles” to refer to the Quebec Inuit relocated to Grise Fjord and Resolute in 1953. The term vividly describes Inuit interpretations of the involuntary move as an effort by Canada to assert its sovereignty over the Arctic Archipelago. See also LAND CLAIMS; RELOCATIONS, FORCED.
GREENLAND, HOME RULE ● 55
GREENLAND, HOME RULE. Greenland became a Danish colony in 1721 when Norwegian-Danish Lutheran missionary Hans Egede traveled to Greenland expecting to minister to the Norse colonists who had had no contact with Europe in nearly 300 years. Finding no Norse, Egede ministered instead to the Inuit and established a trading post near Nuuk, the present-day capital of Greenland. Danish colonial rule continued until after World War II. In 1953 Greenland was made a province of the Danish kingdom. Like other colonial powers, Denmark administered its colony in a paternalistic manner, but unlike others it was also isolationist. The Crown maintained a monopoly over trade, education, the economy, and the administration of Greenland and Greenlanders. This protectionist policy prevented some of the most exploitative aspects of colonization which occurred elsewhere in the Inuit Circumpolar North, but also kept Greenlanders dependent on services and administrators from Denmark. Only in the 20th century did more than a handful of Greenlanders have access to education outside of Greenland. Major social and economic changes followed Greenland’s legal integration into Denmark in 1953. Especially important was the forced urbanization of Greenland as the Danes reduced or withdrew support services from many rural communities. Additionally, increasing numbers of Greenlanders began to vocalize their view of themselves as Kalaallit (Greenlanders) rather than as Danes. The group of young, better-educated urbanites began agitating for either Home Rule or independence from Denmark. A Home Rule commission began work in 1975, and in 1979, Greenland was granted Home Rule status, becoming the first Inuit region to obtain a form of self-government. As is the case in the Nunavut Territory, Home Rule in Greenland is defined territorially rather than ethnically. Thus, both Danish and Inuit residents of Greenland are members of the electorate. One ironic consequence of Home Rule was that, with the transfer of administrative authority to Greenlanders, more Danes moved to Greenland. This was because many more individuals with advanced education and technical skills were needed in Greenland. With Home Rule, Greenland controls all domestic policies such as education, health care, labor, and industrial policies, but Denmark remains responsible for military defense and international relations. These latter issues remain matters of political contention in Greenland and feed a movement favoring Greenland’s independence from Denmark. In 1985 Greenland withdrew from the European Economic Community (EEC), which it had joined with Denmark in 1973 because of regulations governing commercial fishing and because of an EEC
56 ● GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK
ban on the importation of sealskin products. In recent years U.S. and NATO plans to build nuclear missile defense facilities on Greenland soil have sparked new calls for independence. See also ATASSUT PARTY; INUIT ATAQATIGIIT; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH; SIUMUT PARTY. GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK. When Greenland was granted Home Rule status in 1979 a vocal minority of Greenlanders, many of whom were members of Inuit Ataqatigiit, opposed Home Rule on grounds that such interim measures worked counter to real independence. In the succeeding decades, the independence movement in Greenland has remained alive, though likely no closer to independence at least in part because of Greenland’s heavy dependence on Denmark for financial support. Nonetheless, many Greenlanders continue to object to Danish management of international relations, especially when these result in the use of Greenland soil for foreign military installations. Important also is the fact that the Home Rule arrangement does not recognize aboriginal rights to land. Parliamentary elections in December 2002 reflected the growing strength of the independence movement. Siumut, which had held governing power alone or as part of a coalition government for most of the Home Rule period, failed to gain a majority of seats. The year before, Hans Enoksen replaced longtime Prime Minister, Jonathan Motzfeldt as leader of the party. In order to form a government Siumut joined with Inuit Ataqatigiit and the governing coalition announced plans to work toward full independence. Among the changes the new government announced it would seek were full legislative control over Greenland’s minerals and underground resources, an amendment of Denmark’s 1951 defense agreement with the United States, and the recognition of aboriginal property rights. See also GREENLAND, HOME RULE; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH; SELFGOVERNMENT. GREENLAND BROADCASTING CORPORATION. See KALAALLIT-NUNAATA RADIOA. GREENLANDIC. Adjective used to describe a person or thing from Greenland. Also the primary dialect of Inuktitut spoken in Greenland. See also IIT, INUGHUIT; KALAALLISUT; KALAALLIT. GUINN, NORA. Former Alaska district judge for Bethel. Long active in establishment of family and children’s services in Bethel, Guinn, a
HEALTH ● 57
Yupik, was appointed as a district judge by Alaska Governor Walter J. Hickel in 1968. She served until 1976 when her judicial post was abolished. In 1977 Guinn was a member of the Alaska delegation at the founding meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 1978. See also NEAKOK, SADIE BROWER. GUNDEL, PETER (1895-1931). Kalaaleq fisherman, essayist, and short story writer. Gundel published several stories dealing with religious and social themes in the monthly magazine for northern west Greenland, Avangnâmioq. Many of his stories suggested nostalgia for the past, but he also wrote about contemporary concerns such as childrearing and education. See also LITERATURE.
-H-
HANNAH. See TAQULITTUQ. HEALTH. The colonization of the Arctic has had a direct and profound effect on Inuit health. Prior to the arrival of non-Natives, Inuit suffered from few infectious diseases. People were relatively healthy, and accidents and occasional starvations probably constituted the most common causes of death. Non-Natives brought many infectious diseases for which Inuit had no natural immunity. Diseases such as smallpox, measles, influenza, and polio devastated whole communities, and it is estimated that by 1900 the Inuit population declined to half of its precontact size as a result of these and other introduced diseases. Populations have since recovered, but Inuit in Chukotka have experienced a rise in mortality since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequent withdraw of state-supported social services there. Improvements in medicine and health care delivery in most Inuit communities since the 1950s have reduced the prevalence of most infectious diseases, but Inuit suffer from a wide variety of new chronic diseases such as heart disease, obesity, and cancer and other diseases of modernity. In addition, substance abuse, tobacco use, and suicide are serious problems in many modern Inuit communities. Finally, Inuit health is negatively impacted by exposure to a large
58 ● Helper Neck
number of environmental contaminants produced in other parts of the world and moved north as airborne particles. These enter the human food chain through animals that consume contaminated plants, water, and other animals. Several studies have indicated that Inuit on Baffin Island, Nunavut and in some parts of Greenland have extremely high levels of persistent organic pollutants or POPs in their bloodstreams. These are passed to nursing infants through breast milk. Inuit are also exposed to a number of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium. While these contaminants are known to produce neurological, reproductive, and other health problems, it is difficult, if not impossible, to assess the exact nature of the risk. Nearly all Inuit have access to basic primary health care in their communities, but people often have to travel great distances by airplane for advanced diagnostic services or if hospitalization is necessary. In village Alaska, the local health care provider is usually a lay practitioner with limited training, while clinics in northern Canada are generally staffed by professionally trained nurse practitioners. People with serious illnesses are often treated in hospitals far away from their families. This situation is somewhat reminiscent of the days when Inuit with tuberculosis were evacuated from their homes and treated in southern sanitaria. Inuit are taking steps to control their own health care systems. In Alaska and arctic Canada regional health boards have taken over the management of local health care, and in Greenland health care has been the responsibility of the Home Rule government since 1992. See also ANGAKKUQ; ATIQ; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. HELPER NECK. See UYAQOQ. HENDRIK, HANS (1834-1889). West Greenland Inuk who participated in the expeditions of several arctic explorers including Elisha Kent Kane, Isaac Hayes, Charles Francis Hall, and George Strong Nares. Born in the southern Greenland town of Qeqertarsuatsiaat, Hendrik joined Kane’s Second Grinnell Expedition as a hunter and guide in 1853 at the age of 19. Through his travels with Kane, Hendrik encountered the Inughuit of northwest Greenland, and he eventually abandoned the expedition to marry an Inughuit woman. Through Hendrik’s writings it may be possible to date the arrival of Qillaq and his followers from Baffin Island. (Hendrik’s description of Inughuit hunting methods makes note of the absence of the kayak and the bow and arrow, both of which were reintroduced to the Inughuit by the Baffin Islanders.) Hendrik remained with the Inughuit for approximately six years, and may have preached
HIGH ARCTIC ● 59
Christianity to them. In August 1860 he, along with his wife and newborn baby, joined an expedition headed by Isaac Hayes. Afterward he settled first in Upernavik, and then in Kangersuatsiak. His third voyage of exploration was the most dramatic. On that trip, Hendrik and his wife and four children accompanied Charles Francis Hall north into Smith Sound. In November 1871 Hall died under mysterious circumstances. The ship, the Polaris, became frozen in the ice, and in October 1872, the ship broke loose, stranding the captain, George Tyson and nine crewmembers along with Hendrik and his family and Hall’s primary guides, Ipirvik and Taqulittuq and their daughter on the ice floe. They drifted for more than seven months and some 1,500 miles before being rescued off the coast of Newfoundland. Hendrik and Ipirvik are widely credited with keeping the party alive by hunting seals for food and fuel. After a brief visit to the United States where Hendrik was debriefed about the death of Hall, he returned with his family to Greenland, and took part in one more expedition. Hendrik’s account of his travels was published in a memoir. This thin volume is one of the few accounts of Arctic exploration written by an Inuk. Hendrik also published several reports of his experiences with the Inughuit in Atuagagdliutit. HENSLEY, WILLIE (1941- ). Iñupiaq from Kotzebue, Hensley has been described as an architect of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). In 1966, as a 24-year-old graduate student, Hensley authored an influential document entitled “What Rights to Land have the Alaska Natives” which laid out the case for Native land claims in Alaska and helped set the stage for the founding of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN). Hensley was at the founding meeting the AFN. As chair of its land claims committee, he actively lobbied Congress for passage of ANCSA. Also in 1966 Hensley was elected as a Democrat to represent the Northwest Arctic Borough in the Alaska House of Representatives and was immediately named to chair the State of Alaska’s Land Claims Task Force. Following the settlement of Alaska Native land claims, Hensley served as president of the NANA Regional Corporation. He was also head of the AFN from 1971 to 1973 and served in the Alaska State Senate for many years. He was Alaska’s Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development from 1996 to 1997, resigning to take a job in the oil industry. Hensley, with others from the NANA region, was a founder of the social movement known as Iñupiat Ilitqusiat. See also NATIVE CORPORATIONS. HIGH ARCTIC. Imprecise term which generally refers to the most north-
60 ● HIGH ARCTIC EXILES
erly regions of the Arctic Archipelago and Greenland. Geographically, the High Arctic is characterized by thin, low vegetation in a desert-like environment. The ocean ice in the High Arctic is frozen during most of the year. HIGH ARCTIC EXILES. In 1996 the government of Canada agreed to pay C$10 million in compensation to the survivors and descendents of 11 Inuit families it had coerced into moving from northern Quebec to the High Arctic in 1953 and 1955. Opinions differ as to why the government had relocated these Inuit who have become known as the “High Arctic Exiles,” but explanations generally center on two themes: Canadian concern for its sovereignty over the arctic islands and government worry over the Nunavik Inuit’s growing dependence on government support. It is likely that both reasons are correct. Canada was insecure about its sovereignty over the Arctic Archipelago ever since it accepted the islands from Britain in 1880. In the first decades of the 20th century it sponsored numerous mapping and flagraising excursions into the Arctic. It protested to the Danish government about Inughuit hunting on Ellesmere Island in the 1920s. The arctic islands took on new strategic importance during the Cold War as the United States announced plans to build weather-monitoring stations on Canadian Territory. Canada may have believed that it needed permanent, active settlements in the far North if it was to protect its claim to the arctic islands. Also in the period following World War II, arctic administrators became concerned that the Inuit in certain regions were becoming overly dependent on government support. Some local administrators attempted to prevent Inuit without jobs from settling near trading posts, missions, and police posts for fear that they would lose the ability to support themselves from hunting and trapping. The “problem” seemed especially severe in northern Quebec, and officials decided to transfer several families from Inukjuak, some 2,000 kilometers to the north, to what became the towns of Grise Fjord and Resolute, Nunavut. It also transferred a few families from nearby Pond Inlet ostensibly to help the southern families adjust to the extreme geographic and climatic differences between the two regions. The move occurred in two waves. Seven Inukjuak and three Pond Inlet families were relocated in 1953. In 1955 four more families came from Inukjuak and three more moved from Pond Inlet. Although the Pond Inlet families may have been willing migrants, the Nunavik Inuit who testified to the Canadian Parliament in 1990 and before the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1994 stated
HOPSON, ALFRED SR. ● 61
emphatically that they had been coerced into leaving their homes and extended families in northern Quebec. They also testified that officials of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) had assured them that if they were unhappy they would be permitted to return to Nunavik within two years. However, when they asked to return south, the request was refused. By all indications the Nunavik Inuit were ill prepared for the conditions in the High Arctic. The snowhouses they built were inadequate for the much harsher climate, and interactions between them and the families from Pond Inlet were strained by social and language differences. Furthermore, the support promised by government administrators was almost nonexistent at first. Between 1970 and 1986 six families returned to Nunavik at their own expense. In 1978, Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) and Makivik Corporation began pressing the government for compensation and an apology. This resulted eventually in DIAND agreeing to finance the move for those Inuit who wished to relocate. Twenty-two Inuit agreed. Only after the matter received a full public airing before the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples did the government finally agree to compensate the relocatees and their families for their suffering. See also GORDON, MARK R.; IDLOUT, JOSEPH; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH; RELOCATIONS, FORCED. HINGITAQ ’53. Body formed to pursue compensation and redress for the surviving Inughuit relocated from Uummannaq in 1953 to make way for the expansion of Thule Air Force Base. The group filed suit in Denmark in 2002 demanding the right to return to their ancestral home. In December 2003 the Danish Supreme Court ruled that the monetary compensation awarded the group in 1999 was sufficient compensation and the group was not entitled to reclaim their ancestral lands. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH; RELOCATIONS, FORCED. HOME RULE STATUS OF GREENLAND. See GREENLAND, HOME RULE. HOOTCH VERSUS ALASKA STATE-OPERATED SCHOOL SYSTEM. See MOLLY HOOTCH CASE. HOPSON, ALFRED SR. The father of Eben Hopson. Alfred Hopson Sr. was son of Fred Hopson, a white whaler from Liverpool, England and
62 ● Hopson, Eben
an Iñupiaq mother from Point Hope. He was employed as an interpreter and guide for the Southern Party of the Canadian Arctic Expedition for approximately six months in 1913-1914. HOPSON, EBEN (1922-1980). Iñupiaq political leader. Hopson is credited with founding the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) in 1977. As then mayor of Alaska’s North Slope Borough (NSB), Hopson invited Inuit leaders in Greenland, Canada, the United States, and the Soviet Union to the organizing meeting at Barrow. Hopson’s political career began early. After serving on the Barrow city council, he was elected to the Alaska Territorial Legislature in 1956, and was reelected to the first Alaska State Senate. He remained there until 1965. He later served as the special assistant for Native affairs to Alaska Governor William Egan. A disagreement with Egan over the slow pace of rural development led Hopson to challenge Egan in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1974, but Hopson later withdrew after reaching an accord with Egan. Hopson was instrumental in the establishment of the North Slope Borough and in the organization of the Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA). He served twice as executive director of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), and participated in negotiations for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). As a teenager, Hopson was denied the opportunity to attend high school after protesting the mistreatment of students in Barrow. As mayor of the NSB he actively promoted Iñupiat control of education. See also LAND CLAIMS; SELF-GOVERNMENT. HUNTING. See DUCK-IN; SUBSISTENCE; WHALING. HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT. The traditional Inuit lands contain commercial quantities of several mineral resources which have at various times been subject to development. These mineral resources include zinc, lead, nickel, and most notably, oil and gas. Efforts to develop arctic oil and gas led to significant political, social, and economic changes in Inuit communities in the second half of the 20th century. Non-Natives first became aware of the presence of petroleum in the North in the late 18th century. Hudson’s Bay Company fur trader and explorer Alexander Mackenzie observed petroleum seeps near Fort Norman during his explorations of the Mackenzie River, but it was more than a hundred years before arctic oil was more than a passing note in an explorer’s journal. The U.S. government designated the Iñupiat-occupied North Slope of Alaska as Petroleum Reserve #4 in 1923, but made no attempts then to extract any oil. The first serious ef-
HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT ● 63
forts at petroleum removal from the North occurred during World War II when the U.S. Army built the CANOL (Canadian Oil) pipeline to move Mackenzie River Valley oil from Canada for military use. The war ended in 1945, and the CANOL pipeline was abandoned only a year after its completion. Nonetheless, the experience proved that oil could be moved via pipeline from distant and climatically severe regions. Arctic petroleum exploration began in earnest after World War II without consultation with or permission from Inuit. In December 1968 significant quantities of oil were discovered at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska. During the same period Alaska Natives had begun to make their case for land claims, and had succeeded in getting the U.S. secretary of the interior to freeze land transfers from the federal government to the State of Alaska. The State of Alaska nonetheless went ahead with a lease sale of North Slope oil in September 1969, which was protested by Charlie Edwardsen Jr. and other North Slope Iñupiat. Significantly, the unsettled aboriginal claims stood in the way of developing the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and especially of construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The oil companies thus proved to be important allies of Alaska Natives at least in the settlement of land claims. On other matters, particularly the creation of the North Slope Borough (NSB) and its financing through taxes on petroleum installations, the oil companies fought Alaska Natives. In Canada, too, oil and gas exploration picked up after World War II, but only small quantities of oil and gas were discovered in the Arctic Archipelago and in the Beaufort-Mackenzie Region. With the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay, exploration intensified, leading to the discovery of commercial quantities of natural gas near Inuvialuit communities in the Mackenzie Delta in the early 1970s. Various proposals to build a pipeline were made, but none were built. This was largely due to efforts of Justice Thomas Berger and the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry. As in Alaska, however, pressure to develop nonrenewable resources helped pushed the settlement of indigenous land claims. The settlement of land claims and the creation of Native corporations presented opportunities for Inuit to reap financial benefits from hydrocarbon development. Some of this has come in the form of jobs, but most of the financial benefits to Inuit have come from Native corporation investments in hydrocarbon development and support services or from royalties. Consequently, in recent years Inuit have strongly supported the expansion of hydrocarbon development in their territo-
64 ● Idlout, Joseph
ries, and have tended to minimize assessments of environmental damage caused by development. Inuit have, however, consistently opposed offshore oil extraction, and opposition to Beaufort Sea oil platforms was a major impetus for the establishment of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). It should also be remembered that Alutiiq communities bore much of the impact of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Hydrocarbon development in the Inuit Circumpolar North has altered both the economic and the political life in Inuit communities. Governmental desire to develop hydrocarbon resources led to the settlement of land claims, which in turn provided Inuit leaders with the financial and political means to direct change in their communities. New forms of leadership and political organization have developed in the North and communities have moved away from (though have not completely abandoned) traditional subsistence economies. See also ARCTIC SLOPE NATIVE ASSOCIATION; GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK; INUVIALUIT REGIONAL CORPORATION; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS; WHALING.
-I-
IDLOUT, JOSEPH (? -1968). Star of the 1952 film by Doug Wilkinson, Land of the Long Day, Idlout epitomized the tough, resourceful, and heroic Inuit hunter. He was pictured on a Canadian $2 bill using a still photograph from the film. Idlout has since come to epitomize the tragedy of Inuit attracted to a modern lifestyle, but unable to adapt socially or psychologically. Idlout’s personal distress was depicted in the documentary Between Two Worlds made in 1990 by Barry Greenwald. Originally from north Baffin Island, Idlout was part of the second wave of Inuit from the Pond Inlet area who were relocated by the Canadian government to Resolute Bay in 1955. They joined other Inuit, sometimes referred to as the High Arctic Exiles, previously relocated to this High Arctic post from Inukjuak and Pond Inlet. See also HEALTH. IGLOLIORTE, JAMES (1949- ). Newfoundland and Labrador provincial court judge for Labrador. Originally from Hopedale, Labrador, Igloliorte was called to the bar in 1985. In his judicial rulings, Igloliorte has
IIT ● 65
sometime sparked controversy because he has paid special attention to the cultural concerns of indigenous peoples. Prior to becoming a judge, Igloliorte taught school in Lark Harbour. He is a member of the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA), and in 1986 was a member of their land claims negotiations team. In 2002, Igloliorte was named as one of three members of the province’s Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our [Newfoundland and Labrador’s] Place in Canada. IGLOO. See SNOWHOUSE. IGLOOLIK ISUMA PRODUCTIONS. Independent Inuit video production company located in Igloolik, Nunavut. Igloolik Isuma Productions was established in 1985 by Zacharias Kunuk, Paul Apak, Norman Cohn, and Pauloosie Qulitalik. Igloolik Isuma, which is best known for its award-winning and internationally acclaimed feature film, Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), has an extensive list of credits. Its work is produced by northerners for northerners. All of the actors and many of the technical crew are residents of Igloolik. Igloolik Isuma’s productions frequently employ a dramatic device the filmmakers refer to as “living fictionalizations” in which scenes are largely improvised and are from historicized but real situations. For example, its 13-part Nunavut dramatic series portrayed the lives of five families living in 1945. Rather than simply following a script, the actors adopted the lives of their characters for the period of the filming. Kunuk has suggested that this method of historical dramatization supports the maintenance of Inuit values and social relations. See also ATIQ; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. IGLU. See SNOWHOUSE. IIT. Contemporary ethnonym of the most easterly group of Inuit. Previously known by various names, including Ammassalik, tunumiut meaning “inhabitants of the back side” in Kalaallisut, and simply East Greenlanders, the Iit came into sustained contact with Danish colonial administrators, missionaries, and traders only after 1884. The Iit’s traditional lands in east Greenland have a narrow, rocky, and at places glaciated coastline that along with difficult sea ice conditions helped isolate the East Greenlanders physically. Much more significant, however, were colonial administrative practices that served to isolate the Iit socially and politically, and continue, even with Home Rule, to identify East Greenlanders as ethnically and culturally distinct from Greenland’s Kalaallit majority. Denmark created a separate co-
66 ● INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
lonial administration for east Greenland and attempted to prevent direct contact between the two colonies. Danish authorities attempted to limit trade goods to “necessities” only, and instructed the local administrator to prevent people from selling skins and other subsistence products that might be needed for domestic consumption. Unfortunately, these protectionist and paternalistic policies had the effect of defining the Iit as “primitive.” Prior to 1900 there were settlements all along Greenland’s east coast, and it is probable that the Iit were not nearly as isolated as generally imagined. There is, in fact, evidence that the mostly southerly groups were in contact with people in the settlements of southwest Greenland. Historically, and until about 1920, the Iit built sod and stone longhouses. This form of architecture, along with some distinctive cultural traits, has led some scholars to suggest that the Iit are the modern descendents of Dorset Eskimos or Tuniit. This is, however, unlikely. The Iit dialect of Inuktitut is very similar to that spoken in Upernavik in west Greenland, and it is probable that Iit ancestors reached east Greenland by traveling north from Upernavik around the top of Greenland sometime after the Thule Eskimo expansion, but prior to the establishment of Inughuit culture in northwest Greenland. Iit remain in only two regions of east Greenland: Tasiilaq (2003 pop. c.3,000) and Ittoqqortoormiit (c.500). The latter was settled in 1925 by migrants from Tasiilaq. The migrants found improved hunting conditions. There had been Inuit living along the northeast coast of Greenland, but they appear to have moved away or died out sometime after their one and only encounter with Europeans in 1823. Iit who lived and hunted along the southeast coast relocated to communities in southwest Greenland around 1887. Subsistence hunting for sea mammals remains a mainstay of the economy and social life in east Greenland. Adventure tourism, the fur trade, and arts production have allowed Iit in east Greenland to participate in the cash economy, but commercial fishing such as exists in west Greenland is virtually absent. See also KALAALLIT NUNAAT; TUPILAK. INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE. Also known as local knowledge or traditional knowledge, indigenous knowledge is a system of knowledge which acknowledges the integration of moral and spiritual beliefs with action. Indigenous environmental knowledge comes from long-term, close observation and interaction with one’s environment such as occurs with subsistence hunting. It is a political as well as a cultural concept. Often posed in opposition to supposedly rational technoscien-
INUGHUIT ● 67
tific knowledge, indigenous knowledge is presented as Inuit (and other indigenous peoples’) specific ways of knowing about, interacting with, and safeguarding their environments. Inuit indigenous knowledge, like other knowledge, is learned through practice and observation. It is also transmitted orally through stories, myths, and legends. Inuit indigenous knowledge attributes sentience and intentionality to the natural world, and requires that people behave respectfully toward animals and toward other people. For example, animals are said to give themselves to hunters who share with others. Thus, the application of indigenous knowledge promotes social integration of Inuit communities. Indigenous knowledge is more than a moral code. In the contemporary world, Inuit have demanded the acceptance of indigenous knowledge as part of wildlife management and environmental regulation. The Arctic Council and several national scientific bodies have given official recognition to the scientific and social validity of indigenous knowledge. See also CLIMATE CHANGE; INUIT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS STRATEGY; INUIT QAUJIMAJATUQANGIT; IÑUPIAT ILITQUSIAT; KAWAGLEY, ANGAYUQAQ OSCAR; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS; SELF-GOVERNMENT; WHALING; YUA. INDIGENOUS RIGHTS. See ABORIGINAL RIGHTS. INUA. See YUA. INUGHUIT. Contemporary ethnonym of the most northerly group of Inuit. Also known at the Smith Sound Inuit or the Polar Inuit, the Inughuit locate their traditional homeland in northwest Greenland. Like other contemporary Inuit populations, the Inughuit are likely descended from the Thule Eskimos who spread across the North American Arctic around AD 1000, and the first recognized Thule tradition archeological site is at Uummannaq in northwest Greenland. The Inughuit homeland is often referred to as the Thule Region. The Thule era was characterized by a relatively warm climate, and there is archeological evidence of extensive contact between Inuit in different regions from that period. Climate change in the 17th century toward dramatically cooler temperatures cut off some travel routes and isolated this northerly group of people, and thus seems to have created conditions in which the Inughuit became a separate and distinct population with unique language, customs, and dress. European explorers, who first encountered
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them in 1818, claimed that the Inughuit believed that they were the only people in the world. While this may or may not be true, the Inughuit were indeed isolated. This seems to have occurred, in large part, because they had lost the ability to make several important items of material culture, such as the kayak and the umiak, making travel beyond their immediate region impossible given the difficult ice conditions. In the mid-19th century a group of Baffin Inuit, led by Qillaq, visited and lived among the Inughuit, reintroducing several valuable subsistence technologies including boats, the bow and arrow, and the fishing leister. The Inughuit provided the Baffin Inuit with a more suitable sled technology. The Inughuit had extensive contact with European and American explorers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the North Pole searchers Robert E. Peary and Frederick Cook both employed Inughuit guides. In fact, four Inughuit men, Iggianguaq, Odaq, Sigluk, and Ukkujaaq, are pictured in Peary’s famous photograph at the North Pole. The encounters with explorers radically changed Inughuit life, introducing diseases and leaving them dependent upon imported trade goods. In 1910 Greenlander and anthropologist Knud Rasmussen established a trading post at Uummannaq, and purposively worked to modernize Inughuit society. Missionaries arrived around the same time. Rasmussen established a governing hunter’s council for the Inughuit in 1927. Despite these important changes, the Inughuit remained largely isolated from the nation-building processes that had united Inuit in south and west Greenland as Kalaallit or Greenlanders. Contrary to official Greenland rhetoric, the Inughuit remain an ethically distinct population. The Cold War had dramatic consequences for the Inughuit. In the 1950s the United States established an Air Force Base near Uummannaq, forcing the Inughuit residents to move 116 kilometers north to Qaanaaq. The move was socially and culturally devastating. See also CAPE YORK METEORITES; HENDRIK, HANS; HINGITAQ ’53; KALAALLIT NUNAAT; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH; MINIK; RELOCATIONS, FORCED. INUINNAIT. Contemporary ethnonym of Inuit of the central Canadian Arctic. Early ethnographic works identify the Inuinnait as Copper Inuit or Copper Eskimos because of their use of hammered copper for some tools. A primary distinguishing trait of Inuinnait today is their use of a
INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION ● 69
Roman orthography rather than syllabics to write their dialect of Inuktitut. INUIT ATAQATIGIIT (IA). Leftist, anticolonial Greenlandic political party. Meaning “Human fellowship,” Inuit Ataqatigiit began as a political movement in 1977, with the goal of obtaining full independence for Greenland. Headed by Aqqaluk Lynge, it urged a “no” vote on Home Rule for Greenland in 1979, arguing that Home Rule was a continuation of colonialism. IA has also favored Greenland’s withdrawal from the European Economic Community (European Union). More recently, IA has been extremely vocal in its opposition to the U.S. plan to extend its National Missile Defense plan into Greenland. See also GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH. INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION (IBC). The first aboriginal television network. The IBC was created by Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) in 1981 with funding provided by the Canadian government. The creation of the IBC followed the successful Inukshuk Project, and came about as the result of Canadian Inuit concerns over the cultural imperialism that non-Native television programming posed. The IBC aired its first program at midnight on January 11, 1982 with a satellite broadcast to 26 communities. A few weeks later it broadcast a debate concerning the upcoming plebiscite to divide the Northwest Territories. The IBC has faced several crises throughout its history. Though initially funded by the Canadian government, that funding was drastically reduced in 1990 and again in 1996. Also, initially the IBC was forced to share satellite space, and therefore broadcasting time, with the much larger and more powerful Northern Service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Consequently, IBC was left with the least desirable time slots. The IBC repeatedly protested this form of censorship, and its president, Josepi Padlayat, boycotted the August 1982 launch of the Anik-D satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The time slot problem was not remedied until 1992 when the IBC and five other aboriginal broadcasters who had formed Television Northern Canada (TVNC) two years earlier began broadcasting via their own dedicated satellite uplink. In 1999 TVNC became the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and is now included in cable television packages throughout Canada. The IBC produces original programming in Inuktitut, and has actively resisted creating English-language programming. Its public af-
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fairs broadcasts are an important forum for information exchange and debate in northern communities. The IBC also produces several popular children’s programs. One, Super Shamou, features an Inuit superhero. Another, Takuginai (Look Here), is a Sesame Street-style puppet show in which the characters impart lessons on proper behavior from an Inuit point of view. The IBC also produced the English-language film Starting Fire with Gunpowder (1991) about its own goals, programming, and the 1990 funding crisis faced by the organization. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; KALAALLITNUNAATA RADIOA. INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR CONFERENCE (ICC). Pan-Inuit organization. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference is the international, nongovernmental political and cultural voice for the Inuit peoples of Greenland (Denmark), Canada, the United States, and Russia. Thus, it represents all of the indigenous peoples whose ancestral language is recognized as part of the Eskaleut language family. These are the Inuit, Yupik, Alutiiq, and Aleut peoples in the four nations. However, it was only in 1989 that the government of the Soviet Union permitted Chukotkan delegates to participate in the ICC. In 2002 the membership was about 150,000 people. The late Eben Hopson is credited with creating the ICC, and the organization was founded in June 1977 in Barrow, Alaska. Following the settlement of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), Hopson and other North Slope Iñupiat turned their attention to other pressing issues including the threat to whaling posed by offshore hydrocarbon development. Significantly, Arctic environmental protection, sustainable development, and subsistence continue to be primary concerns of the ICC. In 1983, the ICC established the Alaska Native Review Commission (ANRC) to examine the impacts of the ANCSA. The organization gained nongovernmental status at the United Nations in 1983, is an official observer organization within the Arctic Council, and is very active in the international movement for indigenous rights. Over the years the organization has become an effective international voice for aboriginal rights, generally, and Inuit cultural survival in particular. ICC convenes a General Assembly once every four years. See also ARCTIC PEOPLES CONFERENCE; INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE; INUIT REGIONAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY; WRITING SYSTEMS. INUIT COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL ISSUES (ICNI). Political organization created by Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) in 1979 to repre-
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sent the views of Inuit on Canadian constitutional and other national issues. Of primary concern, at that time, was the failure of constitutional or other legal recognition of aboriginal rights. Zebedee Nungak, John Amagoalik, Charlie Watt, and Mark R. Gordon were all members of the ICNI. The issue of aboriginal rights within Canada was brought to a head in the 1970s with the first attempt to “patriate” the British North America Act and thus close off British legislative authority in its former colony. The resulting 1982 Constitution Act recognized aboriginal rights, but failed to specify them in detail. The Quebec government, however, refused to ratify the Constitution on the grounds that it did not protect francophone cultural rights. An agreement known as the 1987 Meech Lake Accord named francophone Quebec as a “distinct society” with certain self-governance rights within Canada. Inuit and other Native Canadians objected to the Meech Lake Accord because no similar guarantees were given to their distinct cultures. If adopted as part of the Canadian Constitution, the Meech Lake Accord would have precluded the creation of new largely aboriginal provinces in Canada. The aboriginal rights issue contributed to the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord. A subsequent agreement, known as the Charlottetown Accord of 1992, attempted to balance Québécois and Native demands for self-government within a federalist state. It was defeated in a national referendum. Political discussions over constitutional patriation and the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords contributed to a national reevaluation of the concept of aboriginal rights and self-government. Partly as a result of the efforts of the ICNI, aboriginal rights are now constitutionally entrenched as Section 35 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 1994 the Government of Canada announced that it would proceed on the assumption that constitutional recognition of aboriginal rights entailed an inherent right to self-government. The creation of the Nunavut Territory with a population that is 85 percent Inuit was meant to accomplish self-government for Inuit in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Inuit in other parts of Canada have also moved ahead in selfgovernment negotiations with Canada. INUIT CULTURAL INSTITUTE (ICI). Language and cultural research center established in 1973 by Inuit Tapirisat of Canada to develop programs to promote the study of Inuit culture and history. ICI projects have included the standardization of Inuktitut writing systems, elders’ conferences, and the publication of elders’ memoirs. The ICI is lo-
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cated in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. INUIT OKANGIT INUMGUN. See INUVIALUIT COMMUNICATIONS SOCIETY. INUIT QAUJIMAJATUQANGIT (IQ). Often translated as “the wisdom of the Inuit,” Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is both an epistemology and social program to incorporate specifically Inuit values and indigenous knowledge into the practices of governance in Nunavut. In both respects, IQ bears similarities to Iñupiat Ilitqusiat. IQ depends upon oral traditions and encompasses the totality of Inuit culture including worldview, language, social organization, knowledge, life skills, perceptions, and expectations. As understood by Nunavut’s Department of Social Development, the entity charged with promoting the incorporation of IQ in territorial institutions, IQ consists of several guiding principles: service, consensus decision-making, learning, cooperation, and environmental stewardship. The Nunavut Territorial Assembly’s practice of legislating by consensus rather than by majority vote is one example of the incorporation of Inuit values into the practice of governance. INUIT REGIONAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY (IRCS). Policy initiative adopted in 1986 by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) to address related issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Circumpolar North. The IRCS was created by Inuit and originated from the concerns of Inuit. At the same time, it was the world’s first regional conservation strategy. The policy initiative contains both an action plan and a mechanism for capacitybuilding among northern indigenous peoples. The primary goals of the plan are to protect Inuit cultural and subsistence resources while encouraging Inuit participation in and control over sustainable development in the Inuit circumpolar region. The IRCS was instrumental in promoting recognition of indigenous knowledge in the formation of environmental policy and in the conduct of environmental management. In 1988 the IRCS was awarded a Global 500 Award from the United Nations Environmental Programme. See also ARCTIC COUNCIL; CLIMATE CHANGE; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. INUIT TAPIRIIT KANATAMI (ITK). Cultural and political umbrella organization for the Inuit of Canada. Formerly Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, ITK changed its name in 2001. The new name Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami means “Inuit united in Canada” in Inuktitut. It reflects ITK’s
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emergent political perspective of Canadian Inuit as full participants in a multicultural Canada. According to ITK’s 2002 Annual Report and other publications, Inuit are not just “First Canadians,” but are also “Canadians First.” Inuit Tapirisat of Canada was founded in Ottawa in August 1971 in order to pursue Inuit land claims and other aboriginal rights in Canada. Its core funding, like that of other indigenous rights organizations, was and continues to be provided by the Canadian government. Tagak Curley, who had represented Inuit on the Indian and Eskimo Association, became the first president of the organization. ITK’s membership and mandate has evolved over time, especially as the last of the Canadian Inuit land claims appears to have been settled. Twenty-six years after filing a claim, the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA) reached a land claims settlement with the governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador in 2002. ITK’s membership includes all of the regional Inuit organizations in Canada (i.e., Makivik Corporation, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Labrador Inuit Association, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.) as well as Pauktuutit, the Inuit women’s association, Inuit Circumpolar Conference-Canada, and the National Inuit Youth Council. ITK is also involved in the promotion of Inuit cultural activities, establishing the Inuit Cultural Institute in Rankin Inlet, in 1973. ITK published Inuit Today, a magazine devoted to Inuit political and cultural concerns, in the 1970s and early 1980s, and in 1989 took over the publication of Inuktitut from Canada's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The Nunavut Land Claim settlement, signed in 1993, is one of ITK’s most significant accomplishments. Inuit Tapirisat made an initial proposal to settle the land claims for all the Inuit living in the Northwest Territories in 1976, but withdrew it later that year largely over issues related to self-government. Consequently, the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement, the precursor to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC), withdrew from Inuit Tapirisat in order to pursue its own, separate land claim settlement. IRC later rejoined Inuit Tapirisat. See also KUSUGAK, JOSE; NUNAVUT TERRITORY. INUIT TAPIRISAT OF CANADA. See INUIT TAPIRIIT KANATAMI. INUK. Singular form of Inuit; refers to a single Inuit person. See also YUK. INUKSHUK. Type of stone marker, many of which are roughly human
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shape, found throughout Arctic Canada. Inuksuit (pl.) are both archeological monuments of human occupation and navigation aids. It is likely that many of the earliest Inuksuit were constructed by Dorset period Eskimos, and served as fences to direct caribou into the paths of waiting hunters. Contemporary Canadian Inuit continue to construct Inuksuit as markers and as monuments, and in the late 20th century the inukshuk became an iconic Inuit symbol. The Nunavut Territory flag bears a rendering of an inukshuk in the form of a crucifix. Monumental Inuksuit constructed by non-Inuit in southern Canada and elsewhere have been interpreted as demonstrating Canadian national identification with the Arctic. INUKSHUK PROJECT. Northern broadcasting trial in the eastern Canadian Arctic. The Inukshuk Project, which was funded by the Canadian government, was the precursor to the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). It was the first Canadian experiment with Inuit-produced television programming, and resulted, in part, from Inuit concerns about the threat to Inuit culture posed by southern Canadian television. The Inukshuk Project run by Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) and a companion project Naalakvik II run by Taqramuit Nipingat Inc. in Nunavik began in the mid-1970s. After two years of training and facilities development in six Nunavut communities, Frobisher Bay (Iqaluit), Cambridge Bay, Baker Lake, Eskimo Point (Arviat), Igloolik, and Pond Inlet, the Inukshuk Project began broadcasting via the Anik B satellite in September 1980. The broadcasting experiment lasted for 18 months. Programming, which consisted of public affairs discussions, cultural commentaries, news, music, and community profiles, was entirely in Inuktitut. The project proved the viability of Inuit produced and managed broadcasting, and led directly to the establishment of and government funding for the IBC. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. INUKTITUT. The language of the Inuit. Linguists usually label Inuktitut as a single language distinct from the Yupik language, but within the same Eskaleut language family. Inuktitut appears to have diverged from Yupik around AD 1000 with the migration of Thule Eskimos east from Alaska. As many as 16 regional dialectics of Inuktitut continue to exist, but in recent years these have tended to follow modern political boundaries. In the precolonial era, however, there was much more dialect variation. That variation existed even within regions, so that it was possible to recognize a speaker’s place of origin from his or her speech patterns.
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Inuktitut is an agglutinative language, meaning that words are formed by the process of combining units (syllables) of meaning. One unique feature of Inuktitut is that the language forces the speaker to state his degree of certainty. For example, a speaker cannot simply declare something to have happened without also indicating whether he witnessed the event or is simply repeating hearsay. This language feature is in concert with Inuit traditional values that discourage speculating about or questioning the intentions of others. Language is a political issue for many indigenous peoples including Inuit. Early missionaries to the Inuit learned Inuktitut in order to translate the Bible, but few colonial administrators made the effort, insisting that the language was too difficult to learn. Instead, Inuit were expected to learn national languages, and most have. Stories of schoolchildren being punished for speaking their indigenous languages are well known, and are among the reasons why Inuktitut is moribund in some Inuit communities. It is also important to note that in the recent past many Inuit adults felt that their children’s prospects would be enhanced if they spoke the national or colonial language and did not purposively insist upon the retention of Inuktitut. Thus, in many parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North, Inuktitut, is no longer spoken by children, but has been replaced by national languages, especially English. Only in Greenland and in the eastern Canadian Arctic is Inuktitut still a child’s first language. As noted, until very recently schooling in most of Canada and in Alaska was conducted in English with little or no instruction in Inuktitut. With recognition of language loss have come attempts to reverse the process. In Alaska, a small number of parents have established Iñupiaq language immersion kindergartens. These have had mixed results. In Nunavut, Inuktitut is now used in the earliest elementary school grades. Only in Greenland has Kalaallisut always served as the primary language of instruction for primary school. Nonetheless, even there, higher education requires fluency in Danish and often English. Inuktitut is also threatened by the proliferation of broadcast media in English and other national languages. Recognizing this, the community of Igloolik, Nunavut refused television service until there was adequate programming in Inuktitut. See also INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; WRITING SYSTEMS. IÑUPIAQ. Singular and adjectival form of Iñupiat. Also the language of Iñupiat people.
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IÑUPIAQ LANGUAGE. A dialect of Inuktitut spoken by Iñupiat in north and northwest Alaska and on Little Diomede Island. Iñupiaq is the dialect of Inuktitut most closely related to the Yupik language. Iñupiaq continues to be widely spoken, but is considered a threatened language. IÑUPIAT. Contemporary ethnonym of the Inuit of north and northwest Alaska and the Diomede Islands. The name means “authentic” or “special human beings” in the Iñupiaq language. The majority of Iñupiat live in the Northwest Arctic and North Slope Boroughs. Iñupiat are closely related to the Inuvialuit in northwest Canada. Archeological evidence indicates that the Iñupiat region has been continuously occupied for the last 4,000 years, and roots of Iñupiaq culture can be traced archeologically from the Birnik culture through sites identified as part of the Thule tradition. Through the 19th century, the Iñupiat were organized in semipermanent villages of as many as 500 people within autonomous regions. Coastal villages depended heavily on marine mammals, including bowhead whales, while inland villages relied on caribou. Trade, particularly between inland and coastal groups, was important. Regions were distinct, independent, and often hostile to one another. Oral histories record many instances of warfare between Iñupiaq regions. As occurred throughout the Inuit Circumpolar North, enormous changes in social organization resulted from contact with non-Natives and the subsequent colonization by outsiders. Through their interactions with non-Natives and subsequent dislocations, the Iñupiaqspeaking peoples became identified as, and began to identify themselves as, a single cultural entity rather than as separate regional groups. With the exception of the Diomede Islanders, Iñupiat were mostly spared the Russian colonization of Alaska, and had their first extended encounters with non-Natives with the crews of commercial whaling ships in the mid-19th century. Whalers introduced new subsistence technologies and manufactured trade goods along with communicable diseases and alcohol. Protestant missionaries followed, especially after the United States acquired Alaska from Russia. Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Quaker churches especially remain important social institutions in Iñupiaq communities. Historically, the Iñupiaq families were headed by an umialik, literally “a boat owner.” This was a senior male, who along with his wife was expected to provide for his extended family by distributing food and dispensing wisdom. Umialit (pl.) were often politically powerful
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individuals. Sharing food, especially bowhead whale, remains both a culturally salient and economically important activity in a large number of Iñupiaq communities. In the North Slope Borough, particularly, whaling captains, like umialit of the past, are often individuals of political prominence and authority. In the post-land claims era, Iñupiaq organizations exercise a great deal of political influence in Alaska, but this was not always the case, and Iñupiat influence was gained only through determined effort. In the early 1960s Iñupiaq communities were threatened by a number of events. The U.S. Department of Energy was proposing Project Chariot, the use of Iñupiaq lands to test a nuclear device, oil companies were exploring for oil and gas, the State of Alaska was claiming title to Native-owned lands, and officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were preventing subsistence uses of some wildlife. Iñupiat leaders responded to these threats with protests and mild acts of civil disobedience as well as other forms of political organizing. They formed Iñupiat Paitot as a political organization and instigated the establishment of the Tundra Times newspaper. Iñupiat were extremely involved in the negotiations surrounding the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and were the leaders in the formation of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC). As a result of this organizing Iñupiaq communities and institutions have prospered financially from hydrocarbon development in Alaska. See also DUCK-IN; HOPSON, EBEN; IÑUPIAT ILITQUSIAT. IÑUPIAT COMMUNITY OF THE ARTIC SLOPE (ICAS). Tribal governmental entity of Alaska’s North Slope Iñupiat organized through the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1936. Unlike the Native corporations created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the IRA councils are tribal governments that have a trust relationship with the U.S. government. The ICAS was created in August 1971 to address what some Iñupiat perceived as shortcomings in the provisions of ANCSA. The ICAS has been involved in the development of a tribal court in Barrow, and has been generally perceived as a “traditional” Iñupiaq government. See also ARCTIC SLOPE REGIONAL CORPORATION; EDWARDSEN, CHARLIE JR.; NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH. IÑUPIAT ILITQUSIAT. Social movement in northwest Alaska which combines values associated with Christianity and traditional Iñupiaq culture to improve the social well-being of Iñupiat communities encompassed by the Northwest Arctic Native Association. Also known
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as the Spirit Movement of northwest Alaska, Iñupiat Ilitqusiat was created to address the spiritual and moral void that many Iñupiat and other Alaska Natives believed followed the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and the establishment of for-profit Native corporations to represent the social and political concerns of Alaska Natives. In particular, Alaska Natives were concerned about the disconnection of social life from traditional subsistence work, and saw the growing problems with substance abuse among Alaska Natives as connected to the loss of traditional values. Willie Hensley presented the first ideals of Iñupiat Ilitqusiat, which translates as “wisdom and lessons of the Iñupiaq people,” in his keynote speech at the 1980 Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) convention. The next year Hensley, along with NANA Corporation leaders John Schaeffer and Robert Newlin, and Robert Booth from the Friends Church formalized the movement, and worked to integrate it into the new institutions in the NANA region. This process included documenting the traditional geographic, subsistence, and spiritual knowledge of Iñupiaq elders. Iñupiat Ilitqusiat values, some of which were drawn from stories associated with the 19th-century Iñupiaq prophet Maniilaq, were identified to include knowing the Iñupiaq language, sharing, respect for others, cooperation, hard work, conflict avoidance, humor, responsibility, respect for subsistence hunters and animals, and trust in a higher spiritual power. Some of the concrete results of Iñupiat Ilitqusiat include the creation of a spirit camp to address subsistence abuse problems among youth, the creation of a bilingual Iñupiaq-English preschool, and the establishment of elders’ committees. Each of the major institutions in the NANA region has incorporated Iñupiat Ilitqusiat into its mission. See also HEALTH; INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE. IÑUPIAT PAITOT (PEOPLE’S HERITAGE). Iñupiaq political organization established in November 1961 in reaction to the threats to Iñupiat land and livelihood posed by resource development, Project Chariot, and the State of Alaska’s land selections. Howard Rock, founder of the Tundra Times, Guy Okalok, Martha Teeluk, Tony Joule, and Paul Tiulana were among the founders. Representing the Iñupiat on Alaska’s North Slope and Chukchi Sea regions, Iñupiat Paitot was one of several grassroots political organizations established by Alaska Natives in the early 1960s. In 1963 Iñupiat Paitot developed a loose association with the Alaska Native Brotherhood, and the Tanana Chiefs. This association was a precursor to the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN).
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INUTTITUT. Variant spelling of Inuktitut, generally used to refer to the Inuit language spoken in Nunavik and Labrador. INUVIALUIT. Ethnonym for the Inuit of the Northwest Territories of Canada. Inuvialuit, who are descendents of Mackenzie Delta Inuit and Inuinnait, Iñupiat from north Alaska, and nonindigenous trappers and traders, came about as a distinct group through a series of economic and social transformations and migrations which occurred from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. Archeological evidence indicates that human occupation of the Mackenzie River delta region and western Arctic Archipelago extends back approximately 4,000 years. The ancestors of modern Inuit probably entered the Mackenzie region from Alaska around AD 1000. Although there were occasional hostilities between the coast-dwelling Inuit and the forest-dwelling Indians, Mackenzie Inuit remained relatively undisturbed until the arrival of commercial whalers toward the end of the 19th century. The whalers, who used Herschel Island as a supply station, brought diseases, alcohol, and new patterns of consumption to the Mackenzie Inuit. This led to the devastation of the indigenous Mackenzie Inuit and the arrival of migrants from north Alaska. The end of commercial whaling in the first decades of the 20th century created a new set of migrations and economic transformations, and both former whalers and Inuit turned to fur trapping and trading. Additionally, many of the non-Native men married Inuit women. The early decades of the 20th century were an era of trapping prosperity and many trappers were able to purchase schooners, which allowed them to expand their trapping range as well as to ferry goods for commercial traders. A number of these trapper/traders began wintering on Banks and Victoria Islands. At the latter they encountered and intermarried with Inuinnait. The Inuvialuit identity emerged in the process of economic transformation, migration, and intermarriage. By the end of the 1960s Inuvialuit had moved from seasonal trapping camps to six permanent government-created towns. The land claims negotiations of the 1970s and 1980s solidified the understanding of Inuvialuit as a distinct group of Canadian Inuit, and the Inuvialuit, represented by the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) settled its land claim with the government of Canada in 1984. The subsequent settlement of the Nunavut land claim and the 1999 division of the Northwest Territories served to further mark the distinctiveness of Inuvialuit vis-à-vis other Canadian Inuit. Inuvialuit communities chose not to become part of the
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Nunavut Territory. See also COURNOYEA, NELLIE; INUVIALUIT FINAL AGREEMENT; INUVIALUIT SETTLEMENT REGION. INUVIALUIT COMMUNICATIONS SOCIETY (ICS). Founded in 1976 as Inuit Okangit Inumgun and reorganized as the ICS in 1984. Based in Inuvik, the ICS publishes the newspaper Tusaayaksat in English and Inuvialuktun, and produces limited television programming in English and Inuvialuktun which is broadcast via Television Northern Canada. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. INUVIALUIT FINAL AGREEMENT (IFA). Land claims agreement signed in 1984 between the Canadian federal government and the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE). The IFA settled the land claims of the Inuvialuit and established structures and mechanisms for Inuvialuit participation in the political and economic development of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR). In exchange for relinquishing aboriginal title to their traditional territories, the Inuvialuit received cash compensation of C$152,000 paid over a 14-year period and title to 91,000 square kilometers of land. The last payment was received in 1997. The lands, which were selected on the basis of demonstrated historical use, are of two types referred to as 7(1)a and 7(1)b. The Inuvialuit hold both surface and subsurface rights on the 7(1)a lands, which comprise approximately 11,000 square kilometers. The 7(1)a lands are adjacent to the six Inuvialuit communities. The Inuvialuit hold only surface rights on the larger 7(1)b lands, but have considerable power to influence resource development on them. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC), the successor to COPE, manages the lands and cash settlement, and through its subsidiaries is involved in business creation and resource development in the ISR. The agreement also established community corporations. Unlike the later Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the IFA did not specifically provide for Inuvialuit self-government. It did, however, provide for Inuvialuit participation in the co-management of resources and government services, and permitted the Inuvialuit to join with the neighboring Gwich’n Indians to negotiate a form of limited indigenous selfgovernment. See also MACKENZIE VALLEY PIPELINE INQUIRY. INUVIALUIT REGIONAL CORPORATION (IRC). Financial, cultural, and political organ of the Inuvialuit. IRC is the successor to the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE), which negotiated the settlement of Inuvialuit land claims with the government of Canada. Following the corporate model established with the Alaska
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Native Claims Settlement Act, IRC was created in 1984 to receive the lands and financial compensation achieved through the settlement of the land claims of the Inuit of the six communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. IRC, which is headquartered in Inuvik, is charged with safeguarding the landholdings and investing the settlement monies to provide income to its beneficiaries. It has done the latter through the provision of dividends and by promoting job creation. IRC is also charged with preserving and promoting Inuvialuit culture and values, a goal which sometimes seems at odds with its economic development mission. IRC has a number of subsidiaries. These include business corporations such as the Inuvialuit Land Corporation, the Inuvialuit Development Corporation (IDC), the Inuvialuit Petroleum Corporation, and the Inuvialuit Investment Corporation, as well as a social development division. In addition, IRC encompasses community corporations from each of the six Inuvialuit communities. Collectively these comprise the Inuvialuit Corporate Group. Through IDC, IRC has invested in a number of businesses of direct interest to its beneficiaries and other northern residents. These include regional airlines, northern shipping firms, and a construction and pollution abatement company. Several of these are held in partnership with the Nunasi Corporation created by the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Additionally, the petroleum subsidiary was created to direct IRC’s participation in hydrocarbon development in the Beaufort-Mackenzie region. IRC has a number of quasi-governmental functions in addition to its mandates for economic development and Inuvialuit cultural preservation. Through IRC, Inuvialuit serve on a number of co-management boards. These include the boards charged with the administration of regional health care and education as well as those geared toward wildlife management and environmental protection. See also COURNOYEA, NELLIE; NATIVE CORPORATIONS. INUVIALUIT SETTLEMENT REGION (ISR). Political designation of the 435,000-square-kilometer territory defined through land claims negotiations as the traditional lands of the Inuvialuit people. The ISR was created in 1984 by the signing of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, and the designation refers to the historical and ongoing occupation of the region by the group of Canadian Inuit who call themselves Inuvialuit. The ISR is located mostly above the treeline, and includes portions of the Yukon and Northwest Territories (NWT), although the six communities in the ISR are all located within the NWT. The six communi-
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ties, Aklavik, Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, and Holman, also have local public governments. As residents and citizens of the NWT, the Inuvialuit are subject to and participate in the governmental structures of Canada and the NWT. However, during the 1990s the Inuvialuit along with the neighboring Gwich’n Indians entered into negotiations with the governments of the NWT and Canada for aboriginal self-government. As part of the 1984 land claims settlement, the Inuvialuit, through the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC), became full partners with government agencies in the management of wildlife, other environmental resources, and social services within the ISR. Several Inuvialuit co-management bodies were established for this purpose, and each Inuvialuit community nominates members to participate on these boards. The ISR has abundant wildlife, including beluga and bowhead whales, musk ox, ring seals, polar bears, bearded seals, arctic char, whitefish, caribou, arctic fox, and moose. Herschel Island, near the Alaska border, was used as a commercial whaling station from the 1880s to the first decades of the 20th century. Sales of sealskins and fox furs were important cash-generating resources for Inuvialuit at various times. The region, however, also contains proven commercial quantities of petroleum, natural gas, zinc, and nickel, and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is involved in the development of these nonrenewable resources. See also HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT. INUVIALUK. An Inuvialuit person. INUVIALUKTUN. Inuktitut dialects spoken by the Inuvialuit. There are three local variants of Inuvialuktun labeled Siglirmiutun, Uummarmiutun, and Kangiryuarmiutun. All three dialects of the language are moribund. IPELLIE, ALOOTOOK (1951- ). Cartoonist, essayist, artist, and poet. Born in a hunting camp near Iqaluit, Ipellie attended school in Iqaluit and later in Ottawa. His essays and artwork reflect the conflicts and tensions experienced by Inuit in the latter part of the 20th century. A significant portion of Ipellie’s work is satirical, and he lampoons northern whites, government administrators, and Inuit who are too quick to follow their lead. He drew the cartoon strip Ice Box featuring Mamanook, Papanook, Nanook, and the poet Brother Bones. As a staff writer for Inuit Today, Ipellie published a satirical response to the separatist movement in Quebec entitled “N.W.T. Separates from Canada” in
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1977. Other work, such as the serialized story “Jonnilie and the Kakiak Family” also published in Inuit Today about an adolescent’s pain caused by alcohol abuse, is semiautobiographical. Ipellie’s best-known work may be Arctic Dreams and Nightmares (1993) a collection of 20 short stories in which he combines traditional and modern themes. The stories are based on a set of Ipellie’s pen and ink drawings exhibited at the 1989 meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) in Sisimiut, Greenland. Ipellie has been editor of Inuit Today, coordinator of the Baffin Writers’ Project, and a columnist for Nunatsiaq News. See also ARTS; LITERATURE; QUEBEC SECESSION FROM CANADA. IPIRVIK (“JOE”). Assistant to a variety of 19th-century Arctic explorers and whaling crews. Ipirvik, along with his wife Taqulittuq, is best remembered for the work he did with American explorer Charles Francis Hall. The pair, whom Hall called Ebierbing and Tookoolito, is described in Hall’s expedition memoir Life with the Esquimaux. Ipirvik and Taqulittuq were already well known for their navigation and interpretation skills when Hall contracted with them for their services in 1860. The couple accompanied Hall to the United States following his first expedition and joined him at speaking engagements. They remained in Hall’s employ until Hall’s death in 1871 during his third expedition. Ipirvik, Taqulittuq, and their daughter were among the group of Polaris survivors who drifted for seven months on an ice floe in Davis Strait. In that incident, Ipirvik and Greenlander Hans Hendrik are widely credited with keeping the party alive by hunting seals for food and fuel until they were rescued off the coast of Newfoundland. Ipirvik, Taqulittuq, and their daughter then settled in New England where Ipirvik appears to have held a several jobs including that of farmer and fisherman. He remained in demand for exploratory expeditions and traveled north with both Allen Young and Frederick Schwatka. After Taqulittuq’s and their daughter’s deaths Ipirvik returned to the Arctic where he remained until his death. IQ. See INUIT QAUJIMAJATUQANGIT. IRNIQ, PETER (1947- ). Writer, politician, and cultural activist. Born near Repulse Bay, Nunavut, Irniq is part of the generation of Canadian Inuit educated at boarding schools. The experience helped hone his rhetorical skills and political sensibilities. Irniq writes nostalgically
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about Inuit camp life, and he often reflects upon traditional Inuit cultural values and the material changes associated with contemporary Inuit communities. He contributed several chapters to The Nunavut Handbook. His cultural activism extends to the spelling of his own name, which he changed from the government-imposed “Ernerk” to the linguistically appropriate “Irniq.” Irniq served as an executive member and member of the legislative assembly of the Northwest Territories from 1975 to 1991. He also directed the Inuit Cultural Institute (ICI) in Rankin Inlet, directed the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN), and was deputy minister of Nunavut’s Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. On April 1, 2000 Irniq became the second commissioner of the new Nunavut Territory. See also PROJECT SURNAME; WRITING SYSTEMS. ISUMATAQ. Literally, “one who thinks,” an isumataq is the eastern Canadian Inuit equivalent of the Iñupiaq umialik. An isumataq was generally the male head of an extended family. His authority was generally accepted on the basis of his personality and continued wise leadership. ITTINUAR, PETER (1950- ). First Inuk to take a seat in the Canadian House of Commons. Ittinuar, who is the grandson of Danish explorer Peter Freuchen, was elected to Parliament as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1979 representing the Nunatsiaq riding of the Northwest Territories. In 1982 Ittinuar quit the NDP for the Liberal Party. Ittinuar’s party switch may have been part of a deal to achieve the support of the ruling Liberal Party for the establishment of the Western Constitutional Forum and Nunavut Constitutional Forum, which were essential precursors to the division of the Northwest Territories and the creation of the Nunavut Territory. The Liberals failed to nominate Ittinuar as their candidate in the 1984 general election. He ran as an independent and lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Thomas Suluk. After losing reelection, Ittinuar worked for Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC). With the creation of the Nunavut Territory in 1999, Ittinuar joined the Nunavut Government as the assistant deputy minister for sustainable development.
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-J-
JAMES BAY AND NORTHERN QUEBEC AGREEMENT (JBNQA). The first modern land claims agreement signed in Canada. The JBNQA was signed by the Northern Quebec Inuit Association (NQIA), the Grand Council of the Cree, Hydro-Québec, and the governments of Canada and Quebec in November 1975. This and subsequent Canadian land claims agreements built on the model provided by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). The JBNQA extinguished the Nunavik Inuit’s aboriginal title to their traditional lands in exchange for C$90 million cash, limited sovereignty, hunting and fishing rights, control over education, social services, and health care, and legal title to a small portion of their original lands. The agreement and the institutions that grew out of it fundamentally changed the relationships between Nunavik Inuit, Canada, and Quebec. At the time negotiations for the JBNQA began there were several competing proposals to permit Nunavik Inuit to manage their own communities and local economies, and although the Canadian government had agreed to consider aboriginal land claims, little had been done toward that end. In 1971 the Province of Quebec announced plans to construct several hydroelectric dams on rivers of northern Quebec. The province did not consult, much less seek approval from, the Cree and Inuit communities whose lands were to be flooded by the development project. It simply began construction, forcing the Cree and Inuit to go to court to stop the development. In November 1973, after a year of legal arguments, the provincial court issued an injunction on the development. The injunction was overturned a week later. However, in the interim, Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa agreed to negotiate the land claims of both the Cree and the Nunavik Inuit. With the bulldozers in place, the JBNQA was negotiated quickly (especially in comparison to the 17 years it took to negotiate the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement). An agreement-inprinciple was achieved within a year, and the final agreement was signed one year after that. The impacts of development on the Cree and Inuit were somewhat different, and the details of their settlements differed slightly. The Inuit communities established several regional governing organizations. Of those, the Kativik School Board has enjoyed significant influence on the character of education in Nunavik. The
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NQIA reorganized as the Makivik Corporation and remains the dominant economic and political force in Nunavik. The JBNQA was significant because it signaled the recognition of aboriginal title and of indigenous rights to self-determination. It provided the basis for the subsequent settlement of other Native land claims in Canada. The JBNQA also left much to be desired. Significantly, the mechanisms to ensure compliance with the provisions of the agreement are weak. Additionally, the arrangements for Inuit self-government were rather hollow. Three communities—Puvirnituq, Salluit, and Ivujivik, which had been most involved in the efforts of the Fédération des Coopératives du Nouveau-Québec to use the co-ops to establish a regional municipal government within the province of Quebec—opposed the settlement and formed a dissident organization called Inuit Tungavinga Nunami. The three communities objected to the extinguishment of aboriginal title and refused to participate in the settlement. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; NUNAVIK ACCORD; NUNGAK, ZEBEDEE; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS; QUEBEC SECESSION, INUIT ATTITUDES TOWARD; QUMAQ, TUUMASI; WATT, CHARLIE. JOE. See IPIRVIK. JOHN, PAUL (1928- ). Yupik elder, community leader, and activist. Paul John, who was born and has lived his entire live on Nelson Island in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, is part of the last generation of Yupiit to receive what is referred to as a traditional Yupik education in a qasgi. Despite, or perhaps because of his lack of formal education, John has been active in local and regional politics since the 1950s, turning a commitment to Yupik cultural values into an asset. He serves on the Toksook Bay village council, the Association of Village Council Presidents, and the boards of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, the Toksook Bay village corporation created through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the Alaska Native Science Commission, the Bering Sea Fisherman’s Association, and the Calista Elders Council. Since the mid-1980s John has been active in the Yupiit Nation sovereignty movement. He, along with his wife Martine, has worked to revive Yupik dancing and drumming after 30 years of suppression by missionaries. John is the author (or rather the orator) of the bilingual book Qulirat Qanemcit-llu Kinguvarcimalriit / Stories for Future Generations: The Oratory of Yup’ik Elder Paul John (2003), which is a transcription of Yupik stories he told to and for Yupik high school students in 1977. See also LITERATURE.
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JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. It is only a bit of an exaggeration to state that almost from the moment of contact with non-Natives, Inuit borrowed new media to record stories and to communicate with one another. Inuit journalism and broadcasting have been powerful tools in the struggle for land claims, self-government, and aboriginal rights. Furthermore, broadcasting especially has been a crucial aid to language retention, and significant numbers of Inuit political leaders began their public careers as broadcasters. While there is relatively little fiction written in Inuktitut, the journalism has been prolific. Initial efforts at northern journalism were the work of Christian missionaries, but Inuit quickly participated as writers and reporters. The earliest known Inuktitut-language newspaper was Aglait Illunairnortut published by Moravian missionaries in Labrador. Atuagagdliutit, which is still in publication in Greenland, began as a monthly publication of news and information in 1861. The paper, which was edited first by Rasmus Berthelsen and then by Lars Møller, was an important mechanism for creating a common sense of Greenlandic identity among residents of dispersed Inuit communities in west Greenland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Canadian Inuk and minister Armand Tagoona wrote and published Tusagaksat, a community newspaper in Baker Lake, Nunavut. Iñupiat called for the creation of a newspaper as part of their earliest organizing efforts against Project Chariot and other infringements on their aboriginal rights. The result was the Tundra Times, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated paper edited by Howard Rock. Other Inuit newspapers and magazines include Atuaqnik, a short-lived independent newspaper in Nunavik, Inuit Today magazine published by the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), and Inuktitut Magazine begun by Canada’s Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, but taken over by the ITK. Inuit Today reflected Inuit political concerns and carried news items, short fiction, and cartoons. Many of the reporters for Nunatsiaq News, a non-Native weekly newspaper published in Nunavut, are Inuit and the paper is bilingual in English and Inuktitut syllabics. The proliferation of northern newspapers and magazines indicates Inuit interest in public affairs and a desire for Inuktitut reading material. Inuit have also been active and activist in the realm of northern broadcasting, demanding funding for Inuktitut-language radio and television programming. The community of Igloolik, for example, refused to accept satellite television broadcasts until there was also programming available in Inuktitut. The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), founded in 1981 has been extremely successful in developing
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culturally and socially relevant northern programming. Igloolik Isuma Productions also produces northern television programming. In Alaska, KYUK produces Yupik-language radio and television programming. See also AINANA, LUDMILLA; ARNAIT VIDEO PRODUCTIONS; INUKSHUK PROJECT; KALAALLIT-NUNAATA RADIOA; KUPTANA, ROSEMARY; OKALAKATIGET SOCIETY; TAQRAMUIT NIPINGAT INC.
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KALAALEQ. An Inuk from Greenland (pl. kalaallit). KALAALLISUT. Dialect of Inuktitut spoken by west Greenlanders and (along with Danish) the official language of Greenland. Kalaallisut, which translates literally as “in the way of the Greenlander,” is only one of three primary dialects of Inuktitut used in contemporary Greenland. Nonetheless, Kalaallisut is privileged as the language of education, broadcasting, and literature even in Iit east Greenland and Inughuit northwest Greenland. Language is a politically controversial subject in Greenland with some factions favoring educational efforts to strengthen Kalaallisut, Danish, and English. Other factions object to a preference for Danish over Kalaallisut in government affairs. In addition, the insistence on a single official Inuktitut at the expense of regional ethnic dialects has been part of the nation-building effort in Greenland since Home Rule. Although Danish and English are widely spoken especially in Greenland’s larger towns and cities, only about 10 percent of schoolchildren are monolingual Danish-speakers. Kalaallisut is not endangered, and there is a group of Greenlandic nationalists who are monolingual Kalaallisut speakers who reject the use of Danish entirely. The survival of Kalaallisut is assisted by state support for literature in the language. In 1984 writer Otto Sandgreen began a third career as a publisher of Greenlandic literature and began a literary periodical called Kalaaleq written entirely in Kalaallisut. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; KALAALLIT; KALAALLIT NUNAAT. KALAALLIT. Kalaallisut for Greenlanders. The term is a political rather than a linguistic or regional designation. It assumes that a Greenlandic
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national identity supercedes regional linguistic and cultural differences among Greenlanders. Official efforts since the mid-1800s to promote a single Greenlandic identity, however, were based on the language and culture of west Greenland and often denied that the Iit and the Inughuit were culturally or linguistically distinct from west Greenlanders. In practice they are often discriminated against. In the late 20th century, Inuit from these groups began to assert claims that they are distinct indigenous peoples with aboriginal rights to land. See also HINGITAQ ’53. KALAALLIT NUNAAT. Kalaallisut or Greenlandic name for Greenland, literally “the land of the Greenlanders.” Using the name Kalaallit Nunaat is more than a simple translation, but refers to the aspirations of many Greenlanders for Greenland to become a separate nation, independent of Denmark. See also GREENLAND, HOME RULE; GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK; LYNGE, AQQALUK. KALAALLIT-NUNAATA RADIOA (KNR). Independent, public radio and television broadcasting network for Greenland. Kalaallit-Nunaata Radioa (KNR) originated in 1926 when Hugo Holten Moeller, the telegraph office manager for Qeqertarsuaq, began unauthorized broadcasts of news, weather, and stories to the settlements along the west-central coast of Greenland. Two years later a second station, located in Godthaab (Nuuk), began similar broadcasts. After a modest beginning KNR grew quickly after 1955, and became an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union in 1978. It currently reaches all of Greenland via satellite, and its radio broadcasts, especially, are important for the maintenance of Kalaallisut as the everyday vernacular. KNR-TV produces approximately 300 hours of original programming per year in Kalaallisut including a nightly news broadcast. KNR-Radio, however, transmits approximately 2,500 hours of programming in Kalaallisut (and 900 hours in Danish plus 2,200 hours of music). See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. KARIGI. See QALGI. KASAYULIE, WILLIE (1951- ). Yupik political leader and founder of the Yupiit Nation. Born in Fairbanks and raised in the Yupik village of Akiachak, Kasayulie served as chairman of the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) and was co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN). Through his political work, Kasayulie has
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come to view sovereignty as the only solution to the problems faced by indigenous peoples. At the same time, however, Kasayulie has litigated for more equitable revenue distribution between Alaska’s urban areas and its largely Native rural regions. Kasayulie is a member of the Alaska State Legislature and is on the board of directors of the Indian Law Resource Center. KASHIM. See QALGI; QASGI. KASS’AQ. Yupik language term for a white person (Kassat pl.). The term, which is most likely derived from the word “Cossack,” is a reminder of the Russian colonization of the southwest Alaska. See also QALLUNAQ. KAWAGLEY, ANGAYUQAQ OSCAR (1934- ). Yupik educator, born in Bethel, Alaska. From 1980 to 1986 Kawagley served on the Executive Committee of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). He is on the board of directors of the Alaska Native Science Commission and is co-investigator for the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. Kawagley is a member of the faculty of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. His research concerns indigenous knowledge and Yupik methods of education. He is the author of A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit (1995). KAYAK. Small, personal watercraft similar in size and shape to a canoe. Unlike canoes, however, kayaks have enclosed decks and are propelled with a double-bladed paddle. The enclosed deck along with the kayak’s low profile and low volume make it suitable for ocean travel. Special waterproof clothing was part of the kayaker’s gear. Kayaks were used throughout the Inuit region for hunting marine mammals and seabirds. Normally kayaks consisted of a wooden frame with a sewn skin covering. Most kayaks had a single cockpit, for a single paddler, but double and triple kayaks did exist. Triple kayaks (with three cockpits) are known only from the Alutiiq region and it likely that Russian colonists introduced this innovation. Kayaks are rarely used by Inuit hunters today, having been replaced by motorized watercraft. Archeologically, kayaks are associated with Dorset Eskimos, and there is evidence to suggest that the technology may be much older. European explorers often remarked on Inuit kayakers. In one of the earliest encounters, in 1576, Martin Frobisher picked an Inuit kayaker, boat and all, out of the water and carried him back to England where the man soon succumbed to illness and died.
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Kayaks, because they were used for hunting, are often associated with masculinity. In one version of the Sea Woman myth, the young woman who eventually becomes the Sea Woman is tricked into marrying a seabird masquerading as a handsome kayaker. This improper marriage eventually leads to disaster. See also SUBSISTENCE; UMIAK. KENOJUAK (1927- ). One of the best-known and most successful Inuit graphic artists and early member of the West Baffin Co-op in Cape Dorset, Nunavut. Born on the south coast of Baffin Island, Kenojuak spent much of her early life in hunting camps in Nunavik and on south Baffin Island. Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1952, she was separated from her husband and children and spent several years in a sanitarium in Québec City. Kenojuak and her husband Johnniebo began carving and drawing in the late 1950s after being encouraged to do so by James Houston. This was several years before they settled in Cape Dorset. Animals, especially owls, are dominant themes in her work, and her 1960 graphic print “Enchanted Owl” was reproduced on a 1970 stamp commemorating the centennial of the Northwest Territories. Other designs were used on Canadian stamps in 1980 and 1993, and the commemorative quarter issued to observe the establishment of the Nunavut Territory also bears a Kenojuak owl design. She is the subject of several biographies as well as a National Film Board of Canada film, Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak (1962). See also ARTS. KIKIK. See BERTHELSEN, RASMUS. KILLIGIVUK, JIMMIE. See ASATCHAQ. KLEIST, JOSVA (1879-1938). Poet, Lutheran catechist, and member of the Regional Council for South Greenland. Kleist was a contemporary of poets Henrik Lund and Jonathan Petersen. His poetry, which reprimanded Greenlanders for personal excesses and slothful behavior, was part of the late-19th-century debate in Greenland about what should constitute the true national culture of Greenland. See also KALAALLIT. KLENGENBERG, PATSY (c.1900-1946). Translator and interpreter. Eldest son of freetrader Christian Klengenberg and an Iñupiaq woman, Qimniq, Patsy Klengenberg was born at Barrow, but lived most of his life in Coronation Gulf area of Canada. As a teenager, Klengenberg
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worked as a hunter and as an interpreter for the Southern Party of the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913-1916) in exchange for being taught to read and write. He was also the interpreter at the murder trials of Sinisiaq and Uloqsaq in 1917. As an adult, Klengenberg traveled widely in western Canada. He ran several business enterprises and operated a trading post in the eastern part of Coronation Gulf. He died near Cambridge Bay following a fire aboard his schooner the Aklavik. KOLIRAQ. See EKAAK, QUTLIURAQ RUTH. KONIAG ESKIMOS. See ALUTIIQ. KOONIELOIS, NUTARAK (1924- ). Historian and chronicler of Inuit society in the 20th century. Raised in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, and without formal schooling, Koonielois began recording the stories and recollections of Inuit elders in syllabics when he was a teenager. He also worked on archeological excavations of Thule and Dorset period sites near Pond Inlet with Father Guy Mary-Rousselière. KULLIQ. See QULLIQ. KUNUK, ZACHARIAS (1957- ). Filmmaker and co-founder of Igloolik Isuma Productions. Kunuk, who lives in Igloolik, Nunavut, is best known for directing Atanarjuat, the first feature-length Inuktitutlanguage film. Kunuk was an established sculptor, when, in 1981 on a trip to Montréal, he bought a video camera with the intent of recording his father’s hunting stories. Fearing cultural genocide, the community of Igloolik delayed the transmission of television broadcasts into their community for more than a decade. Kunuk, along with others, believed that Inuit should learn to operate and control the new technology. In 1982 he began working for the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) in Igloolik producing documentaries and current affairs programs, but left IBC in 1990, in part, because he felt that IBC was controlled by non-Inuit management. Kunuk’s dispute with IBC became public in 1997 after negotiations for a partnership between IBC and Isuma Productions broke down amid charges that IBC was controlled from Ottawa. Coverage of the dispute in the Nunavut weekly, Nunatsiaq News, resulted in an IBC libel suit against the newspaper. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. KUPTANA, ROSEMARY (1954- ). Canadian Inuit political leader. Kup-
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tana was raised in the Inuvialuit community of Sachs Harbour. She was part of the last generation of Canadian Inuit children forced to attend government boarding schools, and she traces her political roots to that traumatic early experience. Kuptana began her public life as a broadcaster with the Northern Service Branch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and later joined the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). She served as president of IBC from 1983 to 1988, and helped launch Television Northern Canada. In the 1980s Kuptana left broadcasting and became more involved in political work both in Canada and internationally. She served as president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) from 1991 to 1996 and was the lead Inuit negotiator in talks with the Canadian government for constitutional reform concerning aboriginal rights and selfgovernment. She also engaged in international diplomatic work as a Canadian negotiator to amend the Migratory Birds Treaty with the United States. In 1995 Kuptana became president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), but resigned the following year. She remains involved in Canadian governmental projects concerning indigenous self-government, transboundary pollution, and global climate change. KUSUGAK, JOSE AMAUJAQ (1950- ). Political leader. Kusugak was born at Naujaat (Repulse Bay, Nunavut) on the west coast of Hudson Bay. He became involved with the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) in the early 1970s. As assistant to then President Tagak Curley, Kusugak traveled to Alaska to study the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and to Greenland to learn more about Home Rule there. He also participated in the Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Study which was conducted as part of the Inuit land claims process in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Kusugak was a delegate to the founding meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). Kusugak first became involved in indigenous politics through his work teaching Inuktitut and Inuit history at Rankin Inlet and later at Churchill, Manitoba. Through this he became aware of the need to standardize the Inuit writing system. In the 1970s he chaired an ITC program to standardize the Inuktitut language and writing system. From 1994 to 2000, Kusugak was the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. Like many Canadian Inuit leaders, Kusugak has been involved in broadcasting, serving as the area manager for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the Keewatin Area from 1980 to 1990. Kusugak became president of the ITC in 2000, a post he was re-elected to in 2003.
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KUSUGAK, MICHAEL ARVAARLUK (1948- ). Children’s book writer. Michael Kusugak is the author of numerous children’s books about the North. Many of his stories are based on traditional Inuit tales. Others feature Inuit children in the contemporary North. Born in the Keewatin region of Canada, Kusugak was raised in the community of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, where he continues to live. Kusugak was encouraged to become a writer after hosting Canadian children’s book author Robert Munsch in his home in Rankin Inlet. His first book, which was written with Munsch, became a bestseller. The book, A Promise Is a Promise (1988), is the story of a child who disobeys her parents and has a dangerous encounter with creatures that live under the sea ice. See also LITERATURE. KYUK-AM. First Native-owned radio station in the United States. Located in Bethel, Alaska, KYUK-AM began broadcasting in 1971. A television station with the same call sign began two years later. A National Public Radio affiliate, KYUK-AM serves the 52 Yupik communities in southwest Alaska with mostly locally produced bilingual public affairs and entertainment programming. KYUK is frequently credited with actively aiding the survival of the Yupik language. KYUK is also an active collector of the visual and oral history of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. See also INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; KALAALLIT-NUNAATA RADIOA.
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LABRADOR INUIT ASSOCIATION (LIA). Political and cultural organization representing the approximately 5,000 Inuit and Settlers living in five communities on the northern Labrador coast. Settlers are persons of mixed descent whose attachment to the land and to a subsistence way of life is considered similar to that of indigenous peoples. The LIA was founded in 1973 in order to pursue the land claims and other aboriginal rights of the historical residents of northern Labrador. It has fought against the military exercises of low-flying bombers among other efforts. The LIA claim, which was originally submitted for negotiation in 1977, was finally ready for ratification in 2003. Much of the delay had to do with objections raised by the Province of
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Newfoundland and Labrador which was party to the negotiations. Throughout the lengthy period of negotiations, however, the LIA assumed a quasi-governmental role similar to that of other Native corporations in Canada providing social services, promoting cultural survival, and advancing economic development in the region. See also LABRADOR INUIT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH. LABRADOR INUIT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (LIDC). Economic development arm of the Labrador Inuit Association (LIA). The LIDC was established in 1982 well before the settlement of the land claims of the Labrador Inuit. Thus, unlike other Inuit development corporations, the LIDC has not been able to use monies derived from a land claims settlement to support its business ventures. Instead it has largely depended on government grants and loans. The mission of the LIDC is to support Inuit self-sufficiency through sustainable, community-based development. As elsewhere in the Inuit Circumpolar North, the challenge for the LIDC has been not only to create viable businesses, but also to operate them in a manner compatible with Inuit social values. The businesses of the LIDC include several based on renewable resources including an inshore fishery, a commercial caribou hunt, and an offshore shrimp fishery. It is also involved in tourism, labradorite mining and processing, commercial real estate, and northern logistics. See also NATIVE CORPORATIONS. LAND CLAIMS. Development pressures in the late 20th century forced the settlement of aboriginal land claims in Canada and Alaska. Prior to the 20th century Inuit lands were considered remote and of little economic value, but much of that changed with the discovery of oil, natural gas, and other minerals on those lands. Inuit, unlike some North American Indian groups, never signed treaties ceding their traditional lands to colonial governments, and the governments of the United States and Canada came to accept, if reluctantly, the premise that Inuit and some Indians retained aboriginal rights to their traditional lands. The establishment of a Home Rule government in Greenland is presumed to have extinguished any aboriginal land title that might have existed, and aboriginal land claims in Chukotka are not anticipated. Inuit are party to five different land claims agreements: the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, and the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement. The last of these, of the Labrador Inuit, was finalized only in 2003, and
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was expected to be ratified in early 2004. The land claims agreements differ in some details, but follow the same basic formula in which Inuit ceded their aboriginal title to their traditional lands in exchange for cash and fee simple title to a fraction of those lands. Importantly, Native corporations were created in each region to receive the land title and the monies. Land claims agreements have sometimes been called modern Indian treaties, but it should be noted that, in fact, land claims agreements were meant to avoid problems such as economic dependency created by earlier Indian treaties and the establishment of reservations. In some respects the land claims agreements have achieved their purpose in that Inuit have been able to assert control over the management of productive resources in their regions. Poverty has not disappeared, however, and in many Inuit communities the economic and social changes associated with land claims have increased economic disparity. While the majority of Inuit have accepted the land claims provisions there are dissidents who have objected to either the extinguishment of aboriginal title or the corporatist premise of land claims settlements. LAND CLAIMS CORPORATIONS. See NATIVE CORPORATIONS. See also ARCTIC SLOPE REGIONAL CORPORATION; INUVIALUIT REGIONAL CORPORATION; LABRADOR INUIT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION; MAKIVIK CORPORATION; NUNAVUT TUNNGAVIK INC. LANGUAGE. Linguists conventionally regard the languages of the Inuit and the Yupiit as two distinct, but related, languages both belonging to the Eskaleut language family. Known generally as Inuktitut and Yupik or Yupiaq, each has several dialects which are frequently identified by separate nomenclature. For example, the Inuit language is called Iñupiaq in north Alaska, Inuvialuktun in the Mackenzie Delta region of Canada, Inutitut in Nunavik and in Labrador, and Kalaallisut in Greenland. Yupik and Inuktitut are no longer spoken or are endangered in a few areas of the Inuit Circumpolar North, notably in Chukotka and in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. They, however, continue to be both the everyday vernacular and children’s first languages in many other regions, and are especially strong in southwest Alaska and in Greenland. Education has been critical to the survival of both Inuktitut and Yupiaq, and each of the places where the languages continue to flourish has a history of either bilingual education or, as is the case in Greenland, primary instruction in Kalaallisut. Other institutional fac-
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tors, such as a literature, television and radio broadcasting, and the existence of government services in Inuktitut and Yupiaq also contribute to the maintenance of these languages as part of the everyday vernacular. For better or worse, language is often regarded as a marker of ethnicity and authenticity especially for indigenous peoples and other minorities. Thus, language and language maintenance have become important political issues in much of the Inuit Circumpolar North. Interestingly, there are recent reports of an emerging Greenlandic dialect of Danish spoken by monolingual Danish-speaking youth living in Greenland. This new Danish, which is spoken with Kalaallisut tones and phonemes, is said to express the youths’ identification with Greenland and Greenlandic culture. See also INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION. LITERATURE. Historically Inuit and Yupik literature was oral and consisted primarily of stories told by one generation to the next in the qalgi and qasgi. While entertainment was probably the primary purpose of storytelling, traditional stories conveyed historical and cosmological information and thus were an important part of a child’s education. Many traditional (as well as contemporary) Inuit and Yupik stories are morality tales which served to reinforce cultural values and cautioned about the dangers of disregarding the advice of elders, of boastfulness or selfishness or even wandering alone on the tundra. Inuit and Yupik written literature dates to the mid- to late-19th century, shortly after missionaries created writing systems for Yupik and Inuktitut. Greenlanders, in particular, produced Christian-themed poetry and hymns, but once Inuit and Yupik became literate in their own languages they also created a secular literature. Unfortunately, regional dialectal differences and the inability of Inuit in different regions to agree on a single orthography for Inuktitut has meant that the literature produced in one region of the Inuit Circumpolar North cannot be read by people in other regions. In recent years, most Inuit literature in Canada and Alaska has been in English rather than Inuktitut. Journalism is perhaps the most important form of literary expression in the Inuit Circumpolar North. Some of the earliest writings by Inuit appeared in the Greenlandic newspaper Atuagagdliutit. That paper and other periodicals were forums where Greenland Inuit debated economic and social changes in relationship to an evolving Kalaallit identity. The Tundra Times and Atuaqnik served similar purposes in Alaska and Nunavik, respectively. Memoirs and collections of traditional stories, often recorded and
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transcribed from oral tellings, are perhaps the most common genres of indigenous literature in the contemporary North. In some cases anthropologists, missionaries, and other non-Natives encouraged this type of writing, and quite often the work has been done for a non-Native rather than for a northern readership. Some important exceptions include the writings of Taamusi Qumaq, Peter Pitseolak, and Paul John. Novels are a relatively small proportion of the corpus of Inuit literature, and to date most of the novelists have been Greenlanders. These include Mathias Storch, Augo Lynge, Hans Anthon Lynge, and Maliârâq Vebæk. Other Inuit novelists include Iñupiaq Fred Bigjim whose novel Plants (1999) is a science fiction mystery involving space aliens, a Native American shaman, and a government cover-up, and Canadian Inuk Markoosie Patsuaq, whose novella Harpoon of the Hunter (1970) is a coming-of-age story based on a traditional Inuit story. See also BAFFIN WRITERS’ PROJECT; BROWN, EMILY IVANOFF; FREEMAN, MINNIE AODLA; IPELLIE, ALOOTOOK; KAWAGLEY, ANGUAYAQAQ OSCAR; KUSUGAK, MICHAEL; LYNGE, AQQALUK; LYNGE, HANS; SENUNGETUK, JOSEPH ENGASONGWOK. LUND, HENRIK (“ENDALÊRAQ”) (1875-1948). Kalaaleq Lutheran pastor, poet and painter. Originally from west Greenland, Lund spent nine years (1900-1909) at Ammassalik as a missionary to the Iit. While there he began painting naturalistic landscape watercolors, an activity he continued throughout his life. Like his paintings, Lund’s poetry extols the spiritual beauty of Greenland countryside. Lund wrote “Nunarput” (Our Country), which is the Greenland national anthem. LYNGE, AQQALUK (1947- ). Poet, politician, and Greenland nationalist. As president of the Young Greenlanders Council in Denmark, Lynge was a delegate to the 1973 Arctic Peoples Conference. He later helped found Inuit Ataqatigiit, and has advocated full independence from Denmark through both his politics and his poetry. The poetry, in particular, is an angry indictment of Danish colonialism. Lynge is also an indigenous rights advocate. He became president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) following the resignation of Rosemary Kuptana in February 1997, and is the author of a book chronicling the history of the ICC and another laying out the case for the Inughuit right to return to their ancestral lands. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK; KALAALLIT NUNAAT; LITERATURE.
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LYNGE, ARQALUK. See LYNGE, AQQALUK. LYNGE, AUGO (1899-1959). Novelist and Kalaaleq nationalist. Lynge was the author of Ukiut 300-ngornerat (“The 300th Anniversary”), only the second novel to be written in Kalaallisut, published in 1931. (The first Kalaallisut novel, Sinnattugaq, by Mathias Storch, appeared 16 years earlier.) Ukiut 300-ngornerat is a futuristic crime novel in which Greenlanders administer their own land as part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Many of the seemingly fantastical events and situations Lynge created for the novel have indeed come to pass. Lynge also edited Tarqigssût (“The Lamp Trimmer”), a periodical devoted to social and political concerns. Politically active, he was elected to the Greenland Provincial Council, and later was the first representative of South Greenland to the Danish Parliament. See also LITERATURE. LYNGE, FINN (1933- ). Kalaaleq politician, social activist, and former Catholic priest and former head of Kalaallit-Nunaata Radioa (Greenland’s Broadcasting Corporation). In 1979, Lynge was elected to represent Greenland in the European Parliament, resigning upon Greenland withdrawal from the European Economic Community (EEC). His election was a victory for Greenlanders who opposed Greenland's membership with Denmark in the EEC. Lynge is an outspoken advocate for indigenous hunting rights and northern environmental protection. He has vocally opposed the continued militarization of the North. Lynge is the author of Arctic Wars: Animal Rights, Endangered Peoples (1992), which critiques the animal rights movement. LYNGE, HANS (1906-1988). Kalaaleq playwright, poet, and artist as well as Lutheran catechist and one-time Greenlandic legislator. Lynge was part of a community of Greenlandic artists. He was the son of pastor and painter Niels Lynge, and the son-in-law of poet, painter, and pastor Henrik Lund. Jonathan Petersen was one of his teachers in Nuuk. Lynge also studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen, and traveled widely in Europe. Lynge is especially noted for his sculpture and national-romantic paintings. He made official busts of many of Greenland’s cultural and national heroes, and several of his paintings have been used on Greenlandic postage stamps. See also ARTS; LITERATURE.
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MACKENZIE VALLEY PIPELINE INQUIRY. Also known as the Berger Inquiry, the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry was a Canadian Royal Commission of Inquiry created to investigate the social and economic impact of a proposed gas pipeline along the Mackenzie River Valley. The inquiry was headed by Thomas R. Berger, and lasted 19 months from March 1975 to November 1976. Berger heard testimony from representatives of industry, environmental groups, churches, and Native organizations. In addition, approximately 1,000 individuals living in 35 separate Inuit, Dene, and Métis communities testified before the commission. The Native testimony was vociferously against construction of the pipeline. In the end, Berger issued a two-volume report entitled Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland, recommending against the construction of a pipeline until indigenous land claims could be settled. The hearings were instrumental in creating the political will among the Canadian people in favor of indigenous land claims agreements, and established a climate in which the Inuvialuit became the first Canadian Inuit to arrive at a negotiated land claims settlement. See also HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT. MACLEAN, EDNA AHGEAK (1944- ). Linguist and educator. MacLean, an Iñupiaq, has been president of Ilisagvik College in Barrow, Alaska since 1995. In her position as the president, MacLean has spoken in favor of expanded hydrocarbon development in the North Slope Borough (NSB), and has noted the opportunities for cooperation between industry and the primarily vocational college. MacLean participated in the 1977 organizing meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). Early in her career, MacLean was extremely active in both Iñupiaq language education and the politics of language retention. She advocated the creation of an auxiliary writing system for Inuktitut in order to bridge the various orthographies. MACLEAN, EILEEN PANIGEO (1949-1996). Iñupiaq political leader. MacLean represented the North Slope Borough (NSB) in the Alaska state legislature from 1988 to 1996. Prior to that she had served on the executive board of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC). MacLean had also been
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executive director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC). MAKIVIK CORPORATION. The successor organization to the Northern Quebec Inuit Association (NQIA). The Makivik Corporation was created in 1975 as a result of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) and is the financial organ of the Nunavik beneficiaries of that land claims agreement. Specifically, Makivik Corporation, whose name means “advancement” in Inuttitut, was established in order to manage and invest the monies paid out due to the land claims settlement, and it has invested in a number of businesses of importance to northern residents. For example Makivik Corporation owns and operates the northern airlines First Air and Air Inuit. It also owns Halutik Enterprises, a fuel and construction services firm, and is part owner, along with other Inuit development corporations, of Pan Arctic Inuit Logistics and several other northern firms. More than other Native corporations in Canada, Makivik is also a political organization which often dominates the politics of daily life in Nunavik. This may be a holdover from NQIA’s role in land claims negotiations or it may be simply that, unlike other Native corporations, Makivik has not divided into separate political/social and development branches. Makivik’s political and economic dominance allows it to speak with authority to the provincial and federal governments. Nonetheless, there are dissident political factions in Nunavik which attempt to assert their views from time to time. See also NUNAVIK ACCORD; NUNAVIK PARTY; NUNGAK, ZEBEDEE; QUMAQ, TAAMUSI; WATT, CHARLIE. MAKSAGAK, HELEN MAMAYAOK (1931- ). First Inuk and first woman to serve as Commissioner of Northwest Territories (NWT), a post that she held from December 1994 until April 1999. In March 1999, Maksagak was selected to be the first commissioner of the Nunavut Territory. In Canada, the commissioner is the official head of a territorial government, although the post has become largely ceremonial. Maksagak, who was born near Bernard Harbour, served on the NWT Round Table on the Environment, and on the board of an alcohol and drug treatment center. MAKTAQ. The edible skin of a whale. Maktaq is a delicacy which may be eaten raw, frozen, or cooked. See also NALUKATAQ; WHALING.
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MALA, RAY. See WISE, RAY. MANIILAQ (c.1800-c.1890). Iñupiaq spiritual leader sometimes referred to as the Eskimo Prophet. Maniilaq was born in the Kobuk River area in the early part of the 19th century. Information about his life and activities comes from oral histories recorded by Northwest Arctic Native Association region Iñupiaq elders in the 1960s and 1970s. Maniilaq was remembered as a great traveler and teacher who made correct predictions about the future. Many of his teachings bore similarities to Christianity and are thought to have paved the way for the conversion of Iñupiat to Christianity. Maniilaq’s teachings provided a reference point for the modern social and spiritual movement known as Iñupiat Ilitqusiat. MANIILAURAQ. See MANIILAQ. MARKOOSIE. See PATSAUQ, MARKOOSIE. MESSENGER FEAST. Traditional Iñupiaq and Yupik ceremonial gathering in which one village hosts visitors, usually trading partners and relatives through marriage, from nearby villages. The Iñupiaq Messenger Feast occurred in mid-winter. The name derives from the practice of sending messengers to invite the guests. Messenger Feasts, which were similar to potlatches, were important economic and social occasions. Gifts were exchanged and ties were renewed, which helped promote positive intercommunity relations. For the most part, in the modern era, Messenger Feasts have either disappeared or have been much reduced in terms of scale and social importance. This was partly due to efforts by missionaries to stamp out what they perceived as pagan practices and partly due to the tremendous social changes in Iñupiaq and Yupik communities. Since the 1980s several communities have revived the Messenger Feast as a statement of cultural values. See also BLADDER FEAST; NALUKATAQ. METCALFE, SAM (1939-2000). Journalist, teacher, and former mayor of Nain, Labrador. Metcalfe was born in Hebron, Labrador. He taught Inuktitut at University of Ottawa, and in the 1980s was a frequent contributor to Inuktitut Magazine. In 1997 Metcalfe served on an environmental review panel monitoring the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Mine. MÉTIS. Term used in Canada to refer to various communities of mixed Indian and Eurocanadian heritage. Historically, Métis were legally dis-
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tinct from First Nations or Indian communities, and socially distinct from Eurocanadian settler communities. MICHAEL, SIMONIE (1933- ). First Native elected to the governing Council of the Northwest Territories of Canada. Michael of Iqaluit (Frobisher Bay) was chosen in 1966 to represent the people of the eastern Arctic at the Territorial Council. In his first speech before the Territorial Council, Michael spoke in Inuktitut in order to bring the Inuit language to the body which governed Inuit life. Many of Michael’s efforts as a territorial councillor centered on removing institutionalized discrimination in the administration of Canadian Inuit and Inuit communities. There are reports that it was Michael’s complaint about disc numbers instead of names that led to the establishment of Project Surname. Michael was active in public life long before joining the Territorial Council. In 1961 he helped found and was the first chair of Sisi Housing Co-operative in the Apex Hill section of Iqaluit. He also attempted to establish a consumer cooperative in Iqaluit to compete with the Hudson’s Bay Company, but was blocked by government administrators who officially opposed any public enterprise which would compete with a private one. Michael was a founding member and chair of the Frobisher Community Council and was a member of the St. Simon’s Anglican Church Council. See also OKPIK, ABRAHAM. MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH. During the second half of the 20th century, the circumpolar nations came to view the Arctic as a real and potential theater for military activity and surveillance. This had immediate and long-term consequences, persisting into the 21st century, for Inuit communities. The militarization of the North began during World War II, and greatly expanded during the Cold War. Despite the end of the Cold War, the Circumpolar North continues to be viewed as a region of strategic military importance. With the German invasion and occupation of Denmark in April 1940, the United States and its allies became concerned that Greenland, a Danish colony, might come under German control. In fact, Germany made several attempts to establish weather forecasting stations in south Greenland, only to be rebuffed by the U.S. Coast Guard. The United States in contrast did establish weather stations in Greenland and under the authority of the Danish envoy to the United States also established military bases that were used to ferry planes and supplies from North America to the European combat theater. Furthermore, the United States assumed “protective custody” of Greenland for the duration of
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World War II, returning it to Denmark in 1945. Alaska was also a theater of operations during World War II. U.S. forces fought Japan in the Aleutians, and evacuated the population to mainland Alaska. Importantly, the war initiated the buildup of military bases throughout Alaska. Kodiak Island, an Alutiiq home, was a major military site. Its presence triggered concerns among some Alutiit about the erosion of indigenous culture. The militarization of the North accelerated after World War II. After the war the United States sold the air base it had built at Iqaluit, Nunavut, then called Frobisher Bay, to Canada. The base remained in operation until December 1983. Military bases and radar stations were built throughout the North by both the United States and its allies and by the Soviet Union. In some cases the siting of military installations on Inuit lands resulted in the forced relocation of the Inuit residents. Examples include the removal of the 27 Inughuit families from their homes in northern Greenland to make way for the expansion of Thule Air Force Base in 1953 and the Soviet removal of the Iñupiat residents of Big Diomede Island, also for a military base, around the same time. Inuit families in Alaska and Chukotka were separated by the Cold War borders. Even when Inuit were not forcibly removed from their homes, the presence of military personnel and military activities caused major disruptions to Inuit communities. While a few Inuit found employment as laborers at the military posts or were able to sell handicrafts to the soldiers, more often than not soldiers pursued sexual liaisons with Inuit women, provided alcohol and inebriate models of drinking, and otherwise disrupted indigenous communities. In Canada, with the presence of foreign military personnel in the Arctic, the federal government suddenly became aware of the poor living conditions and health of Canadian Inuit. In particular, it became aware of the extremely high rates of tuberculosis among Inuit, and for the first time began a comprehensive program to provide health care, housing, education, and other social services to Inuit. The result was a massive settlement building and modernization program which radically transformed the lives of Canadian Inuit. Militarization of the North has also had negative health consequences for Inuit communities. In particular, military activities have led to the pollution of Inuit lands with PCBs, radioactive wastes, and other harmful pollutants. For example, in 1968 a U.S. B-52 bomber crashed near Thule Air Force Base, scattering nuclear material on the ice and in the surrounding ocean. Many Greenlanders remain unconvinced that the cleanup was ever completed. In 2003 a news broad-
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caster reported the existence of 24 heavy metal dumps at the Air Force Base. Decades earlier, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission proposed Project Chariot, a test of a nuclear bomb to excavate a deepwater port near the Iñupiat village of Point Hope. Iñupiat activism forced the project to be abandoned; however, the Department of Energy did go ahead with secret tests to map the movement of radioactive waste in groundwater. Unaware of the disposal, Point Hope Iñupiat continued to travel, hunt, and use resources from the polluted region. Inuit are not wholly opposed to all military activity in the North. For example, Pan Arctic Inuit Logistics (PAIL), which operates the North Warning Radar System in northern Canada is owned by a consortium of seven Inuit Native corporations in Canada. Additionally, many Inuit, particularly in the United States have served in the armed forces, yet Inuit have become politicized over the use of their lands for military purposes. Iñupiat activism in opposition to Project Chariot helped them prepare for land claims battles a decade later. More recently, Greenlanders have mobilized against the use of Thule Air Force Base as a site for U.S. National Missile Defense installations, and have renewed the call for Greenland’s independence from Denmark. See also IÑUPIAT PAITOT; TUNDRA TIMES. MINIK (c.1890-1918). The youngest of six Inughuit brought from the Smith Sound region of Greenland to New York’s American Museum of Natural History by explorer Robert E. Peary in 1897. Minik’s father, Qisuk, and three others died soon after arriving in New York, and Minik was adopted informally by the museum’s building superintendent, William Wallace. Minik’s troubled life is the subject of a biography by Kenn Harper entitled Give Me My Father’s Body (2000). The book’s title comes from a notorious incident in which the museum officials conducted a mock burial of Qisuk in the museum courtyard while keeping his skeletal remains in the museum collection. Minik learned of the deception as a young adult and made sporadic, but futile attempts to reclaim the bones. After great effort, Minik returned to Smith Sound in 1909, and relearned both the language and the Inughuit culture. He was able to work as an explorer’s guide and interpreter, but found life in Greenland lonely and unsatisfying. Minik returned to the United States in 1916 and found employment as a lumberer in northern Vermont. He died during the influenza pandemic of 1918. In 1993 the bones of Qisuk and the other three Inughuit were removed from the American Museum of Natural History and buried in
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Greenland. MØLLER, LARS [ARQALUK] (1842-1926). Newspaper editor. Trained as a printer, Møller followed Rasmus Berthelsen as editor of Atuagagdliutit, a post that he held from 1874 to 1922. His writings in the paper reflected a conservative position in which Greenlanders should strive to restore traditional values of industry and generosity associated with seal hunting while at the same time embracing the teachings of the Lutheran Church. His writings also emphasized a strong sense of pride in being Greenlandic. MOLLY HOOTCH CASE. Prior to 1976 most Alaska Native schoolchildren were forced to leave their villages in order to attend high school. Those who chose to continue their schooling often remained at boarding schools for nine months a year. In 1972 Alaska Legal Services filed suit against the State of Alaska initially on behalf of 27 Yupik students from three villages in southwest Alaska for failing to provide local high schools. The previous year the state had quickly settled a similar lawsuit brought on behalf of an Iñupiaq boy from Kivalina. The Yupik suit is popularly known as the Molly Hootch Case after the then 14-year-old Yupik girl who was the lead plaintiff. By the time the case was settled in 1976, there was a new lead plaintiff, and thus, the case is more properly known as Tobeluk v. Lind. Unlike the Iñupiaq suit, Alaska Legal Services filed the Molly Hootch case as a class-action suit on behalf of 126 rural, mostly Native communities. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit alleged that the State of Alaska, by failing to provide rural high schools, was in violation of the clause of the state constitution that required it to provide for the education of all of the state’s children. They further alleged that failure to provide rural high schools amounted to a pattern of discrimination against Native students. Records showed that rural communities with white students had local high schools, but that larger Native communities were denied them. The Alaska Superior Court ruled in January 1974 that boarding schools satisfied the requirement for universal education. This decision was affirmed by the State Supreme Court in May of that year, but the court allowed the claim of discrimination to go forward. The case was set for trial, but the defendants agreed to delay trial when the state offered to negotiate a settlement. Negotiations took a little more than a year, but eventually the state agreed to provide a high school in every village that requested one. A consent decree was formally issued in October 1976.
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Rural high schools remain controversial in Alaska, with many education specialists claiming that tiny schools are almost always inferior. The state felt flush with oil revenues in the 1970s when it agreed to build rural high schools. In 2000 the state was considering plans to close high schools in the tiniest villages and consolidate education in regional centers. MOTZFELDT, JONATHAN (1938- ). First prime minister of Greenland (1979-1991 and again from September 1997 through 2002). Motzfeldt was the leader of the center-left Siumut Party. MUKTUK. See MAKTAQ. MUSIC. There is a great diversity of indigenous music in the Inuit Circumpolar North. Contemporary Inuit and Yupik music takes its inspiration from many different sources, and may be classified into a variety of genres including hymns, country western ballads, pop-rock, and dance music. Additionally, despite being suppressed by Christian missionaries, historical forms such as drum songs and throat singing have staged a revival in recent years, and are now frequently performed at cultural festivals. Historically, most Inuit and Yupik music was vocal and the only accompaniment, if any, was a drum. The music had a particular cadence and rhythm, but the lyrics were the central feature. Inuit and Yupik cultures place great value on emotional restraint, and clever song lyrics, which were coded or satirical, provided an opportunity to express emotions and opinions that could not be stated outright. Drum songs, sometimes accompanied by masked dances, were found throughout the Inuit Circumpolar North. In the 19th century Inuit adopted Scottish reels and jigs along with the fiddle and the accordion from commercial whalers, and this imported dance music, with its old-fashioned quality, is sometimes regarded as traditional Inuit music and is still performed and danced to at community celebrations in the Canadian North. Similarly, in Greenland, Viagat music takes its inspiration from American country western and dance band music that Greenlanders first heard during World War II. While it remains a genre of contemporary Greenlandic dance music, it was especially popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Today most Inuit regard themselves as Christians, and Christian religious music is prominent in the North. Greenlanders, especially, were noted for writing hymns. Rasmus Berthelsen composed “Guuterput quisinnermiu” (Our Lord in Heaven), which is a Christmas
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standard in Greenland. Other Greenlandic hymn writers included Jonathan Petersen, Henrik Lund, and Pâvia Petersen. Several Canadian Inuit should also be regarded as hymnists. Country western music is extremely popular in the Canadian North, and several Inuit musicians including Charlie Panigoniak, William Tagoona, and Susan Argaluk compose and perform in the country western style. Their lyrics frequently address the social realities of the contemporary North. Since the 1970s several Greenlandic musicians have taken their direction from rock music trends. The Greenlandic rock band, SUME, released its first album “Sumut” (Where to?) in 1973. The songs on it and subsequent albums are nationalist expressions of the desire for Greenland’s independence from Denmark. SUME and other bands of that period were part of the political movement that culminated with Greenland’s Home Rule in 1979. Political themes continue to inform Greenlandic lyrics as the music has become more internationalized. For example, the song “Zoo inuillu” (Zoo and the people) by north Greenlander Ole Kristiansen tells the story of a young man lost in a city and unable to escape. Greenlandic versions of techno and hip-hop have also found a following of late.
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NAKACIUQ. See BLADDER FEAST. NALUKATAQ. Three-day Iñupiaq festival organized to celebrate a successful conclusion to the whaling season. Usually held in June, Nalukataq is hosted by the successful whaling captains and their wives and is given in order to honor the whales that have been caught. The Nalukataq celebration varies a bit from community to community and year to year depending, in part, upon how many whales were caught and by which crews. The ceremony is not held if no whales are caught. An umialik or whaling captain’s first ever whale is cause for special recognition. At present Nalukataq begins with a church service, but the majority of the celebration occurs in front of the qalgit of the successful captains. The umiaks of the successful crews are arranged as a windbreak
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in front of the qalgi and food, especially whale meat, is served to the community throughout Nalukataq. Large amounts of food are also distributed to take home. Special distributions of the whale flipper, a particular delicacy, occur on the second day. Feasting may occur simultaneously at several qalgit or celebrants may alternate between them. Games and dancing also feature in Nalukataq. In fact, the festival derives its name from one particular game—the blanket toss—in which individual jumpers are tossed into the air and caught on a “blanket” made of walrus or bearded seal skins. Frequently, a successful captain is the first to jump and is expected to toss small prizes to the assembled crowd. Jumpers compete in grace and acrobatic skill. See also BLADDER FEAST; MESSENGER FEAST. NANA REGION. One of the 12 ethnic regions of Alaska established through the land claims process. The NANA region is largely Iñupiat, and the acronym refers to the Northwest Arctic Native Association (although the full term is rarely used) that represented the Iñupiat living south of the Brooks Range in land claims negotiations. The area is also incorporated as the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska. See also ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT; IÑUPIAT ILITQUSIAT. NANOOK OF THE NORTH. 1922 film made by Robert Flaherty. The film, which is sometimes cited as the first ethnographic film, was shot in Nunavik with funding provided by the fur-trading firm Revillon Frères. The film is often criticized for its overly romanticized, onesided presentation of Inuit culture. It is nonetheless a classic, and Flaherty involved the Inuit actors in many of the cinemagraphic decisions. The title character was played by Allakariallak. Alice Nuvalinga played Nanook’s wife, Nyla. See also ATANARJUAT. NAPPAALUK, MITIARJUK ATTASIE (1931- ). Writer and Inuit historian. Mitiarjuk Attasie Nappaaluk lives in the Nunavik community of Kangiqsujuaq. She wrote the first novel published in Inuttitut, the Inuktitut dialect spoken in Nunavik. The novel, called Sanaaq, is about a young couple living on the tundra in the 1920s. She also compiled an Inuttitut encyclopedia of Inuit culture, collaborated with Catholic missionaries in Nunavik to create an Inuttitut dictionary, and helped translate the Catholic liturgy into Inuttitut. See also LITERATURE. NATIVE CORPORATIONS. Unique type of shareholder corporation in
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the United States and Canada created as a result of land claims settlements. Though similar, the specific form that these corporations take differs between the United States and Canada. The first Native corporations were created by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and are sometimes referred to as ANCSA corporations. The state was divided into 12 regions, roughly corresponding to tribal divisions, for which regional for-profit corporations were created. The for-profit corporations received title to the majority of the lands that Alaska Natives retained under the settlement as well as much of the monetary settlement. (A 13th corporation established for Alaska Natives no longer living in Alaska received money, but no land.) Shares of stock in the regional corporation were issued to each Alaska Native living on December 18, 1971. ANCSA also provided for the creation of regional nonprofit corporations which became social services providers, and for the establishment of village corporations. As initially conceived, the ANCSA corporations were to serve as incubators for the development of Native financial knowledge, and were intended to become publicly traded corporations in 1991. Because the Native corporations held the title to the Native lands in Alaska, this sunset provision of the act raised reasonable fears that Inuit and other Alaska Natives could lose control of or even title to their remaining lands. As 1991 approached some Native corporations transferred their lands to other bodies. In 1988 the U.S. Congress amended ANCSA to cancel the provision that would have forced the corporations to become publicly traded. The 1991 Amendments, as the legislation is known, also allowed each Native corporation to decide whether or not to issue stock to children born after 1971. Canadian Inuit land claims were settled after ANCSA and those latter settlements drew on many of the provisions of the Alaska settlement including the creation of Native corporations. Canadian Native corporations, however, differ from ANCSA corporations in several ways. While the ANCSA corporations do not possess any governmental authority beyond the sorts of influence that powerful economic interests exercise in modern nation states, the land claims corporations created in Canada do possess some governmental authority. Mostly this has been conveyed in the form of co-management of social services and certain natural resources, and both Makivik Corporation and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) use their co-management authority in a quasi-governmental manner within their regions. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. operates in a less governmental way probably because Inuit control the government of the Nunavut Territory. Each of
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the Canadian land claims corporations enrolls members at age 18 and shares are not transferable. There is variation in the ways that the Canadian Native corporations are structured. Makivik is single entity with control over the economic development and political aspirations in Nunavik. The IRC is an umbrella organization comprised of community corporations and investment bodies—all with a voice in the direction of the organization. In Alaska and in Nunavik a portion of the presumed beneficiaries have rejected the whole concept of Native corporations. Largely, their objections have been stated in terms of concern over the possible alienation of indigenous lands and the extinguishment of aboriginal rights to the land. In addition some people have expressed serious reservations about using an alien corporate model of asset management rather than methods based on indigenous values and traditional forms of leadership. See also ALASKA NATIVE REVIEW COMMISSION; INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE; YUPIIT NATION. NATKUSIAK (“BILLIE BANKSLAND”) (c.1885-1947). Iñupiaq best known as guide, traveling companion, and language tutor to Vilhjalmur Stefansson during the Stefansson-Anderson Expedition (1908-1912) and the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913-1918). Many of the written references to him note his sense of humor and the pleasure he took in playing practical jokes. Natkusiak came from the area of Point Clarence, Alaska. Prior to his association with Stefansson, Natkusiak worked on an American whaling ship in the Beaufort Sea. He appears to have had a passion for traveling in the North, and he and Stefansson traveled alone by dogsled from Baillie Island to Victoria Island in 1911. Natkusiak received an expedition schooner, the North Star, as part of his compensation for his services to the Canadian Arctic Expedition. With the schooner he became one of the Banks Island trappers sometimes referred to as Bankslanders. Around 1937, Natkusiak retired from trapping and settled with his family at Ulukhaktok on Victoria Island becoming the first permanent residents of the town now known as Holman. See also INUVIALUIT. NEAKOK, SADIE BROWER (1916- ). Former magistrate of the Alaska District Court in Barrow. Neakok, who was born in Barrow, was the sixth child of the whaler-turned-trader Charles Brower and his Iñupiaq wife, Asianggataq. Neakok attended a Bureau of Indian Affairs grade school in Barrow, but was forced to leave Alaska to continue her schooling. She attended high school in San Francisco and completed
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two years at Stanford University. Neakok graduated from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in 1938. Upon her return to the North Slope, Neakok took a job as a dietician with the U.S. Public Health Service. She also worked as a teacher at the Barrow Day School. In 1960 she became Alaska’s first Native woman magistrate, often holding court in her kitchen. Neakok used her judicial position to advocate for aboriginal rights, attempting to reconcile the demands of formal law with Iñupiat values of justice. In particular, Neakok refused to hear cases in which subsistence hunters were accused of violating game laws. And she was one of the organizers of the 1961 Barrow “Duck-In” protest against restrictions on waterfowl hunting. Neakok officially retired from the bench in 1977, but continued to hear cases until 1980. She remained active in retirement, hosting a 24episode public radio series on KBRW in Barrow entitled Our Iñupiat Values. In 1987 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alaska. See also GUINN, NORA. NEOESKIMOS. Archeological term applied to the peoples who created the Thule tradition and their descendants who are the ancestors of contemporary Inuit peoples. See also PALEOESKIMOS. NIELSEN, FREDERIK (1905-1991). Teacher, writer, and former head of Kalaallit-Nunaata Radioa. As a novelist Nielsen drew on historical events and celebrated what were presumed to be traditional Inuit values of hard work and generosity. His novel Tuumarsi (Thomas) (1934) was based on an 1856 incident when most of the residents of a west Greenland settlement died of starvation. In the novel slothfulness on the part of some families contributes to the crisis. Another novel, Prediction Come True (1982), about the early colonization of Greenland was written in Kalaallisut. NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH (NSB). Largest municipality in Alaska. Located between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Coast, the North Slope Borough covers approximately 89,000 square miles and includes eight villages. Slightly more than half of the 7,500 residents (1998 est.) live in Barrow, the borough capital. The overwhelming majority of NSB residents are Iñupiat. The NSB was established in 1972 by the Iñupiat of northern Alaska as a mechanism to protect the regional subsistence economy through zoning regulation and to provide revenue for education and social services by levying property taxes on the Prudhoe Bay oil installations.
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Alaska’s Local Boundary Commission approved establishment of the NSB in February of that year, and in a referendum on the matter, residents of the future North Slope Borough voted overwhelmingly in favor of incorporation. Nonetheless, seven oil companies and five industrial firms operating on the North Slope filed suit to halt its establishment. The companies asserted that taxing their installations was the sole reason for the creation of the NSB, and that they would receive no benefit from a municipal-type government. The court, however, sided with the boundary commission and the North Slope Iñupiat. Although the NSB was created after the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and the two events are often treated as separate, much of the groundwork for the creation of the borough occurred in conjunction with land claims efforts. The establishment of the borough was in great part due to the efforts of Fred Paul, attorney for the Arctic Slope Native Association (ASNA), and Eben Hopson, who became the NSB’s first mayor. Paul saw the establishment of an Iñupiat government on Iñupiaq lands as an essential part of the land claims process. Hopson may have been more pragmatic. He viewed the establishment of the NSB as a way to assert Iñupiat control over social services, especially education. The establishment of local schools was one of Hopson’s primary goals. Up until this time, Iñupiat children were sent to Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools. Hopson, who had been denied more than a grade school education, articulated the message that for Iñupiat to control their futures, Iñupiat must control their children’s educations. The NSB manages a full range of traditional municipal activities including public safety, land-use planning, and education. In addition it has branches concerned with wildlife management and with the preservation of Iñupiaq cultural heritage. The borough also operates Ilisagvik College as a branch of the University of Alaska. The NSB was especially involved in the 1977 conflict with the International Whaling Commission over bowhead whaling. With the support of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) and the Barrow Whaling Captain’s Association, the borough organized the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC) to fight the proposed ban on Inuit whaling. The NSB funded its own scientific study of bowhead populations and successfully overturned the whaling ban. After its initial conflict with oil companies, the NSB has become a champion of hydrocarbon development in the Arctic, and Iñupiaq leaders and NSB officials have consistently fought for more and greater extraction of oil and gas from arctic lands, and have lobbied for the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil extraction. At the
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same time, the NSB has consistently fought offshore oil extraction, which it believes is potentially damaging to the marine ecosystem and to whaling. NORTHERN QUEBEC INUIT ASSOCIATION (NQIA). Precursor to the Makivik Corporation. The NQIA was founded at Inukjuak in 1972 in part through the efforts of the Canadian government. The NQIA quickly became the most prominent Inuit political organization in Nunavik, undercutting attempts by Inuit and others involved with the Fédération des Coopératives du Nouveau-Québec to use the co-ops to establish a regional municipal government within the province of Quebec. Charlie Watt, who was then employed by the federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, became the first president of NQIA. Other leaders were also federal employees. The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) signed in 1975 was the primary accomplishment of the NQIA, but it was also instrumental in gaining government support for Inuttitutlanguage broadcasting projects. See also LAND CLAIMS; SELFGOVERNMENT; TAQRAMUIT NIPINGAT INC. NORTHWEST ARCTIC NATIVE ASSOCIATION (NANA). Indigenous rights organization established in 1966 to represent the interests of the Iñupiat of northwest Alaska. With the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971, NANA reorganized as the NANA Corporation. In 1972 NANA Corporation divided, with the original NANA becoming Mauneluk Association (later Maniilaq Association). Maniilaq, a regional nonprofit Native corporation is the provider of health, employment, and social services in the NANA Region. NANA Corporation, Maniilaq Association, and the Northwest Arctic Borough (incorporated in 1986) are potent economic, social, and political forces in the region and in Alaska as a whole. See also HENSLEY, WILLIE; IÑUPIAT ILITQUSIAT. NORTON TRADITION. Prehistoric cultural tradition from Alaska archeologically dated between 2000 BC and 200 BC. The Norton Tradition encompasses three cultural phases: Choris, Norton, and Ipiutak. In addition to stone tools similar to those of the earlier Denbigh Flint complex, Norton Tradition sites contain pottery and qullit. One of the best-known sites, Ipiutak in northwest Alaska, contained more than 60 semi-subterranean houses. See also ARCHITECTURE; THULE TRADITION.
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NULIAJUK. See SEA WOMAN MYTH. NUNAVIK. Political designation of the region of northern Quebec defined through land claims negotiations as part of the traditional lands of Inuit. The name currently refers to lands north of the 55th parallel and within the provincial boundaries of Quebec. This 660,000-square-kilometer region has had several names. Prior to Canadian confederation it was designated as part of Rupert’s Land and was administered for Britain by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Rupert’s Land was incorporated into Canada’s North-West Territories in 1870, and the area that is now Nunavik became part of the province of Quebec in 1912. The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) refers to the territory as the Kativik Region. The appellation Nunavik emerged out of place name and land-use surveys conducted in the 1970s in support of Inuit land claims. Boundaries established by nation-states through political processes frequently ignore the geographic sensibilities and preferences of a region’s inhabitants. This is the case for Nunavik. The Inuit elders surveyed about their traditional land use applied the name Nunavik to a much larger region—encompassing lands and offshore areas in both Quebec and Labrador. Nunavik, as a political entity, refers solely to the Inuit lands within Quebec covered by the provisions of the JBNQA. It consists of 15 communities dispersed along the coasts of Ungava Bay, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay. The population is overwhelmingly Inuit. Following the precedent set by the creation of the Nunavut Territory, the Inuit of Nunavik led by Makivik Corporation began negotiations for regional self-government. In 1999 representatives of Makivik Corporation and the governments of Quebec and Canada signed the Nunavik Accord establishing the framework for those negotiations. NUNAVIK ACCORD. Political agreement between the governments of Canada and Quebec and the Nunavik Party to negotiate a regional government plan for Nunavik. The agreement, which was signed in June 1999, created a commission charged with hammering out the new governmental arrangements for Nunavik. Rather than Inuit selfgovernment, the accord anticipates a new public government for Nunavik similar to that of the Nunavut Territory but without the same degree of autonomy as a distinct territory. The new regional government would remain part of the province of Quebec, but would replace the highly decentralized arrangements created by the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA). The Nunavik Accord, like
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other Inuit self-government proposals, is part of a global movement to use the principles of federalism to accommodate minority populations within modern nation states. The Nunavik Commission was created in November 1999, and in March 2001 released a consensus report entitled Amiqqaaluta – Let Us Share on the framework for a Nunavik Government. The report calls for the creation of a Nunavik Assembly and a district court. Inuttitut, along with English and French, would be a protected and official language. The Nunavik Government would have the authority to generate revenue through taxation and fees. Finally, the proposal anticipates the consolidation of Nunavik’s various governmental and quasigovernmental authorities such as Avataq, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, the Kativik Regional Government, and the Kativik School Board into a single Nunavik Government. As with the governmental arrangements established by the JBNQA, the Nunavik Accord has met strong opposition from some groups that should be party to the negotiations. In particular the Kativik School Board, which has enjoyed a great deal of autonomy under the previous arrangements, has challenged the consensus report claiming that it does not provide adequate protection of local control over education. See also MAKIVIK CORPORATION. NUNAVIK PARTY. Consortium of regional organizations in Nunavik established in 1999 for the purposes of negotiating a new regional government in Nunavik. The consortium, composed of the Makivik Corporation, the Kativik Regional Government, the Kativik School Board, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, and the Kativik Regional Development Council, represents the interests of Inuit on the Nunavik Commission. The creation of the Nunavik Party consolidates Inuit stakeholders into a single entity headed by the politically dominant Makivik Corporation, and thus may serve to suppress dissident views regarding the development of Inuit self-government in Nunavik. See also JAMES BAY AND NORTHERN QUEBEC AGREEMENT; NUNAVIK ACCORD. NUNAVUT. See NUNAVUT LAND CLAIMS AGREEMENT; NUNAVUT TERRITORY. NUNAVUT CONSTITUTIONAL FORUM. Committee formed in 1983 to investigate and plan for an Inuit-dominated Nunavut Territory in the eastern half of the Northwest Territories (NWT). Its counterpart in the western NWT was known as the Western Constitutional Forum.
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The two committees developed from the division of the Constitutional Alliance, an earlier consortium of indigenous and nonindigenous political stakeholders interested in constitutional development in the NWT. Among the most difficult issues tackled by the two constitutional forums was the location of the boundary dividing the territories. The boundary line negotiated by the two groups and contained in the Iqaluit Agreement was never ratified due to opposition from Dene and Métis. See also LAND CLAIMS; NUNAVUT LAND CLAIMS AGREEMENT; NUNAVUT TUNNGAVIK INC. NUNAVUT IMPLEMENTATION COMMISSION (NIC). Entity created in 1993 to advise Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories on the creation of governance structures and other matters related to the establishment of the Nunavut Territory. Longtime land claims negotiator and Inuit political leader John Amagoalik chaired the NIC. The primary goal of the NIC was to design a public (nonethnic) government for Nunavut that reflected the sensibilities and values of the majority Inuit population while working within the constraints of the Canadian federal state. Many of the NIC proposals were adopted; however, its proposal for gender parity within the Nunavut Assembly was soundly defeated in a plebiscite. The NIC dissolved on April 1, 1999 with the creation of the Nunavut Territory. NUNAVUT LAND CLAIMS AGREEMENT. Land claims settlement between the Inuit of the eastern Canadian Arctic (represented by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.) and the government of Canada. The Nunavut agreement, which was ratified by the Canadian Parliament in June 1993, took nearly 17 years to negotiate. It is the largest Canadian aboriginal land claims settlement to date. In the agreement Nunavut Inuit exchanged aboriginal title to their traditional lands covering approximately two million square kilometers for fee simple title to approximately 350,000 square kilometers of land; co-management of wildlife, environmental protection, and resource development; C$1.15 billion in capital transfer payments, as well as a share of future federal government royalties from mineral and hydrocarbon development. Significantly, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement also provided for the establishment of the separate, majority-Inuit Nunavut Territory. The modern land claims era in Canada began in the 1970s with recognition by the Canadian courts and the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau that Inuit and other aboriginal Canadians did possess
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some sort of aboriginal rights to their traditional lands. The Trudeau government also came to believe that the existing administration of aboriginal communities was socially destructive, and it sought to develop institutions that better integrated Inuit and First Nations communities within Canada. To that end, the Trudeau government funded the creation of several aboriginal organizations including Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (now Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami) to represent the social and political interests of Canadian aboriginal groups. In retrospect, it is clear that the government officials who initiated these changes never envisioned such comprehensive land claims. In 1976 Inuit Tapirisat submitted a proposal for the settlement of land claims of all Inuit in the Northwest Territories including the Inuvialuit. This initial proposal called for the creation of a separate Nunavut Territory, which at the time was rejected by government negotiators. The Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE), eager to settle the Inuvialuit land claims, withdrew from Inuit Tapirisat and pursued separate negotiations. Inuit Tapirisat withdrew its initial proposal and in 1979 issued a position paper entitled “Political Development in Nunavut” which reaffirmed the intent to negotiate a land claims settlement which included the creation of a separate Inuit territory. Negotiations were only sporadic at first, and in 1982 Inuit Tapirisat transferred the authority to negotiate to the newly formed Tungavik Federation of Nunavut. An agreement-in-principle which included acceptance of a plan to divide the Northwest Territories was initialed in 1990 and the claim was formally settled in 1993. The Nunavut Land Claims agreement is similar to other modern land claims agreements in North America in that it created a shareholder corporation to manage the settlement lands and monies. The agreement is unique, however, in the self-government opportunities it permits. NUNAVUT TERRITORY. Newly created political region within Canada. The Nunavut Territory was established on April 1, 1999 as a side agreement to the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Nunavut, which means “our land” in Inuktitut, was accomplished through the division of the Northwest Territories (NWT). The 28 overwhelmingly Inuit communities in the eastern NWT and the surrounding lands became the new Nunavut Territory. The population of Nunavut was 27,500 in 1999. Nunavut’s largest town, Iqaluit (c.4,500 people), is the territorial capital. The Nunavut Territory covers approximately two million square kilometers and extends from Baffin Island west to the middle of Victoria Island and from the northern tip of Ellesmere Island south to the
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Manitoba border. Much of the territory lies north of the Arctic Circle. The entire territory lies north of the tree line and is a region of continuous permafrost. Nonetheless, there is great geological diversity—the mainland portions of the territory and Baffin Island are part of the Canadian Shield while much of the western region of Nunavut is younger sedimentary rocks. Nunavut has abundant wildlife including caribou, musk oxen, foxes, and walruses, as well as several species of seals and whales. This wildlife remains an important part of the diets of Nunavut residents. Nunavut has a public government, rather than an aboriginal government, but because approximately 85 percent of the territorial population is Inuit the Nunavut government does provide an opportunity for Inuit self-government. To this end, the Nunavut Territorial Assembly, like that of the Northwest Territories, has no political parties and legislates on a consensus basis. Additionally, the government has made efforts to decentralize both the bureaucracy and decision-making, and importantly, has an official policy to govern in accordance with Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit or Inuit indigenous knowledge. Inuktitut, French, and English are the official languages of Nunavut. Nunavut has a mixed economy based primarily on subsistence hunting, arts and crafts sales, social transfer payments, and public sector employment. Private wage employment, especially in the smaller communities, is almost nonexistent. The fur trade, which provided much of the income in Nunavut communities until the 1980s, was destroyed mostly through the efforts of international animal rights activists. As a result, Inuit in Nunavut and elsewhere have been forced to turn to other economic strategies including mining and hydrocarbon development. See also GENDER PARITY PLEBISCITE; NUNAVUT IMPLEMENTATION COMMISSION; OKALIK, PAUL. NUNAVUT TUNNGAVIK INC. (NTI). Successor organization to the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN). Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. came into being in its present form in 1993 with the settlement of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Similar to the Makivik Corporation and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, NTI was established in order to ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Nunavut agreement. As such it administers the Inuit-owned lands in Nunavut and is the entity responsible for the investment and distribution of the proceeds of the C$1.1 million that the Nunavut Inuit received as part of their land claims settlement. Currently, the NTI is involved in resource development on Inuit lands. The TFN was created in 1982 specifically to negotiate the Nunavut
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land claim that had previously been handled by Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (now Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami). In negotiating the claim, the TFN worked in concert with the Nunavut Constitutional Forum and held fast to the goal of creating a separate Nunavut Territory in which Inuit would be the majority. NUNGAK, ZEBEDEE (1950- ). Politician, broadcaster, and essayist. Born in Saputitligit, Nunavik, Nungak was educated in Ottawa and became active in northern politics upon his return North in the early 1970s. With Charlie Watt and others, Nungak was a founding member of the Northern Quebec Inuit Association (NQIA), which represented the Inuit of Nunavik in land claims negotiations with Canada and Quebec. He was a signer of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA), and was president of Makivik Corporation from 1995 to September 1998. Nungak has been a vocal opponent of Quebec secession from Canada. NUVALINGA, ALICE. Played Nyla, wife of Nanook, in the film Nanook of the North. Nuvalinga and the other actors provided technical assistance to filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty. She was also his common-law wife. She was the grandmother of former Pauktuutit President Martha Flaherty.
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OIL. See HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT. OKALAKATIGET SOCIETY. Communications society based in Nain, Labrador. Founded in 1982, Okalakatiget Society publishes the newsletter Kinatuinamot Ilengajuk (“To whom it may concern”) in English and Inuktitut. It also produces news, cultural affairs, and cultural radio programming carried by stations in northern Labrador in English and Inuktitut. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. OKALIK, PAUL (1964- ). First premier of the Nunavut Territory, Okalik was elected premier by the members of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly on March 5, 1999. His opponent in that race, Jack Anawak, had been widely expected to win. Okalik is also the first Inuk from the
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then Northwest Territories to earn a law degree. Born in Pangnirtung, Okalik was the youngest of 10 children. He had a difficult adolescence that was marked by drug and alcohol abuse and petty crime, but employment as a researcher and land claims negotiator with Tungavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) is reported to have helped Okalik turn his life around. OKPIK, ABRAHAM (1929-1997). A cultural broker between Inuit and Eurocanadians. Abe Okpik was best known as the administrator of and fieldworker for Project Surname. Okpik, an Inuvialuk from the Mackenzie Delta region of Canada, lived most of his adult life in Iqaluit in the eastern Canadian Arctic. In 1965 Okpik became the first Native person appointed to the Northwest Territories Council, the then governing body for the territory. Okpik is also known for his work as a translator for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry and for his essays about social change in the North. OLD BERING SEA CULTURE. Archeologically known cultural tradition from Northeastern Siberia, Saint Lawrence Island, and other islands in the Bering Sea. Archeologists generally classify Old Bering Sea Culture as the earliest manifestation of the Thule tradition. Archeologists date Old Bering Sea Culture between approximately 200 BC and AD 500. Artifacts are similar in form to those found in later Neoeskimo sites, though a major difference appears to be in some of the raw materials used. For example, polished slate is the most common material used for projectile points, ulus, and other cutting instruments. The artifact assemblages and faunal remains indicate that both mainland and islanddwelling Old Bering Sea Culture people relied almost exclusively on the sea, and especially on sea mammals for subsistence. The kinds of the tools recovered include ivory harpoon parts, float pieces, bird darts, fish spears, and pieces of kayaks and umiaks. Iron engraving tools have also been recovered, and indicate the existence of wide trade networks. Decorative art is ubiquitous at Old Bering Sea Culture sites. These include model kayaks and ivory human figurines as well as incised designs on nearly all functional items capable of taking decoration such as snow goggles, needle cases, harpoon toggles, and fishhooks. Old Bering Sea Culture developed into archeological cultures labeled Punuk in Siberia and Birnik in north Alaska.
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OPERATION SURNAME. See PROJECT SURNAME.
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PACIFIC ESKIMOS. See ALUTIIQ. PADLO, ANNIE. Elder and former contributor to Inuktitut Magazine. Originally from Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Padlo worked as an interpreter of the hospital ship C.D. Howe during the 1950s. Based on her memory of her observations during those voyages Padlo became convinced that the Inuit who were forcibly relocated from Inukjuak, Nunavik to Grise Fjord and Resolute did not suffer undue hardship. As a result, Padlo became one of the few Inuit to testify against compensation for the High Arctic Exiles. Padlo was the daughter of RCMP Special Constable Joe Panipakoocho, who in 1944 guided the St. Roch through the Northwest Passage. See also HEALTH; TUBERCULOSIS. PALEOESKIMOS. Term used by archeologists to refer to all of the prehistoric Eskimo cultures which preceded the Neoeskimo Thule tradition. See also ARCTIC SMALL TOOL TRADITION; CHORIS CULTURE; DENBIGH FLINT COMPLEX; DORSET; NORTON CULTURE. PANIGONIAK, CHARLIE (1954- ). Singer/songwriter. Fellow musician William Tagoona has called Panigoniak “the Inuit Bob Dylan.” Others have referred to him as “the Elvis Presley of the North.” Born near Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut, Panigoniak spent his early childhood in the interior of the Keewatin. His family eventually settled in Arviat, Nunavut. Panigoniak, who is often accompanied by his wife Lorna plays guitar and sings in Inuktitut in a folk-country style. His songs are about the day-to-day experiences of living in the North. Panigoniak lives in Rankin Inlet and works as a broadcaster on CBC Radio. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; MUSIC. PATSAUQ, MARKOOSIE (1942- ). Pilot, writer, and translator. Born in Inukjuak, Nunavik, Patsauq and his family were among the so-called High Arctic Exiles—Inuit who were moved from northern Quebec to Resolute and Grise Fjord by the Canadian government in 1953. Patsauq
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was the first Canadian Inuk to become a licensed pilot, but he is best known as the author of Harpoon of the Hunter (1970). The story, which was first published in the newsletter Inuttitut, is a coming-of-age story of an Inuit boy. Patsauq served on the board of directors of Panarctic Oils, Ltd. He is the older brother of political leader and newspaper columnist John Amagoalik. See also LITERATURE. PAUKTUUTIT. Inuit Women’s Association of Canada. Founded in 1983 and incorporated the next year, Pauktuutit grew out of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC). A political action group, Pauktuutit has a number of projects related to the interests of Inuit women. These include prevention of fetal alcohol syndrome, recognition of and support for traditional midwifery, prevention of family violence, protection of Inuit clothing designs as intellectual property, and other projects related to the health of Inuit families and communities. The organization is headquartered in Ottawa. See also GENDER. PETERSEN, JONATHAN (1881-1961). Kalaaleq poet, organist, linguist, and teacher. Petersen was a contemporary of Henrik Lund who was also a poet. Like Lund, Petersen’s poems were appeals for the maintenance of traditional Greenlandic values. While his poetry is generally acknowledged as part of the corpus of an early Greenlandic national literature, Petersen’s writing was not nationalist, calling instead for Greenland to develop as part of Denmark. A Christian theme is also apparent in many of his poems. See also LITERATURE. PETERSEN, PÂVIA (1904-1943). Kalaaleq poet, playwright, novelist, and Lutheran catechist. He was the son of poet Jonathan Petersen. Pâvia Petersen used imagery of nature and landscapes in his poetry. He also identified Greenlanders with other Inuit groups. Like many other Greenlandic writers of his era, Pâvia Peterson’s works have a moralist tone in which Greenlanders are chided for a lack of social maturity. See also LITERATURE. PETERSEN, ROBERT (1928- ). Anthropologist and first president of Ilisimatusarfik (University of Greenland). Petersen was born in Maniitsoq, west Greenland. Initially a teacher of Kalaallisut and Danish, Petersen studied Eskimology at the University of Copenhagen, becoming a full professor there in 1975. Petersen was one of the organizers of the 1973 Arctic Peoples Conference, and was a delegate to the founding conference of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). Petersen’s scholarship is prolific, and includes writings on Inuit linguistics,
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prehistory, material culture, social change, and social organization. In 2002 he testified in a Danish court on behalf of the Inughuit claims for aboriginal rights. PETROLEUM. See HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT. PICTURE WRITING. Neither Inuktitut nor Yupik were written languages prior to the arrival of missionaries and traders in the North. There are a few extant examples of pictorial trading records, but nonNative missionaries were responsible for developing the majority of the writing systems used by Inuit. In at least three cases, however, Alaskan Inuit associated with missions independently developed their own picture writing systems. Uyaqoq, a Yupik man from Akiachak, developed the earliest known picture writing, probably in the 1890s. His was a syllabic system, in which the symbols stood for specific Yupik words or syllables. Around 1900 Qutliuraq Ruth Ekaak, an Iñupiaq woman from Buckland, began creating another picture writing system. Eventually her daughter, Lily Savok, assisted her in fully developing the system. Unlike, Uyaqoq’s system, in Qutliuraq’s a single symbol was used to express a complete idea. The third system was created in the 1940s by Nunivak Islander Edna Kenick. She translated 49 Bible passages using her pictorial script. Both Uyaqoq and Qutliuraq used their picture writing systems as primarily mnemonic devices to remember Bible passages. Uyaqoq also used his as an aid in his preaching the Gospel. By 1914 the writing system developed by Qutliuraq was in fairly wide use as a mnemonic device among Iñupiaq Christians, particularly women, in northwest Alaska. Unlike the syllabic system introduced by missionaries to Canadian Inuit, neither picture writing system developed as a form of communication among Inuit. PITSEOLAK (1904-1983). Graphic artist. Born on Nottingham Island during her family’s migration from Nunavik to Baffin Island, Pitseolak spent her first half-century living in camps in the Foxe Peninsula region of Baffin Island. She only began drawing in her fifties after having moved into the new settlement of Cape Dorset. There she joined other artists who were part of the West Baffin Co-operative. Pitseolak’s artistic output was prolific, totalling more than 7,000 drawings and 250 limited edition prints. Her drawings are intricate and detailed depictions of presettlement camp life. She is the author, with Dorothy Eber, of the oral autobiography Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life (1971). Pitseolak was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Artists (1974)
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and awarded the Order of Canada (1977). See also ARTS. PITSEOLAK, PETER (1902-1973). Artist, photographer, historian, and community leader. Born near present-day Cape Dorset, Nunavut, his accomplishments as a photographer made him one of the Canadian Inuit best known to non-Inuit. Along with his photographs, Peter Pitseolak’s successful efforts to record the history of his community and traditional stories and practices are enormously valuable records of the presettlement era on southern Baffin Island. He is the author, with Dorothy Eber, of two posthumous volumes: People from Our Side (1975) and Peter Pitseolak’s Escape from Death (1977). It is reported that Pitseolak first learned about photography as a documentary tool from Nanook of the North filmmaker Robert Flaherty and explorer Donald MacMillan whom he met around 1913 and 1921, respectively. It was not until the 1940s, however, that Pitseolak began making his own documentary photographs. Remarkably, with the help of his second wife, Aggeok, he managed to develop his film in a snowhouse. His photographs of Inuit family life possess an intimacy that is generally absent from photographs of Inuit made by non-Inuit. In addition to portraits of family life, Pitseolak used photography to record cultural activities that he recognized as disappearing. He also asked family members to act out myths and historical events, which he captured as series of stop-action still photos. Like Taamusi Qumaq and several others of his generation, Peter Pitseolak felt driven to record the details of traditional Inuit life before they were lost. In addition, he kept records in syllabic script of community life including births, deaths, weather, movements of people, arrivals of strangers, etc., and promoted himself to non-Native administrators as the official record keeper for the community. See also ARTS; LITERATURE. POLAR INUIT. See INUGHUIT. POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. Human activity outside the Arctic has produced dangerously high levels of environmental pollutants in the Circumpolar North. These pollutants include heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, radioactive wastes, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such DDT, PCBs, dioxin, and other industrial chemicals and by-products. A monitoring and assessment program untaken by the Arctic Council since the mid-1990s has shown that human and animal populations in some parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North are at serious health risk from these pollutants.
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Most arctic pollutants are produced and enter the environment in temperate zones. They then reach the North via atmospheric and riverine pathways. Once in the North, the arctic atmosphere acts as a cold trap for airborne pollutants, which travel on warm air currents and are deposited with drops in temperature. The cold arctic climate also slows the natural degradation of the pollutants, and thus these industrial compounds remain in the North and enter the food chain. Heavy metals and POPs are not processed by the body, but rather are stored in the fatty tissues of animals and of people who consume them. Because Inuit diets based on subsistence hunting are rich in animal fats the health effects for humans are magnified. Some northern pollutants have been produced by recent human activity in the North. These include wastes, especially PCBs, produced by military establishments, and mercury contamination caused by the James Bay and other hydroelectric projects. In the latter case, flooding created by the dams moved harmless, natural soil-bound mercury into the water where it was converted to harmful methyl mercury, contaminating fish and marine mammals. Hydrocarbon development and mining also cause environmental damage to Inuit lands with the bestknown example being the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, but pipelines and seismic activities are also damaging to the environment. Inuit, especially through the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and the Arctic Council, have fought to call attention to and halt the degradation of their traditional lands. See also CLIMATE CHANGE; INUIT REGIONAL CONSERVATION STRATEGY; JAMES BAY AND NORTHERN QUEBEC AGREEMENT; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH; PROJECT CHARIOT. POULSEN, KRISTEN (1910-1951). Lutheran catechist, poet, and novelist. Poulsen’s pastoral work took him to many places in Greenland, and he wrote poetry aimed at uniting people from the various regions of Greenland. His posthumously published novel, Angákoq Papik “Papik the Shaman,” was based on the life of an Iit former shaman he had met in his travels. See also ANGAKKUQ; LITERATURE. PROJECT CHARIOT. A project of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to detonate a series of nuclear devices at Cape Thompson, Alaska near the Iñupiaq communities of Point Hope, Kivalina, and Noatak. Project Chariot was part of the AEC’s Operation Plowshares, which was reported to be an effort to develop peaceful uses for nuclear weapons. The explosions, which were tentatively scheduled to occur in 1962, were said to be an effort to create a deepwater harbor for future
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shipments of minerals, coal, and other non-renewal resources believed to exist in the region. The Iñupiat residents of the region were not consulted about the proposal, and only learned of it from a visiting missionary in 1959. The following year AEC representatives visited Point Hope and denied any health and environmental dangers from the project. In March 1961 the Point Hope village council wrote a letter to President John F. Kennedy opposing Project Chariot. Scientists at the University of Alaska as well as peace and environmental groups also opposed the project. The Tundra Times newspaper was founded in part to inform Alaska Natives about the threat from Project Chariot. The AEC scrapped the project in 1962. It did proceed, however, with a project to bury radioactive materials at the Cape Thompson site in order to simulate radioactive fallout, and to determine if nuclear fallout could contaminate groundwater. The latter project remained secret until 1992. Many residents of Point Hope believe that they suffer an abnormally high incidence of cancers as a result of 30 years of exposure to radioactive waste. See also IÑUPIAT PAITOT; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. PROJECT INUKSHUK. See INUKSHUK PROJECT. PROJECT SURNAME. Canadian government project to assign surnames to Inuit. Beginning in the 1940s Canada used disc numbers to identify individual Inuit for all official purposes. By the 1960s, however, individual Inuit began to object to this arbitrary and impersonal form of identification. In response to these Inuit complaints, Canada launched Project Surname to assign surnames to all Canadian Inuit. Abe Okpik, the first Inuk to serve on the Northwest Territories Council, was hired to direct Project Surname. During the early 1970s Okpik traveled to every Inuit community in the Northwest Territories and Nunavik registering Inuit with surnames. Adult men generally took their Inuit names as surnames. Married women were assigned their husband’s surname and children were given the names of their fathers. Project Surname was expected to create official, standard Inuit names, but the absence of a single, standard orthography or writing system meant that many names were spelled oddly. Subsequent efforts to correct spellings have sometimes led to confusion as individuals are identified by names spelled several different ways. See also AVATAQ CULTURAL INSTITUTE; IRNIQ, PETER; MICHAEL, SIMONIE. PUNGOWIYI, CALEB. Science advisor and environmental activist. Pun-
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gowiyi, a Yupik Eskimo, was born and raised in Savoonga on Saint Lawrence Island. Pungowiyi is particularly concerned with the effects of global warming and changes in sea ice on the marine mammals and the Yupik and Iñupiaq peoples who depend on them. He advocates for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in environmental policy. He has served on numerous science advisory boards including the Alaska Native Science Commission, the Polar Research Board Committee on Bering Sea Ecosystems, the Committee of Scientific Advisors for the Marine Mammal Commission, the Advisory Panel on Arctic Impacts from Soviet Nuclear Contamination, the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Advisory Committee, the Bering Straits Regional Commission, the Alaska Coastal Policy Council, and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. He is a former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) and former executive director of the Alaska Eskimo Walrus Commission.
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QAJAQ. See KAYAK. QALGI. Iñupiaq traditional ceremonial or men’s house. Unlike the Yupik qasgi, qalgit (pl.) were not used for sleeping, but rather were places for related men to congregate, work, tell stories, and conduct rituals. Villages frequently had two or more qalgit, each associated with an extended family. While these were formally “men’s” houses, women and girls were frequent visitors, especially in the evenings. Qalgit, which traditionally were the site of the Nalukataq and Messenger Feasts, all but disappeared in the 1960s. Since the 1980s some communities have rebuilt qalgit as cultural centers and sites for the transmission of indigenous knowledge. See also ARCHITECTURE. QALLUNAQ (qallunaat pl.). Inuktitut term for a white person. See also KASS’AQ. QARIGI. See QALGI; QASGI. QARGI. See QALGI.
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QARMAQ. One of several types of dwellings constructed by Central Inuit in the presettlement era. A qarmaq was both tent and snowhouse or tent and sodhouse, and was used in spring and fall when the weather meant that neither summer tents nor winter snowhouses could provide a warm and dry living space. The lower portion (up to about 5-6 feet) of the qarmaq was constructed of either snow blocks or of stone and turf while the upper portion was made of either skins or canvas. Evidence from Thule period archeological sites indicates that the qarmaq has a long tradition in Inuit culture. See also ARCHITECTURE; THULE TRADITION. QASGI. Yupik ceremonial or men’s house. Usually located near the center of villages, qasgit (pl.) were the center of village social life. In some ways the qasgi should be compared to a schoolhouse. It was a place where men and boys gathered to relax, to repair tools, to discuss events, and to tell stories. Men’s places in the qasgi reflected their status in the community. Although men worked and often slept in these large communal structures, women and girls were frequent visitors, bringing meals and staying to listen to stories. Qasgit were also used for sweat baths, and importantly, dances, feasts and ceremonies took place in them. See also BLADDER FEAST; QALGI. QILLAQ (? -c.1870). Shaman and isumataq. Qillaq is remembered as the leader of a group of Inuit who, in the 1850s, traveled from the Pond Inlet region of Baffin Island, north through Ellesmere Island and across Smith Sound into Greenland. Qillaq and his followers settled among the Inughuit. The arrival of the Baffin Inuit was likely fortuitous for the Inughuit, who because of their isolation and small numbers had lost the ability to make several important items of hunting technology. The Baffin Inuit reintroduced both the kayak and the bow and arrow. Oral histories differ with regard to the exact details of the migration. Some reports suggest that Qillaq and his followers had moved from south-central Baffin Island to avoid retribution for a murder he had committed. Others accounts indicate that during a shamanic séance, Qillaq had a vision of Inuit living to the North. In any event, sometime around 1855, Qillaq and approximately 38 followers left Baffin Island heading north. Some two years into their journey more than half of the party decided the return to Baffin Island. The remaining 15 or so continued north, reaching Greenland after about three years’ travel. While en route Qillaq and his party encountered at least two British Naval vessels. The crews of those ships confirmed for them the existence of Inuit living on the opposite side of Smith Sound.
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Qillaq and company remained with the Inughuit for about six years before deciding to return to Baffin Island. Some Inughuit chose to accompany them on their return trip. Apparently the return journey was fraught with hardship and starvation. Several years later, two of the Baffin families returned to Greenland where they remained and were absorbed into the Inughuit population. QITDLARSSUAQ. See QILLAQ. QITLAQ. See QILLAQ. QUEBEC SECESSION FROM CANADA, INUIT ATTITUDES TOWARD. Since the 1960s there has been a political movement within francophone Quebec to separate from Canada. Referenda aimed at secession in 1980 and 1995 were ultimately unsuccessful; however, the later ballot failed by a single percentage point. Both times, Inuit and First Nations opposition to the secession referendum was substantial. This opposition was rooted in the history of relations between the province and northern aboriginal peoples. In 1912 Canada transferred the region of Nunavik, then known as Rupert’s Land, from the Northwest Territories to the province of Quebec. According to some, this administrative move left the Nunavik Inuit and other northern Natives without adequate services and social support as the provincial government largely ignored its legal obligations to administer the northern regions. The federal government continued to support schools and clinics in Native communities, but had limited legal authority. Only in the 1960s did Quebec attempt to meet its administrative responsibilities to the residents of Nunavik. One way it did this was to take over the provision of schooling. The Parti Québécois victory in the 1976 provincial elections was followed by policies that mandated French as the official language including for school instruction. The Québécois government may have viewed this as an exercise of francophone sovereignty over francophone territory, but many Nunavik Inuit saw it as an assault on their own sovereignty. Other events, especially the James Bay hydroelectric dam project, further impinged on the aboriginal rights of Native peoples of Northern Quebec. Quebec pressed its claims of sovereignty within Canada throughout the 1970s and 1980s, claiming among other things that francophone Quebec is a “distinct society” entitled to govern itself according to its own values. The Québécois did not, however, support, indigenous claims to self-government and language rights. Instead, when Inuit protested the imposition of the French language in Nunavik schools,
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the Quebec government responded with riot police. The language issue, combined with the previous experience of neglect by Quebec, led the Inuit, Cree, and other First Nations to believe that their own interests would be better served by Canada than by Quebec. Thus, they vociferously opposed Quebec secession and threaten to secede from Quebec should Quebec secede from Canada. The Nunavik Inuit, along with the Grand Council of the Crees, and several Innu and Montagnais communities held a separate referendum on the issue of Quebec secession a week prior to the official October 1995 province-wide referendum. In it the Native communities registered more than 90 percent of the voters opposed to separation from Canada. See also INUIT COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL ISSUES; JAMES BAY AND NORTHERN QUEBEC AGREEMENT; LAND CLAIMS; NUNGAK, ZEBEDEE; WATT, CHARLIE. QULITALIK, PAULOOSIE (1939- ). Actor and filmmaker. Qulitalik, a unilingual Inuktitut-speaker, is co-founder of Igloolik Isuma Productions and is its cultural director. Qulitalik plays leading roles in all of Isuma’s productions, and was cast as the shaman bearing his name (his atiq) in the feature film Atanarjuat. Isuma’s 13-part Nunavut video series, set in 1945, was filmed at Qulitalik’s outpost camp and features him and his extended family. See also ANGAKKUQ. QULLIQ. Stone lamp in which seal oil was burned to provide warmth and light in a snowhouse. The qulliq was frequently made of soapstone. Traditionally, tending the qulliq was the responsibility of women. See also GENDER. QUMAQ, TAAMUSI (1914-1993). Historian of the Inuit of Nunavik. Qumaq, who had no formal schooling, created both a 30,000-word Inuktitut dictionary and an encyclopedia of Inuit indigenous knowledge. He also developed a museum, which he named Saputi meaning “weir,” in his home community of Puvirnituq in order to preserve Inuit culture from the “river of time.” Qumaq was a founding member of the co-operative at Puvirnituq, and chaired the Puvirnituq community council between 1962 and 1968. He was a vocal opponent of the James Bay and Northern Quebec land claims agreement signed by the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, and led a challenge to that agreement. See also JAMES BAY AND NORTHERN QUEBEC AGREEMENT. QUTLIURAQ. See EKAAK, QUTLIURAQ RUTH.
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RADDI, SAM (1931- ). Inuvialuit leader. Raddi was an early member and former president of the Committee for Original People's Entitlement (COPE). As such he championed several aboriginal rights causes, especially land claims. Raddi led the Inuvialuit delegation at the 1977 founding meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) where he spoke on behalf of a proposal to establish an international legal fund to support Inuit land claims. Raddi also lobbied the International Whaling Commission to permit indigenous whaling. RADIO GREENLAND. See KALAALLIT-NUNAATA RADIOA. REGIONAL CORPORATIONS. See NATIVE CORPORATIONS; See also ARCTIC SLOPE REGIONAL CORPORATION; INUVIALUIT REGIONAL CORPORATION; LABRADOR INUIT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION; MAKIVIK CORPORATION; NUNAVUT TUNNGAVIK INC. RELIGION. Historically there was remarkable similarity of religious practice and cosmological belief across the Inuit Circumpolar North, which undoubtedly is a consequence of the relatively recent divergence of Inuit and Yupik cultures. Numerous spirits that could assist humans or could cause them trouble populated the Inuit and Yupik worlds. The spirits could cause illness or hunting misfortune, especially if humans violated any of a large number of taboos or behaved in ways that were disrespectful of animals or of other humans. When this happened, it usually fell to an angakkuq (shaman) to diagnose the cause of the trouble which he or she did by going into trance. But far from being benevolent religious practitioners, powerful angakkuit (pl.) often used their spiritual skills to extract sexual or other favors. Inuit and Yupiit believed, and many still believe, that animals and many natural objects have a soul or life force (yua, in Yupik) that may take human form and interact with humans from time to time. Many animals, especially bears and seals, are thought to be able to hear human words and thoughts. When an animal dies, its yua retreats into its bladder to be later reborn in another animal. Because animals were be-
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lieved to give themselves to hunters who showed them respect, it behooved hunters to be generous with their catch and to act in ways that did not give offense to either humans or animals. The actions of hunters’ wives were also important in pleasing animals. Thus, women, as the processors and preparers of game and skins, shared in the cosmological basis of subsistence. Christian missionaries were integral to the Danish, Russian, American, and Canadian colonization of the Inuit Circumpolar North, providing schools, health care, and often trade goods along with the new beliefs. Christian missionaries of various sects played an important role in the development the North. While most worked to stamp out any activity, such as drum dancing, that might be regarded as a pagan religious practice, they also were responsible for developing some of the first and most comprehensive dictionaries and grammars for Inuktitut and Yupik. Missionaries also recorded information about traditional Inuit spirituality that otherwise would have been lost. Today most Inuit and Yupiit are at least nominally Christian, and Inuit and Yupiit have become ordained ministers and lay leaders in their churches. Many of the early Greenlandic leaders, in particular, were pastors or lay catechists. The flag for the Nunavut Territory is dominated by an inukshuk in the shape of a crucifix, and Christian beliefs have been invoked in recent debates there over gay rights and gender parity. Several recent social movements combine values associated with Christianity and traditional Inuit culture. These include Iñupiat Ilitqusiat and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. See also ATIQ; BLADDER FEAST; INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE; SEA WOMAN MYTH. RELOCATIONS, FORCED. Colonization makes itself felt in many different ways. Throughout history, indigenous peoples have found themselves shunted about, dispossessed of their homes and their lands, and relocated to distant regions according to the needs of colonizers. Inuit communities across the Circumpolar North faced many involuntary relocations in the 20th century. These forced migrations were a very real sign of their powerlessness within the nations which controlled their lands. Over time, however, the relocations served to politicize Inuit to fight for aboriginal rights. In most cases, Inuit were moved for reasons other than the confiscation of their lands. In at least a few cases, however, it was the desire for the land that led colonial administrators to uproot Inuit communities. In each of these cases, Cold War tensions were the root cause. In 1958 Soviet authorities closed the Yupik villages of Chaplino and Naukan
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and relocated the residents to the mainland. A few years earlier they had removed the last Iñupiaq residents of Big Diomede Island on which they had constructed a military base. Little is known about the social consequences of these moves. The 1953 removal of 116 Inughuit from Uummannaq, Greenland is well documented. These 27 families were forcibly relocated to Qaanaaq 150 kilometers north of their homes to permit the expansion of Thule Air Force Base by the U.S. military. Although some members of the hunters’ council were consulted prior to the move, decisions were made without informing the wider community. Repeated requests from the Inughuit for compensation for the social disruption and their economic losses were ignored or denied. In 1999, four and a half decades after the Uummannaq families were uprooted, a Danish court awarded financial compensation to the surviving relocatees. Their case continues to affect Greenland politics, and the continued existence of an American military base in Greenland is an ongoing source of stress in the relationship between Greenland and Denmark. In Canada, involuntary relocations of Inuit communities were the consequence of other factors. The most notorious cases occurred in the 1950s and seem to be the result of colonial administrators’ fears that Inuit were becoming too sedentary and too dependent upon government resources. A number of researchers have suggested that, at least in the case of the High Arctic relocations, Canada was also motivated by sovereignty concerns and used the Inuit relocatees as “human flagpoles.” In 1953, citing concerns about the wildlife populations and food security, the Canadian government moved seven families from Inukjuak (Port Harrison), Nunavik to what eventually became the Nunavut towns of Grise Fjord and Resolute. Another four families followed in 1955. In addition, several families from the north Baffin community of Pond Inlet were brought to help acclimatize the Inukjuak families to the much harsher conditions of the High Arctic. The Inukjuak families, who have become known as the High Arctic Exiles, were repeatedly refused permission to return to their homes on Hudson Bay. It was only in 1987 that the Canadian government agreed to help the families who wished to leave. Ten years after that the government agreed to compensate the High Arctic Exiles for their suffering. While the case of the High Arctic Exiles is perhaps the best known of the forced relocations, there were many other episodes in which Inuit were suddenly uprooted from their homes and communities at the whim of colonial administrators. Also during the 1950s the Canadian government repeatedly relocated a group of Keewatin Inuit who the
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government believed had become dependent on handouts from the staff of a radar station. These Inuit, known as the Ahiarmiut, or Ennadai Lake Inuit, were moved without adequate supplies or hunting equipment and as a result many starved to death in the winter of 1957-1958. Their tragedy received considerable attention in the Canadian press and eventually led to changes in Canadian policy toward Inuit and the building of permanent Inuit settlements in the Canadian North. Forced relocations were still occurring in Canada as recently as 1978. On February 8, 1978, in the wee hours of the morning, the Inuit residents of one “permanent” settlement, Killiniq (Port Burwell), were told to gather their possessions, that in a few hours they were to be evacuated from their town which sat at the point where the borders of Quebec, Labrador, and the Northwest Territories (later Nunavut) met. The reasons for this evacuation were never made clear. Although the town officially lay within the Northwest Territories, the land claims of the Killiniq Inuit had been extinguished three years earlier without their assent by the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA). Apparently rather than provide medical, educational, or other social services to Killiniq, the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories opted to close the town. The approximately 200 Killiniq Inuit were dispersed to already overcrowded communities in northern Nunavik. In 1988 the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories agreed to financially compensate this group of involuntary migrants. See also GREENLAND, HOME RULE; GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH. REX VERSUS SINNISAK AND ULUKSUK. See SINISIAQ; ULOQSAQ. ROCK, HOWARD (1911-1976). Founder and editor of the Tundra Times newspaper. Born Howard Weyahok, Rock was an Iñupiaq from Point Hope, Alaska. He lived for a time in Seattle where he attended the University of Washington and supported himself as an artist. After a stint in the Army during World War II, Rock returned to Point Hope, where he became involved in the fight against Project Chariot. He attended the founding meeting of Iñupiat Paitot, where he was “drafted” to begin a newspaper. The result was the Tundra Times, the first statewide Native newspaper in Alaska, which Rock edited until his death. Rock is the subject of the biography Art and Eskimo Power by journalist Lael Morgan. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING.
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ROSING, HANS-PAVIA (1948- ). First president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). Rosing, a Greenlander, has been active in Greenlandic and international indigenous politics throughout his adult life. During the 1970s he was a member of the general council of Peqatiqiit Kalaallit, the association of Greenlanders in Denmark, and was a founding member of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. He served two terms as president of the ICC (1980-1986), and in 1987, as a candidate for Siumut, was elected to represent Greenland in the Danish Parliament. As president of the ICC, Rosing spoke out in favor of high birthrates for Inuit as a way to assure cultural survival. When Rosing made this statement in 1983, the birthrate among Greenland Inuit was comparable to that of western European countries. Inuit in Canada and in Alaska, however, had much higher fertility rates than the general population, and public health officials and government bureaucrats in those countries were trying to reduce Inuit fertility. It appears that Rosing’s speech on growing the Inuit population had little or no effect, because fertility rates, at least among Canadian Inuit, have dropped significantly. In addition to his political activities, Rosing is also a playwright and actor.
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SAMBO, DALEE. See DOROUGH, DALEE SAMBO. SEA WOMAN MYTH. The Sea Woman is a principal figure of traditional Inuit cosmology. Known by several names including nuliajuk (the lecherous one), Sedna (the one down there), niqilik (there is food), and arngnaluk (the big, bad woman), the Sea Woman was believed to control the movements of sea mammals on which Inuit depended for food. She would withhold the sea mammals if Inuit violated taboos. Thus, Sea Woman could control Inuit survival. As with most traditional stories there are many variations of the Sea Woman myth. In one version a young girl who had refused to marry the man chosen by her parents is seduced into marrying a sea bird masquerading as a handsome kayaker/hunter. She only discovers the deception after he has carried her away to a distant land. Though she despairs, she remains with her improper husband until her family arrives
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the following summer to rescue her from the inappropriate liaison. Secretly, they row away in an umiak. When her absence is discovered her husband takes off in pursuit, eventually catches up with the fleeing girl and her family, and demands her return. The family refuses to give up their daughter. Angered at the refusal, the sea bird raises a storm that threatens to swamp the umiak. In order to save themselves the family throws the girl into the sea, but she clings to the side of the boat. The storm continues to rage, and so her father cuts off her fingers joint by joint. The girl sinks to the bottom of the sea and her fingers are transformed into sea mammals. The girl grows old and lonely in her home at the bottom of the sea. Without her fingers she is unable either to sew or to care for her appearance. Sea mammals become caught in her hair. When the Sea Woman is especially angry with humans she raises storms and prevents them from capturing seals and other sea mammals. Only a sexual coupling with a shaman can encourage her to release the mammals and save humans from certain starvation. SEDNA MYTH. See SEA WOMAN MYTH. SELF-GOVERNMENT. Prior to the establishment of colonial administrations in the Arctic, Inuit lived in self-governing autonomous communities. Leaders, who had no power to compel action, were chosen on the basis of their personalities and abilities to command respect. They were almost always, if not always, male and were usually the heads of extended families. Inuit traditional culture encouraged both generosity and noninterference in the affairs of others. Adults were presumed to be capable of thoughtful and independent action, and it was considered improper to question an individual’s motives or to demand compliance. People cooperated and got along because their survival depended on doing so. Under colonialism, missionaries, police, and other colonial administrators imposed new forms of government that rarely accorded authority to Inuit values or traditional forms of governance. Instead Inuit have been incorporated into modern nation-states which regulated family life, education, health care, subsistence hunting, etc. At the same time they are part of national and international indigenous rights movements and have struggled for rights to govern their communities in accordance with their own values. The results have differed across the Inuit Circumpolar North, but in no cases have Inuit achieved full selfgovernment based on ethnicity. Nor are Inuit able to govern themselves apart from the nations in which they reside.
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Nonetheless, some semblance of self-government has been achieved in the various parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North. Both the Home Rule government of Greenland and the Nunavut Territory in Canada are nonethnic public governments in which Inuit comprise the overwhelming majority of the population. Through land claims settlements Inuvialuit gained co-management authority over wildlife management, resource development, and other environmental matters, and since the late 1990s the government of Canada has negotiated a more comprehensive form of local self-government. The same is true in Nunavik and in Labrador. Iñupiat and Yupiit in Alaska are subject to the laws of the State of Alaska. There, too, nonethnic public governments are the norm, but some Native communities have attempted to use Indian Reorganization Act councils as a route to self-governance. The Yupiit Nation established in southwest Alaska in 1983 is the most prominent example. See also GREENLAND, INDEPENDENCE FROM DENMARK; NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH; NUNAVIK ACCORD. SENUNGETUK, JOSEPH ENGASONGWOK (1940- ). Iñupiaq artist and writer. Born in Wales, Alaska, Senungetuk attended school in Nome and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. While in San Francisco, Senungetuk helped to found the Indian Historian Press and wrote a family memoir entitled Give or Take a Century: An Eskimo Chronicle (1971). Senungetuk’s artwork is modernist and avoids stereotypical Native themes. A social activist, Senungetuk wrote a column for the Anchorage Daily News (1989-1990) and the Anchorage Gazette (1992-1994). He used his columns to comment on what he saw as a lack of public support for Native arts and cultures in Alaska and the consumer culture associated with hydrocarbon development in Alaska. He was also critical of plans to establish the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage, which he viewed as inauthentic and an exercise in nostalgia. See also LITERATURE. SEPARATIST MOVEMENT IN QUEBEC. See QUEBEC SUCCESSION FROM CANADA. SHAMAN. See ANGAKKUQ. SHAMANISM. See ANGAKKUQ; RELIGION. SIMON, MARY MAY (1947- ). Canadian ambassador for circumpolar
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affairs. Simon, from Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik, is the first Canadian Inuk to be appointed to a diplomatic post. She was appointed to represent Canada at the Arctic Council in 1994, and was also Canada’s ambassador to Denmark from 1999 to 2001. Simon has been an activist for indigenous rights throughout her adult life. As a board member of the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, and then president of Makivik Corporation (1982-1985), Simon oversaw the implementation of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. She also worked against the imposition of the French language in Nunavik. Simon was a board member of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) from 1991 to 1994, and headed the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) from 1986 to 1992. Simon’s tenure at the ICC was marked by increased Inuit international environmental activism and that organization’s participation in 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment (Rio Conference). In 1997 Simon published Inuit— One Arctic—One Future which lays out a program for Inuit international political engagement. SIMONIE. See MICHAEL, SIMONIE. SINISIAQ (?-1931). One of two Inuinnait men convicted of the 1913 murders of Oblate Catholic missionaries Jean-Baptiste Rouvière and Guillaume Le Roux near Bloody Falls on the Coppermine River. Sinisiaq and his co-defendant, Uloqsaq, had the distinction of being the first Canadian Inuit tried for a crime under the laws of the British Crown. The two men were arrested in 1916 and, along with Inuinnait witnesses and a translator (Patsy Klengenberg), were transported to Edmonton for trial in August 1917. The men were to be tried separately, and on August 17, 1917, after a three-day trial, which hinged on whether or not Sinisiaq and Uloqsaq had acted according to Inuit law and custom, Sinisiaq was acquitted of the murders of Rouvière and Le Roux. Stunned at the acquittal, the prosecution moved to have the verdict vacated. A second trial, this time in Calgary and of the two men together, was convened on August 22, 1917. This time the men were convicted and sentenced to die. The death sentence was, however, commuted by the Canadian governor general, and Sinisiaq and Uloqsaq each served approximately two years in prison. Ironically, upon their return to the Arctic, the men were employed as special constables of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
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SINNISIAK. See SINISIAQ. SIRENIKSKI. Virtually extinct Inuit language of Siberia. In 1988 there were only two living speakers. Some linguists place Sirenikski as a separate Inuit language distinct from both Inuktitut and Yupik while others feel that it may be closely related to the various dialects of the Yupik language. SIUMUT PARTY. Center-left Greenlandic political party. Siumut began as a political movement in 1971 and was formally established as a political party in 1977. The name means “Forward.” Siumut has dominated Greenland politics throughout the Home Rule period. It favors self-determination, but not separation from Denmark. In 1984 Siumut championed Greenland’s withdrawal from the European Economic Union in order to protect its fishery from European commercial fishermen. See also ATASSUT PARTY; INUIT ATAQATIGIIT; MOTZFELDT, JONATHAN. SKRAELING. Name the Norse applied to the indigenous peoples, probably Thule Eskimos, they encountered in Labrador. It is reported that the Greenlandic ethnonym, Kalaallit, derives from Skraeling. SMITH SOUND INUIT. See INUGHUIT. SNOWHOUSE. Stereotypic example of traditional Inuit architecture. Despite popular assumptions about the ubiquity of the snowhouse, this type of Inuit dwelling was used almost exclusively by Inuit living in the territory of present-day Canada. Snowhouses were the primary winter dwellings of the Canadian or Central Inuit, and large snowhouse communities (of as many as 50 people) were annually constructed on the ocean ice. During mid-winter groups of Inuit cooperated in subsistence seal hunting and other activities. Snow of a particular consistency—neither too soft nor too solid—is required to build a snowhouse. Ideally, the snow should come from a single snowfall. Generally, the snowhouse was built from the inside. As blocks of snow were cut and set in rows, this placed the floor of snowhouse below ground level for better heat conservation. Blocks of snow were laid in a circular pattern. Subsequent rows of inward sloping blocks were set on top. Sharp blows to the blocks of snow exerted enough pressure to fuse blocks together and provided structural integrity. Spaces were chinked with loose snow. After the keystone block
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was placed, an air vent was cut and a sloping entry passage was constructed. Often a window pane of freshwater ice would be installed. Sometimes small storage rooms or porches were also constructed. The domed and somewhat spherical shape of the snowhouse contributed to its ability to withstand intense winds. The sleeping platform was blanketed with skins. A qulliq provided heat and light. A snowhouse generally housed a single family. Occasionally, adjacent snowhouses were joined together with passageways, and large ceremonial and dance structures were also constructed using the same technology. Canadian Inuit stopped using snowhouses as primary dwellings once other building material became available through trade and once involvement in the fur trade took Inuit away from winter seal hunting communities. While some Inuit continue to build snowhouses during winter hunting trips, most hunters now use canvas tents even in winter. In the modern era snowhouses are most likely to be constructed for pleasure or as part of conscious cultural activities. SPIRIT MOVEMENT OF NORTHWEST ALASKA. See IÑUPIAT ILITQUSIAT. STORCH, MATHIAS (1883-1957). Kalaaleq poet and novelist. In 1914 Storch published Sinnattugaq (“The Dream”), the first novel ever written in Kalaallisut. The book is a morality tale in which the protagonist dreams of a better future for Greenland in the year 2105. Life is both materially better and Greenlanders themselves are in charge of public administration. The work was not anticolonial, but rather urged Greenlanders toward greater responsibility. See also LITERATURE. SUBSISTENCE. Like aboriginal rights, subsistence is an often vague and poorly defined term. More than simply hunting, subsistence refers to the social nature of traditional Inuit economic life. Inuit moral and traditional religious values specify that humans act in ways that display respect for the natural world that sustains them. Animals are said to give themselves to hunters whose behavior pleases them. For example fur-bearing animals are thought to be pleased when their pelts are made into beautiful garments. Other forms of respectful behavior include working hard, sharing the products of one’s labors with others, and developing an intimate knowledge of the natural world. The economy of modern Inuit communities has greatly altered the ways that Inuit live and survive. Inuit, like people everywhere, are embedded in a global economy in which cash is exchanged for manufac-
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tured products. Few individuals are totally self-sufficient. At the same time, many Inuit continue to hunt and fish, to spend time on the land, to gather traditional plant foods, and to sew skin clothing. Subsistence foods remain an important part of the diet in many Inuit communities. Additionally, the ability to engage in traditional activities gives comfort and remains an important marker of individual and community identity and social well-being. Many Inuit believe that Inuit culture can only survive as long as Inuit perpetuate Inuit traditions such as hunting. See also WHALING. SUBSISTENCE HUNTING. See SUBSISTENCE. SUGPIAQ. See ALUTIIQ. SULISARTUT PARTIAT. Short-lived political party in Greenland. Sulisartut Partiat had its origins in the trade unions, and was closely allied with the Siumut Party. SYLLABICS. A writing system for Inuktitut in which symbols are used for Inuktitut phonemes. Syllabics are an official and the preferred method for writing Inuktitut in Nunavik and most of Nunavut. Elsewhere in the North various orthographies based on the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets are employed. The syllabic writing system was based on Pitman shorthand writing. A missionary, the Reverend James Evans, developed it to transcribe the Ojibwa language. In the 1840s he adapted his system to Cree. The Cree Indians quickly and easily adopted Evans’ syllabics to communicate among themselves. In 1856 two other missionaries, John Horden and E.A. Watkins, adapted Evans’ syllabic system to Inuktitut, but writing Inuktitut in syllabics only became widely employed two decades later as a result of the work of the Reverend Edmund Peck. As part of his ministry Peck taught syllabic writing to Inuit in the Ungava region of Nunavik and the Cumberland Sound region of Baffin Island, Nunavut. As with the Cree, Inuit interested in communicating among themselves spread the writing system quickly. Parents taught syllabics to their children long before most Inuit were exposed to formal schooling. Literacy in syllabics enabled parents to communicate with children in boarding schools and contributed to the development of a secular literature in Inuktitut. Authors who wrote in syllabics include Taamusi Qumaq, Peter Pitseolak, Markoosie Patsauq, and Mitiarjuk Attasie Nappaaluk. See also PICTURE WRITING.
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TAGOONA, ARMAND (1926-1992). Artist, Anglican priest, and missionary. In 1960 Tagoona became the first Inuk to be ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church. Born in Repulse Bay, Nunavut, Tagoona spent his early years as a Catholic, but converted to Anglicanism while living with his parents in Chesterfield Inlet. Tagoona worked briefly for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Royal Canadian Air Force, both in Baker Lake, before becoming a priest. Tagoona ministered in Arviat, Rankin Inlet, and Baker Lake. From 1963 to 1975 Tagoona single-handedly wrote and published the bilingual Tusagaksat, a monthly community affairs magazine in Baker Lake, and he was a frequent contributor to Inuktitut Magazine. In 1971 he resigned from the Anglican Church, but continued to work as a Christian missionary. See also ARTS; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. TAGOONA, WILLIAM. Broadcaster, journalist, and singer/songwriter. Throughout his adult life, Tagoona has been involved in efforts to improve communications between Inuit communities. In the early 1970s he was the founding editor of the Northern Quebec Inuit Association’s Taqralik Magazine and a staff writer for Nunavik’s short-lived independent newspaper, Atuaqnik. Tagoona began working for the Northern Service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1982, working first in Rankin Inlet and then in Nunavik. He is the host of an Inuktitut-language news and cultural events program broadcast throughout the eastern Canadian Arctic on CBC Radio. Tagoona was director of communications for Makivik Corporation, and was a delegate to the first meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). In 2000 he was awarded the Aboriginal Music Lifetime Contributions Award. See also JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; MUSIC. TAQRAMUIT ILISARNILIRIVINGA KUPAIP INUNGINNUT (TIKI). The first Inuit organization in northern Quebec charged with promoting cultural education. Funding came from the Canadian federal government. In the wake of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA), TIKI lost both its mandate and funding. In 1980 it was replaced by a new cultural affairs organization, Avataq Cul-
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tural Institute, which is associated with and funded by the Makivik Corporation. TAQRAMUIT NIPINGAT INC. (TNI). Communications Society of Northern Quebec organized in 1970 to produce culturally appropriate, Inuktitut-language radio broadcasts for the communities of Nunavik. Early projects included a system of trail radios to aid hunters and trappers and network of community radio stations. In the summer of 1980 TNI began educational and entertainment television programming in Nunavik through its Naalakvik II project. See also INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION; INUKSHUK PROJECT; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. TAQULITTUQ (“HANNAH”) (1839-1876). Interpreter and principal assistant to American explorer Charles Francis Hall. Born at Cape Searle off the east coast of Baffin Island, Taqulittuq spent most of her life in the Cumberland Sound region of Baffin Island, where she and her husband Ipirvik became well acquainted with the whaling crews that gathered there. Along with Ipirvik, Taqulittuq traveled to England in 1853 for an audience with Queen Victoria. She remained in England for several years and was fully fluent in English. Taqulittuq and Ipirvik are vividly described in Hall’s memoir Life with the Esquimaux. The couple accompanied Hall on all three of his Arctic expeditions, spending time with him in the United States and accompanying him on a speaking tour following the first expedition. Following Hall’s death on his third voyage, Taqulittuq, Ipirvik, and their daughter found themselves among the group stranded for seven months on a southward-drifting ice floe. Others in the party included Captain George Tyson, Hans Hendrik, and half the crew of the Polaris. Upon their rescue, the couple traveled again to the United States. Ipirvik continued to work for explorers traveling to the Arctic, but Taqulittuq and their daughter remained behind in New England where both died, probably of tuberculosis, within a few years. TATANNUAQ (“AUGUSTUS”) (c.1795-1834). One of the earliest recorded Inuit interpreters. Tatannuaq was from the Keewatin region, and spoke Cree and English in addition to Inuktitut. He worked as an interpreter for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Churchill district. Between 1820 and 1822 he served as the interpreter for John Franklin’s Mackenzie Delta expedition. It is likely that Tatannuaq prevented the slaughter of Franklin and his crew by a group of Mackenzie Inuit after their boats became stranded at the mouth of the Mackenzie River dur-
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ing low tide. The explorers were unable to prevent the Inuit from pillaging the boats, but they eventually withdrew after Tatannuaq warned that the Englishmen would shoot them. The explorers were greatly outnumbered, and firing on the Inuit would probably have been disastrous for the stranded explorers. The explorers named a species of brown elfin butterfly (Callophrys augustinus) encountered during the expedition after Tatannuaq. Throughout the next decade Tatannuaq worked as an interpreter for various explorers, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the Moravian missionary, the Reverend John West. In 1834 he accompanied Lieutenant George Back on his expedition to the Mackenzie region. He died on that trip. TELEVISION. See INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. TELEVISION NORTHERN CANADA. See INUIT BROADCASTING CORPORATION; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING. THROAT SINGING. Traditional form of Inuit musical expression generally performed by two women who use each other’s mouths as sound boxes to resonate tones. Although there is some concern that throat singing is a dying art, there is also evidence that throat singing is being adapted to contemporary needs. There have been institutionalized efforts to promote transmission of throat-singing techniques through workshops and conferences. Also, in recent years some Inuit throat singers have had some commercial success outside of Inuit communities. For example, a young throat singer, Tanya Tagaq Gillis of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, toured with Icelandic pop star Bjork. See also MUSIC. THULE AIR FORCE BASE. See INUGHUIT; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH. THULE ESKIMOS. Whale hunting ancestors of modern Inuit who spread east from the Bering Sea coast of Alaska into arctic Canada and Greenland around a thousand years ago. See THULE TRADITION. THULE TRADITION. Neoeskimo culture which existed throughout the Inuit Circumpolar North during a period of warmer climates. The Thule cultural tradition lasted from approximately AD 1000 to around 1600 and was characterized by bowhead whaling. Archeologists have speculated that Thule Eskimos spread north and east from the Bering
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Sea region as they hunted bowhead whales, absorbing or displacing the already present Dorset peoples. Thule period archeological sites are often recognized by the presence of whale bones. Thule Eskimos built elaborate semi-subterranean houses which were lined with boulders and or whale bone, and framed with whale ribs. They were likely roofed with sod or skins. The houses had long tunnel entrances with cold traps and raised sleeping platforms, also for warmth. Thule Eskimos had quite varied and elaborate technologies which enabled them to exploit a wide array of resources. In addition to bowhead whales, Thule Eskimos depended on seals, walrus, small whales, polar bear, and caribou as well as small mammals and birds. Included in their toolkits were kayaks, umiaks, ivory toggling harpoons equipped with inflatable bladder floats, dog sleds, snow knives, snow goggles, bows and arrows, slate and iron ulus, and soapstone qullit. Thule tradition sites have also yielded decorative objects including combs and a large number of small, three-dimensional human figurines made of wood and ivory. Archeologists have also discovered a variety of toys, mostly miniatures of functional objects, drums, and game pieces. There is some archeological evidence of contact between Thule Eskimos and Norse. Also, the Inuit encountered by Martin Frobisher in the 1570s were of the Thule tradition. Climatic cooling after 1300 led to cultural changes and eventually the Thule tradition evolved into the historic Inuit cultures encountered and recorded by later explorers. See also ARCHITECTURE; BIRNIK; CLIMATE CHANGE. TICASUK. See BROWN, EMILY IVANOFF. TOBELUK VERSUS LIND. See MOLLY HOOTCH CASE. TOOKOOLITO. See TAQULITTUQ. TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE. See INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE. TRANS-ALASKA PIPELINE. See HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT; LAND CLAIMS. TUBERCULOSIS. Native American populations were devastated by numerous epidemic diseases introduced by non-Native colonists. In the Inuit Circumpolar North, tuberculosis, because of its long incubation
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period and highly infectious nature, may have been one of the worst of the introduced infectious diseases. It appears that Yupiit in Alaska contracted tuberculosis in the 18th century from the earliest Russian and American explorers. Iñupiat and Canadian Inuit probably became infected via contact with whalers toward the end of the 19th century. There is some evidence that the Norse brought the disease to Greenland, but it is not clear if the disease remained after the Norse colony died out. Nonetheless, it is certain that Danes reintroduced the disease in the early 18th century. In some regions of the Inuit Circumpolar North as many as one-third of the population may have died from the disease. It also appears that tuberculosis was responsible for the extremely high rates of infant mortality among Inuit through the middle of the 20th century. There were no effective treatments for tuberculosis until the development of antibiotics after World War II. Interestingly, Canada and the United States took very different approaches to treating tuberculosis among Inuit. In Canada, the government began an annual x-ray screening program for Inuit and immediately evacuated individuals found to have active cases of the disease. Many Canadian Inuit spent years in hospitals in southern Canada with little news from home and virtually no control over their lives or medical treatment. In Alaska in contrast, the Public Health Service developed a treatment regime that permitted most patients to remain at home. Greenland followed an approach similar to that of Canada. It began annual screenings in some parts of the country as early as 1921, long before there were any effective treatments. Universal screenings began after World War II. Until 1955, when a tuberculosis sanitarium was constructed in Greenland, infected persons were evacuated to Denmark for treatment. Tuberculosis ceased to be a serious problem in Inuit communities by 1970 although the global rise in tuberculosis cases at the start of the 21st century has also been noted in the North. See also HEALTH. TUNDRA TIMES. First statewide Alaska Native newspaper founded in 1962 by Iñupiaq Howard Rock and non-Native Tom Snapp to inform Alaska Natives about a U.S. Department of Energy proposal (Project Chariot) to conduct a nuclear explosion near Point Hope. Dr. Henry Forbes, a physician and chair of the Alaska Committee for the Association on American Indian Affairs, provided the initial financial backing for the paper. The Tundra Times was an important forum for discussion and dissemination of information about the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), and in 1975 the paper was nominated for a
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Pulitzer Prize for its ANCSA coverage. It also drew attention to the near-slavery conditions endured by Pribilof Islanders at the hands of the U. S. government. The paper lost some of its editorial focus after Rock’s death in 1976, and ceased publication in 1991. It resumed publication in 1993, folding again in 1997. See also IÑUPIAT PAITOT; JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING; LAND CLAIMS; MILITARIZATION OF THE NORTH. TUNGAVIK FEDERATION OF NUNAVUT (TFN). See NUNAVUT TUNNGAVIK INC. TUNIIT. Name used by contemporary Inuit to refer to the Eskimo people who inhabited the Arctic Archipelago when they arrived in the region. It is probable that the Tuniit were the same people whom arctic archeologists have labeled Dorset. Inuit stories about the Tuniit describe them as a race of large, very strong people. The Tuniit, if in fact they were the Dorset Eskimos, were responsible for the construction of stone caribou fences, fish weirs, and other structures made of large boulders. Thule Eskimos, the ancestors of modern Inuit, appear to have coexisted with the Dorset in some places for several generations, but eventually the Dorset disappeared. It is not clear whether they died out or were absorbed into Thule society. Greenlandic legends about the Tuniit are slightly different from the Canadian Inuit tales and often include stories about Inuit women who were abducted by Tuniit. The Danish colonists tended to assume that the Tuniit were mythical creatures, but some suggested that the Tuniit were Norse colonists. TUNIT. Singular of Tuniit. TUPILAK. Name given to small grotesques figures made in Greenland for sale to collectors and tourists. Carved of stone, walrus, or whale ivory, tupilak figures are said to represent magically created beasts that could be used to harm one’s enemies. Tupilaks were thought to be visible only to shamans during a séance, and it was their invisibility that made them dangerous. Tupilaks had no wills of their own, but rather were the instruments of individuals of evil intent who composed and animated them. A potential victim could protect himself with an amulet, or if he too knew magic, he could turn the tupilak against its maker. While the mythological monster was part of the cosmology in both east and west Greenland, the first carved representations were made by Iit in east Greenland for cartographer Gustav Holm around 1884. The art form spread to west Greenland in the 1930s and it remains a col-
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lectable item. See also ANGAKKUQ; ARTS.
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ULOQSAQ (?-1930). One of two Inuinnait men convicted of the murders of Oblate priest-missionaries Jean-Baptiste Rouvière and Guillaume Le Roux. Uloqsaq, along with Sinisiaq, killed Rouvière and Le Roux near Bloody Falls on the Coppermine River in 1913. When captured in 1916, the two men freely admitted to the murders of Rouvière and Le Roux. They reported that they killed the priests after the priests had verbally abused them and threatened them with a rifle. The following year, the two were tried, convicted, and sentenced to die. Canada’s governor general commuted the sentence and the men served approximately two years in prison. Uloqsaq died of tuberculosis, which he likely contracted while in prison. See also KLENGENBERG, PATSY. ULU. Semilunar-shaped knife used by Inuit women for sewing, eating, butchering, and other activities. The ulu is most associated with Inuit in Canada, but archeological evidence indicates that ulus were used historically also in what is now Alaska and Greenland. Generally, archeologists date the origin of the ulu to the Thule tradition. Historically, ulu blades were made from slate or hammered copper, but ivory, baleen, and other materials were also employed. The Inughuit fashioned ulu blades and other tools from iron they took from the Cape York meteorites. Today ulus are commonly made from purchased saw blades. The blades are generally attached to a metal stem and then hafted to a bone or antler handle. The knives are strongly associated with women and women’s traditional activities such as sewing and butchering, and are often made by men for their wives and other female relatives. Sometimes ulus are given as wedding gifts. Ulus are also made for sale to tourists and the ulu shape has become an iconic motif in the logos, banners, and letterheads of contemporary Inuit organizations. See also GENDER; SUBSISTENCE. ULUKSAK. See ULOQSAQ. UMIAK. An open-decked skin boat used historically throughout the Inuit
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Circumpolar North. Umiaks are sometimes called “women’s boats” in explorers’ and early ethnographic accounts because women sometimes paddled them. Umiaks were built with driftwood frames and were covered with the skins of walruses or bearded seals. Umiaks ranged in size from 10 to 30 feet, and were extremely seaworthy. The existence of umiaks made it possible for groups of Inuit to travel long distances. With the availability of commercial boats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, umiaks were largely abandoned. However, Inuit and Yupiit in Siberia and north Alaska continue to use them for whaling. The modern umiaks generally have motors, but are still frequently covered with walrus skin. See also KAYAK; SUBSISTENCE. UMIALIK. Literally, “a boat owner” in the Iñupiaq dialect of Inuktitut. Umialit (pl.) are Iñupiaq traditional leaders, the heads of extended families, and quite often whaling captains. UYAKOK. See UYAQOQ. UYAQOQ (c.1870-1925). Also known as Helper Neck, Uyaqoq was a Yupik man from Akiachak in the Kuskokwim River Delta. The son of a shaman, Uyaqoq converted to Christianity, and was employed by the Moravian mission station at Bethel. While there he developed a syllabic writing system for the Yupik language in which characters represented phonemes in Yupik. Other Yupiit at the mission, following his lead, developed their own personal writing systems.
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VEBÆK, MALIÂRÂQ (1917- ). Contemporary Kalaaleq novelist. Maliârâq Vebæk has the distinction of being the first Kalaaleq woman to publish a novel. Her best-known work, Búsime Nâpíneq (The Meeting on the Bus) (1981), follows the tragedies of a Kalaaleq woman living in Denmark. See also LITERATURE.
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WALLACE, MINIK. See MINIK. WATT, CHARLIE (1944- ). Liberal member of the Canadian Senate representing Nunavik. Born in Kuujjuaq, Watt was appointed to the Canadian Senate by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1984, where he is chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. Watt began his political life in 1972 as the founding president of the Northern Quebec Inuit Association (NQIA). In that role he joined with Billy Day, then the grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees, to oppose the James Bay hydroelectric project. The result was the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA). Watt was also a founding co-chairman of the Inuit Committee on National Issues (ICNI), an organization which promoted the recognition of aboriginal rights in the Canadian Constitution. In 1983, along with other aboriginal leaders, Watt participated in the First Ministers’ Conference. That same year he made a losing bid to become president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). As a political leader in Nunavik, Watt challenged the language policies of the Quebec government that promoted French at the expense of Inuktitut and other indigenous languages. He has also fought against gun control legislation that is thought to disadvantage Inuit subsistence hunters. Watt was twice president of Makivik Corporation. Watt is a somewhat controversial leader whose efforts at economic development to benefit Inuit are sometimes regarded as antithetical to traditional Inuit values. Watt has also been accused of using his political connections for his own personal benefit. See also LAND CLAIMS. WATT, DAISY (1921-2001). Nunavik elder and mother of Canadian Senator Charlie Watt and Inuit Circumpolar Conference-Canada President Sheila Watt-Cloutier. The daughter and granddaughter of Hudson’s Bay Company traders, Daisy Watt learned English as well as Inuktitut as a child. In the 1950s, she worked as a translator aboard the hospital ship C.D. Howe. The ship and its medical personnel sailed throughout in the eastern Canadian Arctic identifying and evacuating Inuit infected with tuberculosis. See also HEALTH.
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WATT-CLOUTIER, SHEILA (1953- ). Political leader and president of Inuit Circumpolar Conference-Canada. Originally from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Watt-Cloutier heads the Canadian arm of the ICC, a post she assumed in 1995, and became chair of the international Inuit Circumpolar Conference in 2002. She is an outspoken advocate for Arctic environmental protection from global warming and from airborne organic pollutants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). Earlier in her career, Watt-Cloutier worked as an Inuktitut interpreter and health educator. She served on the executive board of Makivik Corporation from 1995 to 1998. See also CLIMATE CHANGE; POLLUTION OF INUIT LANDS. WEETALUKTUK, DANIEL (1951-1982). Inuit historian and archeologist. Born in Inukjuak, Nunavik, Weetaluktuk began his archeological work in 1976. He was instrumental in documenting the archeological sites located near Inukjuak, and ultimately expanded his survey to the entire east coast of Hudson Bay, an effort that contributed to knowledge of the prehistory of the region. Weetaluktuk’s archeological work was professional and well respected by non-Native archeologists. He served as a cultural resource administrator for Makivik Corporation. WESTERN ARCTIC IÑUPIAT ASSOCIATION. Short-lived rival to the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) organized by brothers John and Vincent Steen to both protest the decision of COPE to break away from Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) and to press for speedy approval of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline. Members of the Western Arctic Iñupiat Association claimed that the development of the proposed gas pipeline would be delayed by lengthy land claims negotiations. See also HYDROCARBON DEVELOPMENT; INUVIALUIT; MACKENZIE VALLEY PIPELINE INQUIRY. WESTERN ARCTIC LAND CLAIM. See INUVIALUIT FINAL AGREEMENT. WEYAHOK, HOWARD. See ROCK, HOWARD. WHALING. Historically most Inuit communities depended on maritime resources. Despite the tremendous changes to the economies and social organization of Inuit communities during the last half of the 20th century, maritime resources remain important sources of nutritional and social well-being in northern communities. Historically, Inuit made use of a wide variety of marine resources
WHALING ● 153
including fish, seals, walruses, and whales, yet it is the image of Inuit seal hunters that is most firmly etched in the popular imagination. Nonetheless, at various times and places whaling has also been of great importance, and whaling remains a dominant economic, social, and cultural activity in a number of Alaskan Inuit communities. Archeological evidence suggests that Thule Eskimos spread east from north Alaska into Arctic Canada and Greenland around AD 1000. These ancestors of contemporary Inuit depended heavily on bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), which they hunted from small boats with harpoons. Thule period Inuit employed the same harpoon technology observed among 19th-century Inuit. The climate during the Thule period was somewhat warmer than today, and bowhead whales migrated throughout the Arctic Archipelago. Archeologists have speculated that the eastward migration of Thule Eskimos may be attributed to bowhead whale hunting. Thule period sites are frequently recognized by the presence of large amounts of bowhead whale bone, which were often used in house construction. In addition to bowhead whales, which are of continued importance to Alaskans, Inuit in various parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North continue to hunt gray whales, narwhals, and beluga whales. By the 19th century, European and American whalers were also exploiting Arctic whale stocks in Davis Strait, Hudson Bay, and in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. In many cases these commercial whalers competed with Inuit subsistence whale hunting, and by the end of the century had depleted the stocks. It is reported that commercial whalers killed approximately 28,000 bowhead whales in the eastern Arctic between 1791 and 1911. Either because of commercial overhunting or because of social and economic changes brought by commercial whalers Canadian Inuit hunters took only 21 bowhead whales between 1919 and 1979. Three have been taken since. Under the Soviet regime, Yupik whaling in Siberia was transformed from a subsistence activity into a collectivized commercial hunt. Whale hunting has continued in the post-Soviet period, and Siberian whalers have been encouraged and supported by Alaskan Iñupiaq whalers. As noted above, bowhead whaling remains an important social and economic activity among north Alaskan Iñupiat and among Yupik on Saint Lawrence Island. While the hunting technology has changed somewhat—contemporary bowhead hunters use exploding darts rather than harpoons to kill the whale—the social organization of the hunt remains very close to the traditional form. Hunting a whale that may weigh as much as 60 tons from small, walrus skin umiaks requires a great deal of organization and skill. Whaling crews are frequently
154 ● Williamson, Karla JESSEN
composed of related men under the leadership of a whaling captain or umialik. The whaling captain is responsible for outfitting the crew and providing the equipment, and therefore must have both social stature and economic means. The whaling captain and his wife must also organize the butchering of any whales that are captured and the distribution of the whale meat and maktaq. Whale meat and maktaq continue to be distributed according to traditional rules. In addition, successful whaling crews host a Nalukataq celebration at the end of the whaling season. Indigenous bowhead whaling in Alaska was severely threatened during the 1960s and 1970s. Inuit communities were under great economic and social stress, making it difficult to mount successful hunts, and Iñupiaq whalers went through a period when quite a large number of whales were struck, and possibly killed, but not landed. This brought condemnation from international animal rights activists and, in 1977, citing dangerously low numbers of whales, the International Whaling Commission attempted to ban all Inuit whaling. Alaskan whaling communities mounted their own studies of bowhead population size, formed the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC), and succeeded in reversing the ban on indigenous whaling. Ironically, the external threats to whaling served to strengthen the cultural and social value of whaling in the Alaskan whaling communities, and in some communities whaling has been elevated to the status of an iconic cultural activity. Whaling remains a dangerous activity, and it is not uncommon for crews to die while hunting. In May 1997 the landfast ice broke up, stranding 145 whale hunters from Barrow. Helicopters were required to rescue them. See also ARCHITECTURE; CLIMATE CHANGE; NORTH SLOPE BOROUGH. WILLIAMSON, KARLA JESSEN (1954- ). Educator and anthropologist. Karla Jessen Williamson was born in Appamiut, Greenland. She conducted ethnographic research on Inuit childrearing and geographic knowledge in the Baffin Island community of Pangnirtung, and on gender relations in post-colonial Greenland. After teaching in the Indian and Northern Education program at the University of Saskatchewan, Williamson was named executive director of the Arctic Institute of North America in 2000. See also EDUCATION. WISE, RAY AGNAQSIAQ (1908-1952). The first Alaskan Eskimo film star, Wise acted under the stage name Ray Mala. Born in Candle, Alaska, at the age of four Wise moved to Kotzebue with his Iñupiaq mother. She died in the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, and Wise was
WRITING SYSTEMS ● 155
raised by his maternal grandmother (His father, a Jewish-American Nome gold rush millionaire, was apparently unaware of his existence until years later.) Wise left school at the age of 12 and supported himself with odd jobs, eventually landing a position as a cameraman for documentary filmmaker Frank E. Kleinschmidt. Wise moved to Hollywood where he worked as a cameraman for Fox Studios and attempted to become a screenwriter. He starred in the feature film Eskimo in 1934. He appeared in numerous other films, often playing the part of a Polynesian native. Wise’s last film was Red Arctic, released in 1952. WOMEN. See GENDER. WRITING SYSTEMS. With few exceptions, writing systems for Inuktitut and Yupik were developed by non-Natives; and for the most part those non-Natives were missionaries intent on translating the Bible for Inuit use. In several parts of the Inuit Circumpolar North, however, Inuit adopted the introduced writing systems for their own secular needs. Although missionaries had translated the Bible into Kalaallisut as early as 1766, their idiosyncratic orthographies had limited application. In the 1850s Moravian missionary Samuel Kleinschmidt began working on a standardized writing system that could be used for secular purposes. In 1871 he published an orthography for the dialect of Kalaallisut spoken in west Greenland. Kleinschmidt’s orthography based on the Roman alphabet was used in Atuagagdliutit and in school books written by Kleinschmidt, and became the standard for Kalaallisut literature for more than a century. A revision and simplification was introduced in 1973 and is now the standard for written Kalaallisut. In Labrador, Moravian missionaries developed several orthographies for Inuktitut, but rather than using Kleinschmidt’s, theirs were based on earlier systems developed in Greenland. Syllabics, which are used by Inuit in Nunavik and Nunavut, are perhaps the best-known Inuktitut writing system. Developed originally for Ojibwa, it was adapted to Inuktitut in the 1850s, and became widely used in the 1870s through the missionary work of the Reverend Edmund Peck. Syllabics are still widely used today in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Syllabics use, however, did not extend to the western Canadian Arctic or to Alaska, where Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian missionaries all created separate orthographies based on the Roman alphabet. Likewise, various missionaries in western and southwestern
156 ● writing systems
Alaska also made translations of the Bible. The single exception to missionary-created orthographies for Inuit languages comes from Siberia. There the development of written Yupik fell to Soviet ethnographers from the Committee of the North. Initially these ethnographers and linguists used the Roman alphabet, and had immediate success extending literacy to Siberian Yupiit in 1930. In 1937, however, Soviet authorities required that the writing systems for minority languages use the Cyrillic rather than the Roman alphabet, and new writing systems were introduced. This change to a Cyrillic orthography appears to have hastened the loss of Yupik as a viable language in Siberia. Each missionary sect developed its own orthography for writing Inuit languages, and no fewer than six for Inuktitut alone are in use today. The rivalries that existed between the religious denominations for converts continues to be felt, not over doctrinal or spiritual issues, but rather in the unwillingness to adopt a single standardized writing system. The absence of a single standard writing system for Inuktitut limits its use as a medium of written communication between Inuit in different regions. Except in Greenland, there is very little original literature written in Inuktitut. (Nunatsiaq News, the weekly newspaper from Nunavut, does publish about one-third of its stories in both English and Inuktitut syllabics.) Inuit have long recognized the problem of the lack of a standardized medium for written communication. In 1974 Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) established an Inuit Language Commission with Jose Kusugak of the Inuit Cultural Institute (ICI) charged with studying and making recommendations for orthographic reform. The ICI ratified revised standard Roman and syllabic orthographies in 1976. These standard orthographies are used by the Nunavut and Nunavik governments as well as by Inuit nongovernmental organizations in the two regions. In the 1980s the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) also created a language commission to develop a standardized writing system for Inuvialuktun, but the orthography they created has not been widely accepted with many people preferring the orthography created by Anglican missionaries. Control over a writing system is very much tied to aboriginal rights and self-government projects. For example, Inuvialuit and Nunavut Inuit draw distinctions between themselves, but both claim Inuinnaqtun as a dialect of their “separate” languages. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) has twice attempted to deal with the matter of creating a single, standard orthography for Inuktitut, but has been unable to do so in part because of chauvinistic rivalries between Inuit residing in
YUPIIT NATION ● 157
different nations. See also MACLEAN, EDNA; PICTURE WRITING.
-Y-
YUA. Literally “its person” in the Yupik language. Yua (pl. yuit) and the Inuktitut equivalent, inua, refers to the spirit or life force of animals. Yupik and Inuit cosmology holds that an animal’s yua may take human form and interact with humans from time to time. Within the animal, the yua is believed to reside in the bladder and stays in the bladder when an animal dies. A yua, similar to the human atiq (ateq in Yupik), is part of the cycle of life and is reborn again and again in a new corporeal body. Thus it is essential that hunters and others treat their catch with respect. Yupiit believed that sea mammals lived in societies similar to that of humans, and that they resided in large underwater qasgit from which they were able to observe the actions of humans. Plants and inanimate objects could also have yuit and, thus, a consciousness of a sort. Yupiit decorated objects of human manufacture with dots and other motifs that were both symbolically and literally yuit. These manufactured yuit animated and pleased the objects. See also ARTS; BLADDER FEAST. YUIT. Alternative ethnonym for the Yupiit of Chukotka and Saint Lawrence Island. See YUPIK. YUK. Singular form of Yupik, used to refer to a single Yupik person. KYUK-AM produces a call-in radio program called “Yuk to Yuk.” See also INUK. YUPIAQ. Adjectival form of Yupik, sometimes used to refer to the Yupik language. YUPIIT. Plural form of Yupik. YUPIIT NATION. Sovereignty movement begun in 1983 in the YukonKuskokwim villages of Akiachak, Akiak, and Tuluksak. By 1988 19 Yupik villages located along the lower Kuskokwim River and Bering Sea coast had become part of the Yupiit Nation. The Yupiit Nation was formed in part in response to perceived failures of the Calista Corpora-
158 ● Yupik
tion, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Native corporation for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, and concerns that Calista’s economic failure could lead to a loss of aboriginal land. The overall goal of the Yupiit Nation is regional self-government conforming to Yupik cultural values and sensibilities. In particular the Yupiit Nation sought to take control of education and justice, establishing the Yupik School Board and local tribal courts. Several of the villages, led by Akiachak, dissolved their state-chartered city governments and formed new tribal councils under the provisions of the federal Indian Reorganization Act. In general, the Yupiit Nation has denied the authority of the State of Alaska over local affairs, and instead has pursued a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. federal government. However, a 1998 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court denied the existence of tribal sovereignty outside of recognized Indian reservations. See also ABORIGINAL RIGHTS; INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE; KASAYULIE, WILLIE. YUPIK. Modern ethnonym of the indigenous people of southwest Alaska, Saint Lawrence Island, and coastal Chukotka. Yupiit (pl.) or “real people” are culturally and linguistically distinct from, but closely related to Inuit of north Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, and are one of the Inuit peoples represented by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC). The Yupik population numbers around 20,000 with the overwhelming majority residing in Alaska. The ethnonym Yuit is sometimes used for Yupiit from Chukotka and Saint Lawrence Island. Linguistically, Yupik is divided into four languages, Supiaq or Alutiiq, Cup’ik or Central Yup’ik, Naukanski, and Chapalinski or Siberian Yupik. The distinct languages also correspond to regional cultural differences; however, the cultural differences were augmented by differences in colonial experiences. Contemporary Yupik peoples in Alaska are likely descendents of the peoples who are represented archeologically by the Norton Tradition. Archeological evidence suggests that the Thule Eskimos, the ancestors of modern Inuit, began their cultural and linguistic divergence from the ancestors of the modern Yupik during the first millennium AD. Yupiit, like other Eskimo groups, were traditionally dependent on maritime resources and, for the most part, Yupiit continue to rely on subsistence resources. A general abundance of fish and game in southwest Alaska meant that Yupiit there were able to maintain relatively large, semipermanent communities and a much greater population density than in Inuit regions. Winter villages each contained a qasgi or men’s house as well as smaller sod houses for women and
YUPIK ● 159
children. Sea mammals, especially seals and walrus, were important resources for coastal Yupiit, while inland groups relied on birds and land mammals. Both coastal and inland Alaskan Yupiit depended extensively on fish. Alaskan Yupiit traded with nearby Indian groups. Siberian (or Asiatic) Yupiit of Chukotka and Saint Lawrence Island were and continue to be much more dependent on sea mammals, especially walruses and whales, than were mainland Alaskan Yupiit. In fact, the village of Gambell, on Saint Lawrence Island, is one of the whaling communities represented by the Alaskan Eskimo Whaling Commission. Historically, there was also a great deal of trade, intermarriage, and cultural sharing between the Siberian Yupiit and the reindeer-herding Chukchi of mainland Siberia as well as with Iñupiat living on the east side of the Bering Strait. Siberian Yupiit, unlike their Alaskan relatives, were organized in patrilineal clans. The clans, which controlled rights to resources, were potent political forces in Siberian Yupik villages. Siberian Yupiit were greatly affected by the militarization of the North that accompanied the Cold War. Contact between relatives and trading partners living in the United States and the Soviet Union was forbidden between 1948 and 1988. Several coastal villages in Chukotka were closed and the populations were forcibly relocated to the mainland. Soviet educational and industrial policy also greatly affected Yupik communities in that country. The Russian language was imposed to the extent that there are very few speakers of any Yupik language remaining in Chukotka. In addition, many Russians, Ukrainian, and other nonindigenous peoples were encouraged to move to the Soviet Far East. Many left, however, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and in recent years the region and its peoples have suffered from an economic collapse as well. Yupiit in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) delta region of Alaska, by virtue of their location, had less contact with, and therefore less disruption from, whalers and Russian fur traders than other Eskimo groups. They were, however, not spared the epidemics that accompanied the arrival of non-Natives in the North. Nonetheless, Y-K delta Yupiit have been able to maintain many of their traditions, ceremonies, and their language up to the present. Yupiit in the Y-K delta are known for their traditional arts, especially masks based on designs used for traditional dances. When the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed in 1971, the Yupiit living in southwest Alaska established the Bristol Bay and Calista Corporations to manage their portions of the land claims settlement proceeds. The residents of the two communities
160 ● YUPIK LANGUAGE
on Saint Lawrence Island, however, chose not to participate in the monetary settlement and instead collectively took title to 1.136 million acres of land on the island. See also ASSOCIATION OF VILLAGE COUNCIL PRESIDENTS; BLADDER FEAST; KYUK-AM; RELOCATIONS, FORCED; YUA; YUPIIT NATION. YUPIK LANGUAGE. Part of the Eskaleut language family, the ancestral language of Yupik Eskimos in Alaska and Siberia. There are at least four distinct dialects of Yupik—Alutiiq or Sugpiaq spoken by the Alutiit on Alaska’s Pacific Coast, Cup’ik or Central Yupik spoken in southwest Alaska, Naukanski used by Yupiit in Siberia, and Siberian Yupik spoken on Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska. (Noting that regional linguistic variation is also present in Alutiiq and Cup’ik, some linguists classify Yupik as four separate languages rather than as dialects of the same language.) The nearly extinct Sireninski is sometimes classified as a version of Yupik. Of the four main dialects of Yupik only Cup’ik and Siberian Yupik remain widely spoken by both adults and children. In both cases, relative isolation and the continued importance of a subsistence economy have helped to maintain the language. Additionally, Cup’ik political activism for aboriginal rights included efforts to establish bilingual education. The Yupik language is related to the Aleut language and to Inuktitut, and it is likely that the latter began its divergence from Yupik with Thule Eskimo migrations to the east around AD 1000. Iñupiaq, the Inuit language of north Alaska is, in fact, the Inuktitut dialect most closely related to Yupik while the Greenlandic dialects differ the most phonologically and in terms of vocabulary.
Appendix A Dates and Locations of Inuit Circumpolar Conference Meetings
1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2002
Barrow, Alaska Nuuk, Greenland Iqaluit, Nunavut Kotzebue, Alaska Sisimuit, Greenland Inuvik, Canada Nome, Alaska Nuuk, Greenland Kuujjuaq, Nunavik
founding meeting 2nd General Assembly 3rd General Assembly 4th General Assembly 5th General Assembly 6th General Assembly 7th General Assembly 8th General Assembly 9th General Assembly
161
Appendix B Inuit Circumpolar Conference Leaders
ICC Presidents: Hans-Pavia Rosing Mary May Simon Caleb Pungowiyi Rosemary Kuptana Aqqaluk Lynge
(1980-1986) (1986-1992) (1992-1995) (1995-1996) (1997-2002)
ICC Chairs: Sheila Watt-Cloutier
(2002-
)
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Appendix C Website Addresses for Inuit and Arctic Organizations
Inuit and Other Native Organizations: Arctic Council-Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Avataq Cultural Institute Igloolik Isuma Productions Inuit Circumpolar Conference Inuit Circumpolar Conference-Canada Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Inuvialuit Corporate Group Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Labrador Inuit Association Makivik Corporation Maniilaq Association NANA Corporation Nunavut Tunngavik, Inc. Pauktuutit RAIPON
www.arcticpeoples.org www.asrc.com www.avataq.qc.ca www.isuma.ca www.inuit.org www.inuitcircumpolar.com www.itk.ca www.inuvialuit.com www.irc.inuvialuit.com www.nunatsiavut.com www.makivik.org www.maniilaq.org www.nana.com www.tunngavik.com www.pauktuutit.on.ca/main_e.html www.raipon.org
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166 ● APPENDIX C
Other Arctic Websites of Particular Interest: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Alaska Native Knowledge Network Alaskool Arctic Circle Arctic Institute of North America Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC) Greenland Home Rule Government North Slope Borough Northwest Arctic Borough Nunatsiaq News Nunavut, Government of
www.aptn.ca www.ankn.uaf.edu www.Alaskool.org/default.htm http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ www.ucalgary.ca/aina/ www.carc.org/ www.nanoq.gl www.north-slope.org www.northwestarcticborough.org www.nunatsiaq.com www.gov.nu.ca
Bibliography
There are references to Inuit in Norse sagas, and many of the European explorers of the Arctic included descriptions of Inuit in the journals of their travels, but Inuit Studies as a field of inquiry and scholarly literature only began in earnest in the late 19th century. Scholarly writing about the Inuit was initiated with the publication of several ethnographic monographs. These detailed descriptions of everyday life included Franz Boas’s The Central Eskimo published in 1888, John Murdoch’s Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition (1892), Edward William Nelson’s The Eskimo About Bering Strait (1899), Emile Petitot’s Among the Chiglit Eskimos (1876), Hinrich Rink’s The Eskimo Tribes (1887-1891), and Lucien Turner’s Ethnology of the Ungava District (1894). Each of these monographs is a study of a single group of Inuit from a different part of the Inuit Circumpolar North, and the trend in Inuit Studies, particularly among anthropologists, has been to limit studies to single communities or regions. Of these early classic works, only The Central Eskimo is well known and widely read. One result of this is that many naive readers assume that all Inuit lived like the snowhouse-dwelling, sealing-eating people of Cumberland Sound on Baffin Island described by Boas. Nothing could be further from the truth. As the literature cited in this bibliography reveals, the peoples who call themselves Inuit share many cultural traits and speak closely related languages, but there is considerable cultural variation among Inuit of different regions. Ethnographies dominated the Inuit Studies literature until after World War II. The period from the 1880s through the 1930s was a Golden Age for Inuit ethnography, and several large, primarily anthropological, expeditions were mounted to explore the Inuit Circumpolar North and to describe the Inuit peoples. The Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897-1902), the Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913-1918), and the Fifth Thule Expedition (19211924) all produced prodigious amounts of information about Inuit communities. The Fifth Thule Expedition, in particular, attempted to cover the entire Inuit Circumpolar North, failing only to reach Siberia. These classic
167
168 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
ethnographic monographs are wonderfully rich. Readers should be cautioned, however, about taking the information contained in them as the definitive word on pre-contact Inuit societies. Almost uniformly, these early ethnographers attempted to describe Inuit culture as it existed before extensive contact with European explorers, whalers, fur traders, and other agents of change, and consequently they ignored or avoided reporting on instances of culture change and culture contact. Boas, for example, conducted his ethnographic research from Qikirtat (Kerkerten), the Scottish whaling station in Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, but only rarely mentioned that the Inuit he described were employed by the whalers and had adopted many items of imported material culture. In the period since World War II, ethnographies have tended to be problem-oriented rather than purely descriptive, and have tended to focus on particular issues such as kinship, human-environment relations, social change, health, or cosmology. A number of important topics, including gender relations, wage work, and urban migration, are only thinly covered in the ethnographic literature. Historians, political scientists, and some anthropologists have addressed these topics in nonethnographic forms. A substantial portion of this rather considerable literature is collected in Part III of this bibliography entitled “Thematic Works.” Readers who are especially interested in contemporary issues affecting Inuit are directed to subsection 4: “Politics and Political Development including Land Claims.” Today Inuit live in and are citizens of four separate nations: Greenland (Denmark), Canada, the United States, and Russia. The literature in English overwhelmingly concerns Canadian and American Inuit. For the most part, the works available only in French, Danish, Kalaallisut (Greenlandic), or Russian are not included in this bibliography, but readers should be aware that there is other literature, particularly in French and Danish. Additionally, there is a large body of government literature, sometimes called “gray literature,” about Inuit that is not included in this bibliography. In Canada many important studies were produced by the Northern Research Unit of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, while in the United States similar studies were conducted by the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior. Interested readers will be able to find these research reports at university libraries. Biographies of individual Inuit and of non-Inuit who have spent time in the Inuit Circumpolar North are another excellent source of information about Inuit cultures and communities. These are collected in Part V. A final category of literature is that written by Inuit themselves. Of these, autobiographies and memoirs comprise the largest subcategory. The Inuit memoirs are notable in that they often provide quite moving accounts of ways that individuals and northern communities experienced social, economic, and
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 169
political change. Philosophy and intellectual culture is a growing area of interest for Inuit, and there is likely to be an increase in this sort of literature written by Inuit in future years. The bibliography is organized as follows: from reference works to ethnographies, to thematic (or single topic) literature, to books concerning particular Inuit groups, to biographies, and finally to literature by Inuit writers. The subheads provide further topical divisions. From category to category, duplication and overlap are unavoidable. For instance a book about Iñupiat whaling traditions is listed under the subheading Subsistence and Economy and well as under the subheading Iñupiat. Likewise an ethnography of a Kalaallit (Greenlandic) village is listed as both an ethnography and under the subhead Kalaallit. Only periodicals being published at the time of this writing are listed in the Reference Works section. With rare exception, the references in the bibliography are to books rather than to journal articles. All are listed alphabetically by author.
OUTLINE OF THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
REFERENCE WORKS
Periodicals Encyclopedias and Dictionaries Bibliographies General Works Museum Catalogs
II. ETHNOGRAPHIES 1. 2.
Classic Ethnographies (generally before 1960) Contemporary Ethnographies (generally after 1960)
III. THEMATIC WORKS 1. 2. 3. 4.
Prehistory and Archeology Technology and Material Culture Colonialism Politics and Political Development including Land Claims
170 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Subsistence and Economy Broadcasting and Other Media Intellectual Culture and Religion Health and Medicine Women Art, Music, and Theatre Legal and Judicial Matters
IV. LINGUISTICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTINCT GROUPS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Inughuit Kalaallit Iit Inuit of Labrador Inuit of Nunavut and Nunavik Inuvialuit Iñupiat Yupiit Alutiit Siberian Yupiit
V. BIOGRAPHIES, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, JOURNALS, AND MEMOIRS 1. 2.
Inuit Non-Native Explorers, Missionaries, Scientists, and Other Temporary Northern Residents
VI. WORKS BY INUIT WRITERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Anthologies Fiction and Poetry Memoirs Science, Philosophy, Politics, and Social Science Myths and Legends Children’s Literature
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 171
I. 1.
REFERENCE WORKS
Periodicals
Above and Beyond, Kanata, Ontario. Alaska Geographic Magazine, Alaska Geographic Society, Anchorage. Alaska Native News Magazine, Anchorage. American Review of Canadian Studies, Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, Washington, DC. Arctic, Arctic Institute of North America, Calgary. Arctic Anthropology, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. Arctic Circle, Nortext, Iqaluit. The Beaver, National History Society, Winnipeg. Canadian Geographic, Royal Canadian Geographic Society, Vanier, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Native Studies, Brandon, Manitoba. Eskimo, Diocese of Churchill-Hudson Bay, Churchill, Manitoba. Etudes/Inuit/Studies, Association Inuksiutiit Katimajiit Inc, Quebec City. Inuit, Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Nuuk, Greenland. Inuit Art Quarterly, Kingait Press, Toronto. Inuktitut Magazine, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Ottawa. Meddelelser om Grønland, Man & Society,Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland, Copenhagen. Northern Perspectives, Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, Ottawa. The Northern Review, Yukon College, Whitehorse, Yukon. Nunatsiaq News, Nortext, Iqaluit. Polar Record, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, UK. Sharing Our Pathways, newsletter of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, Fairbanks. Silarjualiriniq, Inuit in Global Issues, Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Ottawa. Tumivut, Avataq Cultural Institute, Ottawa. Up Here, Outcrop Ltd., Yellowknife. 2.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Damas, David, ed. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 5, Arctic. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1984. Funk, Dmitry A. and Lennard Sillanpaa. The Small Indigenous Nations of Northern Russia: A Guide for Researchers. Vaasa, Finland: Abo Akademi University, 1999.
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3.
Bibliographies
Arctic Institute of North America. Arctic Bibliography, 19 volumes. Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 1953. Burch, Ernest S. Jr. “The Ethnography of Northern North America: A Guide to Recent Research,” Arctic Anthropology 16(1): 62-146, 1979. Cavanaugh, Beverly. “Annotated Bibliography: Eskimo Music,” Ethnomusicology 16(3): 479-487, 1972. Clark, Donald W. Koniag-Pacific Eskimo Bibliography. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada (Mercury Series), 1975. Crandall, Richard C. and Susan M. Crandall. Annotated Bibliography of Inuit Art. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001. Dekin, Albert A. Jr. Arctic Archaeology: A Bibliography and History. New York: Garland Publishing, 1978. Fisher, John. “Bibliography for the Study of Eskimo Religion,” Anthropologica 15(2): 231-271, 1973. Fortuine, Robert, et al. The Health of the Inuit of North America: A Bibliography from the Earliest Times Through 1990. Anchorage: University of Alaska Anchorage, 1993. Krauss, Michael E. Alaska Native Languages: A Bibliographical Catalogue. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 1980. National Library of Canada. Indian and Inuit Authors: Annotated Bibliography. Ottawa, 1974. Smith, Shirleen. Bibliography of Bowhead Whales, Whaling, and Alaskan Inupiat and Yupik Whaling Communities. Edmonton: Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, 1986. 4.
General Works
Abel, Kerry and Ken S. Coates, eds. Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2001. Birket-Smith, Kaj. The Eskimos. London: Methuen, 1959 (published originally in 1936). Burch, Ernest S. The Eskimos. London: Macdonald Orbis, 1988. Crowe, Keith J. A History of the Original Peoples of Northern Canada. Calgary: Arctic Institute on North America, 1974. Fienup-Riordan, Ann. Freeze Frame: Alaska Eskimos in the Movies. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. Graburn, Nelson and Stephen Strong. Circumpolar Peoples: An Anthropological Perspective. Pacific Palisades, CA: Goodyear, 1973. Hughes, Charles C. “Under Four Flags: Recent Culture Change among the
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 173
Eskimos” Current Anthropology 6(1): 3-69, 1965. King, J.C.H. and Henrietta Lidchi, eds. Imaging the Arctic. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1998. Minority Rights Group, ed. Polar People: Self-Determination and Development. London: Minority Rights Group, 1994. Morse, Bradford W. Aboriginal Peoples and the Law: Indian, Metis and Inuit Rights in Canada. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1985. Oswalt, Wendell H. Alaskan Eskimos. Scranton, PA: Chandler Publishing, 1967. ─────. Eskimos and Explorers, 2nd ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. Ray, Dorothy Jean. The Eskimos of the Bering Strait, 1650-1898. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975. Weyer, Edward Moffat Jr. The Eskimos: Their Environment and Folkways. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1932. 5.
Museum Catalogs
Bellman, David, ed. Peter Pitseolak (1902-1973) Inuit Historian of Seekooseelak. Montréal: McCord Museum, 1980. Driscoll, Bernadette. The Inuit Amautik: I Like My Hood to be Full. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1980. Fagg, William, ed. Eskimo Art in the British Museum. London: British Museum, 1972. Fienup-Riordan, Ann, ed. Agayuliyararput: Kegginaqut, Kangiit-llu / Our way of Making Prayer: Yup’ik Masks and the Stories They Tell. Seattle: Anchorage Museum of History and Art and the University of Washington Press, 1996. Fitzhugh, William W. and Aron Crowell, eds. Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988. Fitzhugh, William W. and Susan A. Kaplan, eds. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1982. Jacobs, Martina Magenau and James B. Richardson III, eds. Arctic Life: Challenge to Survive. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1983. Kendall, Laurel, et al. Drawing Shadows to Stone: The Photography of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1897-1902. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1997. Lee, Molly, ed. Not Just Another Pretty Face: Dolls and Figurines in Alaska Native Cultures. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Museum, 1999. National Museum of Man. The Inuit Print / L’estampe Inuit. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1977.
174 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
Staples, Annalisa R. and Ruth L. McConnell. Soapstone and Seed Beads, Arts and Crafts at the Charles Camsell Hospital, a Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Edmonton: Provincial Museum of Alberta, 1993. Zimmerly, David. Qayaq, Kayaks of Siberia and Alaska. Juneau: Alaska Division of State Museums, 2000 (published originally in 1986).
II. 1.
ETHNOGRAPHIES Classic Ethnographies
Balikci, Asen. The Netsilik Eskimo. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1989 (published originally 1970). Birket-Smith, Kaj. The Chugach Eskimo. Copenhagen: Nationalmuseets Skrifter, Etnografisk Roekke, VI, 1953. Boas, Franz. The Central Eskimo. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964 (published originally 1888). Bogoras, Waldemar. The Eskimo of Siberia. New York: G.E. Stechert, 1913. Egede, Hans. A Description of Greenland. London: T. & J. Allman, 1818 (published originally in Danish). Grubser, Nicholas J. The Nunamuit Eskimo, Hunters of Caribou. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1965. Hall, Charles Francis. Life With the Esquimaux; A Narrative of Arctic Experience in Search of Survivors of Sir John Franklin’s Expedition. Rutland, VT: C.E. Tuttle, 1970 (published originally in 1865). Hawkes, E.W. The Labrador Eskimo. Ottawa: Canada Department of Mines, Memoir 91, 1916. Holm, Gustav. Ethnological Sketch of the Angmagsalik Eskimo, edited by William Thablitzer. Meddelelser om Gronland 9-10, 1911. Holtved, Erik. Contributions to Polar Eskimo Ethnography. Meddelelser om Gronland 182(2), 1967. Jenness, Diamond. The Life of the Copper Eskimos. Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, Vol. 12. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1970 (published originally in 1922). ─────. The People of the Twilight. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1928. ─────. Dawn in Arctic Alaska. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957. Kilbuck, John. The Yup’ik Eskimos: As Described in the Travel Journals and Ethnographic Accounts of John and Edith Kilbuck Who Served with the Alaska Mission of the Moravian Church, 1886-1900, edited with an
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 175
introduction by Ann Fienup-Riordan. Kingston, ON: Limestone Press, 1988. Murdoch, John. Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988 (published originally in 1892). Nelson, Edward William. The Eskimo About Bering Strait. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983 (published originally 1899). Petitot, Fr. Emile. Among the Chiglit Eskimos. Trans. by E.H. Höhn. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute, 1999 (published originally in French in 1876). Rink, Henry (Hinrich). The Eskimo Tribes: Their Distribution and Characteristics, Especially in Regard to Language, with a Comparative Vocabulary and a Sketch-Map. New York: AMS Press, 1975 (published originally 1887-1891). Spencer, Robert F. The North Alaskan Eskimo, A Study in Ecology and Society. New York: Dover, 1976 (published originally in 1959). Turner, Lucien M. Ethnology of the Ungava District: Hudson Bay Territory. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001 (published originally 1894). 2.
Contemporary Ethnographies
Ben-Dor, Shmuel. Makkovik: Eskimos and Settlers in a Labrador Community, A Contrastive Study in Adaptation. St. John’s: Newfoundland Social and Economic Studies, 1966. Bravo, Michael T. The Accuracy of Ethnoscience: A Study of Inuit Cartography and Cross-cultural Commensurability. Manchester: Department of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester, 1996. Briggs, Jean L. Never in Anger. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1970. ─────. Aspects of Inuit Value Socialization. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada (Mercury Series), 1979. ─────. Inuit Morality Play. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Chance, Norman A. The Iñupiat and Arctic Alaska: An Ethnography of Development. Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1990. Condon, Richard G. Inuit Behavior and Seasonal Change in Canadian Arctic. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1983. ─────. Inuit Youth: Growth and Change in the Canadian Arctic. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987. Csonka, Yvon. Les Ahiarmiut: a l’écart des Inuit Caribous. Neuchâtel, SZ: Editions Victor Attinger, 1995. Dahl, Jens. Saqqaq: An Inuit Hunting Community in the Modern World.
176 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. Dorais, Louis-Jacques. Quaqtaq: Modernity and Identity in a Inuit Community. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. Fienup-Riordan, Ann. The Nelson Island Eskimo: Social Structure and Ritual Distribution. Anchorage: Alaska Pacific University Press, 1983. ─────. Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup’ik Eskimo Oral Tradition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Graburn, Nelson. Eskimos without Igloos: Social and Economic Development in Sugluk. Boston: Little, Brown, 1969. Hensel, Chase. Telling Our Selves: Ethnicity and Discourse in Southwestern Alaska. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Honigmann, John J. and Irma Honigmann. Eskimo Townsmen. Ottawa: Canadian Research Center for Anthropology, St. Paul University, 1965. ─────. Arctic Townsmen: Ethnic Backgrounds and Modernization. Ottawa: Canadian Research Center for Anthropology, St. Paul University, 1970. Hughes, Charles C. with Jane M. Hughes. An Eskimo Village in the Modern World. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1960. Jolles, Carol Zane with Elinor Mikaghaq Oozeva. Faith, Food, and Family in a Yupik Whaling Community. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002. Kennedy, John C. Holding the Line: Ethnic Boundaries in a Northern Labrador Community. St. John’s: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1982. ─────. Labrador Village. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1996. Kerttula, Anna M. Antler on the Sea, The Yup’ik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. Malaurie, Jean. The Last Kings of Thule. Trans. by Adrienne Foulke, New York: E.P. Dutton, 1982 (published originally in French in 1976). Matthiasson, John S. Living on the Land: Change among the Inuit of Baffin Island. Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 1992. Nuttall, Mark. Arctic Homeland: Kinship, Community and Development in Northwest Greenland. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992. Rasing, W.C.E. Too Many People, Order and Nonconformity in Iglulingmiut Social Process. Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Recht & Samenleving, 1994. Riches, David. Northern Nomadic Hunter-Gatherers: A Humanistic Approach. London: Academic Press, 1982. Smith, Eric Alden. Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies: Evolutionary Ecology of an Arctic Hunting Economy. New York: A. de Gruyter, 1991. Sprott, Julie Winkler. Alaska Native Parents in Anchorage: Perspectives on Childrearing. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1992.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 177
─────. Raising Young Children in an Alaskan Iñupiaq Village: The Family, Cultural and Village Environment of Rearing. Westport, CT: Bergen & Garvey, 2002. Turner, Edith. The Hands Feel It: Healing and Spirit Presence among a Northern Alaskan People. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1996. Vanstone, James W. Point Hope: An Eskimo Village in Transition. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1962.
III. THEMATIC WORKS 1.
Prehistory and Archeology
de Laguna, Frederica. The Archaeology of Cook Inlet, Alaska. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1934. ─────. Chugach Prehistory: The Archaeology of Prince William Sound, Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, Vol. 13, 1956. Dumond, Don E. The Eskimos and Aleuts. London: Thames and Hudson, 1987. Giddings, James L. Ancient Men of the Arctic. New York: Knopf, 1967. Grønnow, Bjarne, ed. The Paleo-Eskimo Cultures of Greenland, New Perspectives in Greenlandic Archaeology. Copenhagen: Danish Polar Center, 1996. Grønnow, Bjarne and Jens Fog Jensen. The Northernmost Ruins of the Globe: Eigil Knuth’s Archaeological Investigations in Peary Land and Adjacent Areas of High Arctic Greenland. Copenhagen: Meddelelser om Grønland 29, 2003. Hansen, Jens Peder Hart, Jorgen Meldgaard and Jorgen Nordqvist, eds. The Greenland Mummies. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. Maxwell, Moreau S. Prehistory of the Eastern Arctic. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 1985. McCullough, Karen M. The Ruin Islanders: Early Thule Culture Pioneers in the Eastern High Arctic. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1989. McGhee, Robert. Canadian Arctic Prehistory. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1978. ─────. The Tuniit: First Explorers of the High Arctic. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1981. ─────. Ancient People of the Arctic. Vancouver: University of British
178 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
Columbia Press, 1996. Morrison, David and Jean-Luc Pilon, eds. Threads of Arctic Prehistory: Papers in Honour of William E. Taylor, Jr. Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994. Oswalt, Wendell H. and James W. Vanstone. The Ethnoarcheology of Crow Village, Alaska. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology (Bulletin 199), 1967. Palaeo-Eskimo Cultures in Newfoundland, Labrador and Ungava. St. John’s: Reports in Archeology (No. 1), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1986. Schledermann, Peter. Thule Eskimo Prehistory of Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, Canada. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada (Mercury Series), 1975. ─────. Crossroads to Greenland: 3000 Years of Prehistory in the Eastern High Arctic. Calgary: Arctic Institute of North America, 1990. 2.
Technology and Material Culture
Arima, E.Y. Inuit Kayaks in Canada: A Review of Historical Records and Contruction. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada (Mercury Series), 1987. ─────, ed. Contributions to Kayak Studies. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization (Mercury Series), 1991. Lee, Molly and Gregory A Reinhardt. Eskimo Architecture: Dwelling and Structure in the Early Historic Period. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2003. Zimmerly, David. Qayaq, Kayaks of Siberia and Alaska. Juneau: Alaska Division of State Museums, 2000 (published originally in 1986). 3.
Colonialism
Alia, Valerie. Names, Numbers, and Northern Policy: Inuit, Project Surname, and the Politics of Identity. Halifax, NS: Fernwood, 1994. Brody, Hugh. The People’s Land: Inuit and Whites in the Eastern Arctic. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1991 (published originally in 1975). Damas, David. Arctic Migrants, Arctic Villagers: The Transformation of Inuit Settlement in the Central Arctic. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2002. Dick, Lyle. Muskox Land: Ellesmere Island in the Age of Contact. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2001. Fossett, Renée. In Order to Live Untroubled: Inuit of the Central Arctic, 1550 to 1940. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2001.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 179
Kleivan, Helge. The Eskimos of Northeast Labrador: A History of EskimoWhite Relations, 1771-1955. Oslo: Norsk, Polarinstitutt, 1966. Marcus, Alan R. Out in the Cold: The Legacy of Canada’s Inuit Relocation Experiment in the High Arctic. Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 1992. ─────. Relocating Eden: The Image and Politics of Inuit Exile in the Canadian Arctic. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1995. Mitchell, Donald Craig. Sold American: The Story of Alaska Natives and Their Land, 1867-1959. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1997. Paine, Robert, ed. The White Arctic: Anthropological Essays on Tutelage and Ethnicity. St. John’s: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1977. Slezkine, Yuri. Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994. Tester, Frank J. and Peter Kulchyski. Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit and Relocation in the Eastern Arctic, 1939-63. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1994. 4.
Politics and Political Development including Land Claims
Arnold, Robert D. Alaska Native Land Claims. Anchorage: Alaska Native Foundation, 1976. Berger, Thomas R. Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland: Report of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry. 2 vols. Toronto: James Lorimar, 1977. ─────. Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska Native Review Commission. New York: Hill & Wang, 1985. Bigjim, Frederick Seaguyak and James Ito-Adler. Letters to Howard: An Interpretation of Alaska Native Land Claims. Anchorage: Alaska Methodist University Press, 1974. Brice-Bennett, C., ed. Our Footprints Are Everywhere: Inuit Land Use and Occupation in Labrador. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1977. Case, David S. Alaska Natives and American Laws. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1984. Coates, Kenneth and Judith Powell. The Modern North: People, Politics, and the Rejection of Colonialism. Toronto: J. Lorimer, 1989. Dacks, Gurston. A Choice of Futures: Politics in the Canadian North. Toronto: Methuen, 1981. Dahl, Jens, Jack Hicks and Peter Jull, eds. Nunavut: Inuit Regain Control of their Lands and Their Lives. Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2000.
180 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
Duffy, R. Quinn. The Road to Nunavut: The Progress of the Eastern Arctic since the Second World War. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1988. Eber, Dorothy Harley. Images of Justice: A Legal History of the Northwest Territories as Traced though the Yellowknife Courthouse Collection of Inuit Sculpture. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1997. Fenge, Terry and David Downie, eds. Northern Lights Against POPs: Toxic Threats in the Arctic. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2002. Freeman, Milton, ed. Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Project, 3 vols. Ottawa: Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, 1976. Hamilton, John David. Arctic Revolution, Social Change in the Northwest Territories, 1935-1994. Toronto: Dundurn, 1994. Huntington, Henry P. Wildlife Management and Subsistence Hunting in Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Lynge, Argaluk. Inuit Issittormiut Kattuffiata Oqaluttuassartaa / Histoire de la Conférence Circumpolaire Inuit / The Story of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. Nuuk, Greenland: Atuakkiorfik, 1993. Lynge, Finn. Arctic Wars: Animal Rights, Endangered Peoples, trans. by Marianne Stenbaek. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1992. McBeath, Gerald A. and Thomas A. Morehouse. The Dynamics of Alaska Native Self-Government. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1980. Nuttall, Mark. Protecting the Arctic: Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Survival. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998. Scott, Colin H. Aboriginal Autonomy and Development in Northern Quebec and Labrador. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2001. Simon, Mary May. Inuit: One future—One Arctic. Peterborough, ON: Cider Press, 1997. Skinner, Ramona Ellen. Alaska Native Policy in the Twentieth Century. New York: Garland, 1987. Vick-Westgate, Ann. Nunavik: Inuit-Controlled Education in Arctic Quebec. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2002. 5.
Subsistence and Economy
Barker, James H. Always Getting Ready / Upterrlainarluta: Yup’ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993. Boeri, David. People of the Ice Whale: Eskimos, White Men, and the Whale. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1983. Brody, Hugh. Living Arctic: Hunters of the Canadian North. Seattle: Uni-
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 181
versity of Washington Press, 1987 Caulfield, Richard A. Greenlanders, Whales, and Whaling: Sustainability and Self-Determination in the Arctic. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1997. Eber, Dorothy Harley. When the Whalers Were Up North. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996. Freeman, Milton M.R. Inuit, Whaling, and Sustainability. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 1998. Freeman, Milton M.R., Eleanor Wein and Darren E. Keith. Recovering Rights: Bowheads Whales and Inuvialuit Subsistence in the Western Canadian Arctic. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute and Fisheries Joint Management Committee, 1992. Huntington, Henry P. Wildlife Management and Subsistence Hunting in Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. Iglauer, Edith. Inuit Journey. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1979. Jorgensen, Joseph. Oil Age Eskimos. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. Lauritzen, Philip. Oil and Amulets: Inuit, a People United at the Top of the World. St. John’s, NL: Breakwater Books, 1983. McCartney, Allen P., ed. Hunting the Largest Animals: Native Whaling in the Western Arctic and Subarctic. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute, 1995. Mitchell, Marybelle. From Talking Chiefs to Native Corporate Elite. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996. Riches, David. Northern Nomadic Hunter-Gatherers: A Humanistic Approach. London: Academic Press, 1982. Ross, W. Gillies. Whaling and Eskimo: Hudson Bay 1860-1915. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1975. Smith, Eric Alden. Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies: Evolutionary Ecology of an Arctic Hunting Economy. New York: A. de Gruyter, 1991. Wenzel, George W. Animal Rights Human Rights: Ecology, Economy, and Ideologies in the Canadian Arctic. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991. 6.
Broadcasting and Other Media
Alia, Valerie. Un/Covering the North, News, Media, and Aboriginal Peoples. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1999. Communication and the Canadian North. Montréal: Department of Communication Studies, Concordia University, 1983. Fienup-Riordan, Ann. Freeze Frame: Alaska Eskimos in the Movies. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995.
182 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kenick, Edna. Bible: A Picture Writing by Edna Kenick, Nunivak, Alaska, edited by L.L. Hammerich. Copenhagen: Kommissionaer Munksgaard, 1977. McGrath, Robin. Canadian Inuit Literature: The Development of a Tradition. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada (Mercury Series), 1984. 7.
Intellectual Culture and Religion
Angmaalik, Pauloosie, Saullu Nakasuk, Elisapee Ootoova and Herve Paniaq. Interviewing Inuit Elders: Introduction, edited by Jarich Oosten and Frederic Laugrand. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 1999. Aupilaarjuk, Mario, Tulimaaq Aupilaarjuk, Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Rose Iqallijuq, Johanasi Ujarak, Isidore Ijituuq and Michel Kupaaq. Cosmology and Shamanism, edited by Bernard Saladin d’Anglure. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2001. Commission on History and Culture. Puiguitkaat (The 1978 Elder’s Conference). Barrow: North Slope Borough, 1978. Ekho, Naqi and Uqsuralik Ottokie. Childrearing Practices, edited by Jean Briggs. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2000. Dorais, Louis-Jacques, Murielle Nagy and Ludger Müller-Wille, eds. Aboriginal Environmental Knowledge in the North. Québec: GETIC, Université Laval, 1998. Fienup-Riordan, Ann. The Nelson Island Eskimo: Social Structure and Ritual Distribution. Anchorage: Alaska Pacific University Press, 1983. ─────. Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup’ik Oral Tradition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Giddings, J.L. Kobuk River People. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology and Geography, University of Alaska, 1961 Gualtieri, Antonio R. Christianity and Native Traditions: Indigenization and Synchretism among the Inuit and Dene of the Western Arctic. Notre Dame, IN: Cross Cultural Publications. 1984. Hess, Bill. Gift of the Whale: The Iñupiat Bowhead Hunt, A Sacred Tradition. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1999. Kaplan, Lawrence D., ed. Ugiuvangmiut Quliapyuit / King Island Tales: Eskimo History and Legends from Bering Strait, trans. by Margaret Seeganna and Gertrude Analoak. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1988. Laugrand, Frédéric. Mourir et renaître: la réception du christianisme par les Inuit de l’Arctique de l’Est canadien (1890-1940) Sainte-Foy, QC: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2002. Laugrand, Frederic, Jarich Oosten and François Trudel. Representing Tuurngait. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 183
Lowenstein, Tom. The Things That Were Said of Them: Shaman Stories and Oral Histories of the Tikiġaq People. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. ─────. Ancient Land: Sacred Whale, the Inuit Hunt and Its Rituals. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993. MacDonald, John. The Arctic Sky: Inuit Astronomy, Star Lore and Legend. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1998. Meade, Marie. Agayuliyararput / Our Way of Making Prayer: Yup’ik Masks and the Stories They Tell, edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan. Seattle: Anchorage Museum of Art and History and the University of Seattle Press, 1996. Merkur, Daniel. Powers Which We Do Not Know: The Gods and Spirits of the Inuit. Moscow: University of Idaho Press, 1991. Minor, Kit. Issumatuq: Learning from the Traditional Helping Wisdom of the Canadian Inuit. Halifax, NS: Fernwood, 1992. Nelson, Richard K. Shadow of the Hunter: Stories of Eskimo Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980. Pelly, David E. Sacred Hunt: A Portrait of the Relationship between Seals and Inuit. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001. Rasmussen, Knud. Intellectual Culture of the Igloolik Eskimos. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1929. ─────. Intellectual Culture of the Hudson Bay Eskimos. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1930. ─────. The Netsilik Eskimos, Social Life and Spiritual Culture. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1931. ─────. Intellectual Culture of the Copper Eskimos. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1932. Rink, Henry (Hinrich). Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo. London: C. Hurst, 1974 (originally published in 1875). Roberts, Helen Heffron and Diamond Jenness. Eskimo Songs: Songs of the Copper Eskimos. Report of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, vol. 14. Ottawa: F.A. Acland, 1925. Sonne, Birgitte. The Acculturative Role of Sea Woman: Early Contact Relations between Inuit and Whites as Revealed in the Origin Myth of Sea Women. Meddelelser om Gronland 13, 1990. Thorpe, Nancy, Naikak Hakongak, Sandra Eyegetok and the Kitikmeot Elders. Thunder on the Tundra, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit of the Bathurst Caribou. Victoria, BC: Tuktu and Nogak Project, 2002. Turner, Edith. The Hands Feel It: Healing and Spirit Presence among a Northern Alaskan People. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1996.
184 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
8.
Health and Medicine
Attagutsiaq, Tipula, Alasi Joamie, Akeeshoo Joamie, Jayko Pitseolak, Elisapee Ootoova and Therese Ijjangiaq. Perspectives on Traditional Health, edited by Michele Therrien and Frederic Laugrand. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2001. Bjerregaard, Peter and T. Kue Young. The Circumpolar Inuit: Health of a Population in Transition. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1998. Fenge, Terry and David Downie, eds. Northern Lights Against POPs: Toxic Threats in the Arctic. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2002. Fortuine, Robert. Chills and Fever: Health and Disease in the Early History of Alaska. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1989. Foulks, Edward F. The Arctic Hysterias of the North Alaskan Eskimo. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association, 1972. Grygier, Pat Sandiford. A Long Way from Home: The Tuberculosis Epidemic among the Inuit. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1994. Lee, Betty. Lutiapik: The Story of a Young Woman’s Year of Isolation and Service in the Arctic. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1975. Shepard, Roy J. and Andris Rode. The Health Consequences of “Modernization”: Evidence from Circumpolar Peoples. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Staples, Annalisa R. and Ruth L. McConnell. Soapstone and Seed Beads: Arts and Crafts at the Charles Camsell Hospital, A Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Edmonton: Provincial Museum of Alberta, 1993. 9.
Women
Archibald, Linda. If Gender Mattered: A Case Study of Inuit Women, Land Claims and the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Project. Ottawa: Status of Women Canada, 1999. Giffen, Naomi Musmaker. The Roles of Men and Women in Eskimo Culture. New York: AMS Press, 1975. Oakes, Jill and Rick Riewe. Our Boots: An Inuit Women’s Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Wachowich, Nancy with Apphia Agalakti Awa, Rhoda Kaukjak Katsak and Sandra Pikujak Katsak. Saqiyuq: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1999. 10.
Art, Music, and Theatre
Ashoona, Pitseolak with Dorthory Eber. Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1971.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 185
Blodgett, Jean. Kenojuak. Toronto: Firefly Books, 1985. Brask, Per and William Morgan, eds. Aboriginal Voices, Amerindian, Inuit, and Sami Theater. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. Crandall, Richard C. Inuit Art: A History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000. Eber, Dorothy Harley. Images of Justice: A Legal History of the Northwest Territories as Traced though the Yellowknife Courthouse Collection of Inuit Sculpture. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1997. Hauser, Michael. Traditional Greenlandic Music. Copenhagen: Danish Folklore Archives, 1992. Hessel, Ingo. Inuit Art: An Introduction. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Himmelheber, Hans. Eskimo Artists (Fieldwork in Alaska, June 1936 until April 1937). Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1993. Houston, Alma, ed. Inuit Art: An Anthology. Winnipeg: Watson & Dwyer, 1988. Johnson, Thomas F. Eskimo Music By Region: A Comparative Circumpolar Study. Ottawa: National Museum of Man (Mercury Series), 1976. Kaalund, Bodil. The Art of Greenland: Sculpture, Crafts, Painting. Trans. by Kenneth Tindall. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Lee, Molly. Baleen Basketry of the North Alaskan Eskimo. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998 (published originally in 1983). Lutz, Maija M. Musical Traditions of the Labrador Coast Inuit. Ottawa: National Museum of Man (Mercury Series), 1982. Oakes, Jillian E. Copper and Caribou Inuit Skin Clothing Production. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization (Mercury Series), 1991. Oakes, Jill and Rick Riewe. Our Boots: An Inuit Women’s Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Pearce, Susan M. Eskimo Carving. Bucks, UK: Shire Ethnography, 1985. Ray, Dorothy Jean. Aleut and Eskimo Art: Tradition and Innovation in South Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981 (published originally in 1977). von Finckenstein, Maria, ed. Nuvisavik: The Place Where We Weave. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002. Walk, Ansgar. Kenojuak: The Life Story of an Inuit Artist. Toronto: Penumbra Press, 1999. 11.
Legal and Judicial Matters
Case, Davis S. Alaska Natives and American Laws. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1984. Drummond, Susan G. Incorporating the Familiar: An Investigation into
186 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
Legal Sensibilities in Nunavik. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1997. Eber, Dorothy Harley. Images of Justice: A Legal History of the Northwest Territories as Traced though the Yellowknife Courthouse Collection of Inuit Sculpture. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1997. Grant, Shelagh D. Arctic Justice: On Trial for Murder, Pond Inlet, 1923. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2002. Immaruittuq, Emile, Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Mariano Aupilaarjuk, Tulumaaq Aupilaarjuk and Akeeshoo Joamee. Perspectives on Traditional Law, edited by Jarich Oosten, Frederic Laugrand and Wim Rasing. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2000. Lee, Nella. Crime and Culture in Yup’ik Villages. New York: Edwin Mellon Press, 2000. Morse, Bradford W. Aboriginal Peoples and the Law: Indian, Metis and Inuit Rights in Canada. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1985. Moyles, R.G. British Law and Arctic Men: The Celebrated 1917 Murder Trials of Sinnisiak and Uluksuk, First Inuit Tried Under White Man’s Law. Burnaby, BC: Northern Justice Society, Simon Frasier University, 1989 (published originally in 1979). Trasher, Anthony Apakark with Gerald Deagle and Alan Mettrick. Thrasher ... Skid Row Eskimo. Toronto: Griffin House, 1976.
IV. LINGUISTICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTINCT GROUPS 1.
Inughuit
Dick, Lyle. Muskox Land: Ellesmere Island in the Age of Contact. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2001. Gilberg, Rolf. The Polar Eskimo Population, Thule District, North Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland 203(3), 1976. Holtved, Erik. Contributions to Polar Eskimo Ethnography. Meddelelser om Gronland 182(2), 1967. Malaurie, Jean. The Last Kings of Thule, trans. by Adrienne Foulke. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1982 (published originally in French in 1976). Vaughan, Richard. Northwest Greenland: A History. Orono: University of Maine Press, 1991.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 187
2.
Kalaallit
Caulfield, Richard A. Greenlanders, Whales, and Whaling: Sustainability and Self-Determination in the Arctic. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1997. Dahl, Jens. Saqqaq: An Inuit Hunting Community in the Modern World. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. Nuttall, Mark. Arctic Homeland: Kinship, Community and Development in Northwest Greenland. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992. 3.
Iit
Holm, Gustav. Ethnological Sketch of the Angmagsalik Eskimo, edited by William Thablitzer. Meddelelser om Gronland 9-10, 1911. Nooter, Gert. Leadership and Headship: Changing Authority Patterns in an East Greenland Hunting Community. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1976. Ostermann, H., ed. Knud Rasmussen’s Posthumous Notes on the Life and Doings of the East Greenlanders in Olden Times. Meddelelser om Gronland, 1938. Robbe, Pierre. Les Inuit d’Ammassalik, chasseurs de l’Arctique. Paris: Editions du Muséum, 1994. Robert-Lamblin, Joëlle. Ammassalik, East Greenland – End or Persistence of an Isolate? Anthropological and Demographic Study on Change. Meddelelser om Gronland, 1986. 4.
Inuit of Labrador
Archibald, Linda. If Gender Mattered: A Case Study of Inuit Women, Land Claims and the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Project. Ottawa: Status of Women Canada, 1999. Ben-Dor, Shmuel. Makkovik: Eskimos and Settlers in a Labrador Community: A Contrastive Study in Adaptation. St. John’s: Newfoundland Social and Economic Studies, 1966. Hawkes, E.W. The Labrador Eskimo. Ottawa: Canadian Department of Mines, Memoir 91, 1916. Kennedy, John C. Holding the Line: Ethnic Boundaries in a Northern Labrador Community. St. John’s: Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1982. ─────. Labrador Village. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1996. Kleivan, Helge. The Eskimos of Northeast Labrador: A History of EskimoWhite Relations, 1771-1955. Oslo: Norsk, Polarinstitutt, 1966. Lutz, Maija M. Musical Traditions of the Labrador Coast Inuit. Ottawa:
188 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
National Museum of Man (Mercury Series), 1982. 5.
Inuit of Nunavut and Nunavik
Briggs, Jean L. Never in Anger. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1970. ─────. Inuit Morality Play. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Collignon, Beatrice. Les Inuit: ce qu’ils savent du territoire. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996. Condon, Richard G. Inuit Youth: Growth and Change in the Canadian Arctic. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987. ─────. The Northern Copper Inuit. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. Csonka, Yvon. Les Ahiarmiut: a l’écart des Inuit Caribous. Neuchâtel, SZ: Editions Victor Attinger, 1995. Damas, David. Arctic Migrants, Arctic Villagers: The Transformation of Inuit Settlement in the Central Arctic. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2002. Dick, Lyle. Muskox Land: Ellesmere Island in the Age of Contact. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2001. Dorais, Louis-Jacques. Quaqtaq: Modernity and Identity in a Inuit Community. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. Eber, Dorothy Harley. When the Whalers Were Up North. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996. Fossett, Renée. In Order to Live Untroubled: Inuit of the Central Arctic, 1550-1940. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2001. Graburn, Nelson. Eskimos without Igloos: Social and Economic Development in Sugluk. Boston: Little, Brown, 1969. Jacobs, Martina Magenau and James B. Richardson III, eds. Arctic Life: Challenge to Survive. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1983. Jenness, Diamond. The People of the Twilight. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1928. ─────. The Life of the Copper Eskimos. Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, Vol. 12. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1970 (published originally in 1922). Matthiasson, John S. Living on the Land: Change among the Inuit of Baffin Island. Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 1992. Pelly, David E. Sacred Hunt: A Portrait of the Relationship between Seals and Inuit. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2001. Rasing, W.C.E. Too Many People, Order and Nonconformity in Iglulingmiut Social Process. Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Recht & Samenleving, 1994.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 189
Rasmussen, Knud. Intellectual Culture of the Igloolik Eskimos. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1929. ─────. Intellectual Culture of the Hudson Bay Eskimos. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1930. ─────. The Netsilik Eskimos: Social Life and Spiritual Culture. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1931. ─────. Intellectual Culture of the Copper Eskimos. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1932. Ross, W. Gillies. Whaling and Eskimo: Hudson Bay 1860-1915. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1975. Stevenson, Marc G. Inuit, Whalers, and Cultural Persistence: Structure in Cumberland Sound and Central Inuit Social Organization. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Therrien, Michèle. Le corps inuit. Paris: SELAF/PUB, 1987. Turner, Lucien M. Ethnology of the Ungava District: Hudson Bay Territory. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001 (published originally 1894). Valentine, F. Victor and Frank G. Vallee. Eskimo of the Canadian Arctic. Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1968. Vick-Westgate, Ann. Nunavik: Inuit-Controlled Education in Arctic Quebec. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2002. Wilkinson, Douglas. Land of the Long Day. New York: Holt, 1956. 6.
Inuvialuit
Collignon, Beatrice. Les Inuit: ce qu’ils savent du territoire. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996. Condon, Richard G. The Northern Copper Inuit. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. Freeman, Milton M.R., Eleanor Wein and Darren E. Keith. Recovering Rights: Bowheads Whales and Inuvialuit Subsistence in the Western Canadian Arctic. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute and Fisheries Joint Management Committee, 1992. Petitot, Fr. Emile. Among the Chiglit Eskimos, trans. from the French by E.H. Höhn. Edmonton: Canadian Circumpolar Institute, 1999. 7.
Iñupiat
Burch, Ernest S. Jr. Eskimo Kinsmen: Changing Family Relationships in Northwest Alaska. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1975. ─────. The Iñupiaq Eskimo Nations of Northwest Alaska. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1998.
190 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chance, Norman A. The Iñupiat and Arctic Alaska: An Ethnography of Development. Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1990. Giddings, J.L. Kobuk River People. Fairbanks: Department of Anthropology and Geography, University of Alaska, 1961. Grubser, Nicholas J. The Nunamuit Eskimo: Hunters of Caribou. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1965. Hess, Bill. Gift of the Whale: The Iñupiat Bowhead Hunt: A Sacred Tradition. Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 1999. Jenness, Diamond. Dawn in Arctic Alaska. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957. Lowenstein, Tom. The Things That Were Said of Them: Shaman Stories and Oral Histories of the Tikiġaq People. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. ─────. Ancient Land: Sacred Whale, the Inuit Hunt and Its Rituals. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993. Murdoch, John. Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988 (published originally in 1892). Oquilluk, William A. with Laurel L. Bland. People of Kauwerak: Legends of the Northern Eskimo. Anchorage: Alaska Pacific University Press, 1981. Spencer, Robert F. The North Alaskan Eskimo: A Study in Ecology and Society. New York: Dover, 1976 (published originally in 1959). Sprott, Julie Winkler. Raising Young Children in an Alaskan Iñupiaq Village: The Family, Cultural and Village Environment of Rearing. Westport, CT: Bergen & Garvey, 2002. Turner, Edith. The Hands Feel It: Healing and Spirit Presence among a Northern Alaskan People. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1996. Vanstone, James W. Point Hope: An Eskimo Village in Transition. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1962. 8.
Yupiit
Barker, James H. Always Getting Ready / Upterrlainarluta: Yup’ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993. Fienup-Riordan, Ann. The Nelson Island Eskimo: Social Structure and Ritual Distribution. Anchorage: Alaska Pacific University Press, 1983. ─────. Eskimo Essays: Yup’ik Lives and How We See Them. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1990. ─────. The Real People and the Children of Thunder: The Yup’ik Eskimo
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 191
Encounter with Moravian Missionaries John and Edith Kilbuck. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. ─────. Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup’ik Oral Tradition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. ─────. Hunting Tradition in a Changing World: Yup’ik Lives in Alaska Today. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000. Fitzhugh, William W. and Susan A. Kaplan, eds. Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington, DC, 1982. Hensel, Chase. Telling Ourselves: Ethnicity and Discourse in Southwestern Alaska. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Kawagley, A. Oscar. A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1995. Kilbuck, John. The Yup’ik Eskimos: As Described in the Travel Journals and Ethnographic Accounts of John and Edith Kilbuck who served with the Alaska Mission of the Moravian Church, 1886-1900, edited with an introduction by Ann Fienup-Riordan. Kingston, ON: Limestone Press, 1988. Lantis, Margaret. Eskimo Childhood and Interpersonal Relationships. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1960. Lee, Nella. Crime and Culture in Yup’ik Villages. New York: Edwin Mellon Press, 2000. Oswalt, Wendell, H. Mission of Change in Alaska: Eskimos and Moravians on the Kuskokwim. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1963. ─────. Bashful No Longer: An Alaskan Eskimo Ethnohistory, 1788-1988. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1990. Vanstone, James. Eskimos of the Nushagak River: An Ethnographic History. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967. 9.
Alutiit
Birket-Smith, Kaj. The Chugach Eskimo. Copenhagen: Nationalmuseets Skrifter, Etnografisk Roekke, VI, 1953. Bray, Tamara L. and Thomas W. Killion, eds. Reckoning With the Dead: The Larsen Bay Repatriation Case and the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar, eds. Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2001. Mishler, Craig. Black Ducks and Salmon Bellies: An Ethnography of Old Harbor and Ouzinkie, Alaska. Kodiak: Alutiiq Museum, 2001. Mulcahy, Joanne B. Birth and Rebirth on an Alaskan Island: The Life of an Alutiiq Healer. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001.
192 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
10.
Siberian Yupiit
Bogoras, Waldemar. The Eskimo of Siberia. New York: G.E. Stechert, 1913. Hughes, Charles C. with Jane M. Hughes. An Eskimo Village in the Modern World. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1960. Jolles, Carol Zane with Elinor Mikaghaq Oozeva. Faith, Food, and Family in a Yupik Whaling Community. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002. Kerttula, Anna M. Antler on the Sea: The Yup’ik and Chukchi of the Russian Far East. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. Krupnik, Igor. Arctic Adaptations, Native Whalers and Reindeer Herders of Northern Eurasia. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1993.
V. 1.
BIOGRAPHIES, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, JOURNALS, AND MEMOIRS Inuit
Ashoona, Pitseolak with Dorthory Eber. Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1971. Blackman, Margaret B. Sadie Brower Neakok: An Iñupiaq Woman. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1989. Blodgett, Jean. Kenojuak. Toronto: Firefly Books, 1985. Bodfish, Waldo Sr. Kusiq: An Eskimo Life History from the Arctic Coast of Alaska. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1991. Freeman, Minnie Aodla. Life among the Qallunaat. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1978. French, Alice Masak. My Name is Masak. Winnipeg: Peguis, 1977. ─────. The Restless Nomad. Winnipeg: Pemmican, 1991. Harper, Kenn. Give Me My Father’s Body: The Life of Minik, The New York Eskimo. New York: Washington Square, 2000. Hendrik, Hans. Memoirs of Hans Hendrik, the Arctic Traveller: Serving under Kane, Hayes, Hall and Nares, 1853-1876, trans. by H. Rink, edited by George Stephens. London: Trubner, 1878. Igloliorte, John. An Inuk Boy Becomes a Hunter. Halifax, NS: Nimbus, 1994. Maggo, Paulus. Remembering the Years of My Life: Journeys of a Labrador Inuit Hunter. St. John’s, NL: ISER Books, 1999. Mary-Rousiellière, Guy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 193
Qitdlarssuaq: The Story of a Polar Migration. Winnipeg: Wuerz, 1991. Morgan, Lael. Art and Eskimo Power: The Life and Times of Alaskan Howard Rock. Fairbanks: Epicenter Press, 1988. Mulcahy, Joanne B. Birth and Rebirth on an Alaskan Island: The Life of an Alutiiq Healer. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001. Nickerson, Sheila. Midnight to the North: The Untold Story of the Inuit Woman Who Saved the Polaris Expedition. New York: Putnam, 2002. Nuligak. I, Nuligak, edited and trans. by Maurice Metayer. Markham, ON: Simon and Schuster, 1971. Paungat, Helen. Recollections of Helen Paungat: A Life in the Keewatin. ICI Autobiography Series, Eskimo Point (Arviat): Inuit Cultural Institute, 1988. Pitseolak, Peter. Peter Pitseolak’s Escape from Death, edited by Dorothy Eber. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977. Pitseolak, Peter and Dorothy Eber. People from Our Side: A Life Story with Photographs and Oral Biography. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1993. Rostad, Michael. Time to Dance: Life of an Alaska Native. Anchorage: AT Publishing, 1988. Tagoona, Armand. Shadows. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1975. Trasher, Anthony Apakark with Gerald Deagle and Alan Mettrick. Thrasher ... Skid Row Eskimo. Toronto: Griffin House, 1976. Ungalaaq, Martha Angugatiaq. Inuit Life Fifty Years Ago: Recollections of Martha Angugatiaq Ungalaaq. Eskimo Point (Arviat), NU: Inuit Cultural Institute, 1985. Wachowich, Nancy with Apphia Agalakti Awa, Rhoda Kaukjak Katsak and Sandra Pikujak Katsak. Saqiyuq: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1999. Walk, Ansgar. Kenojuak: The Life Story of an Inuit Artist. Toronto: Penumbra Press, 1999. 2.
Non-Native Explorers, Missionaries, Scientists, and Other Temporary Northern Residents
Brody, Hugh. The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World. New York: North Point Press, 2001. Brower, Charles D. Fifty Years Below Zero: A Lifetime of Adventure in the Far North. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1963. Buliard, Roger P. Inuk. London: Macmillan, 1963. Copeland, Donalda M. and Eugenie Louise Myles. Nurse among the Eskimos. London: Souvenir Press, 1964. de Laguna, Frederica. Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into An-
194 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
thropology. New York: Norton, 1977. Egede, Hans. A Description of Greenland. London: T. & J. Allman, 1818 (published originally in Danish). Fienup-Riordan, Ann. The Real People and the Children of Thunder: The Yup’ik Eskimo Encounter with Moravian Missionaries John and Edith Kilbuck. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Finnie, Richard. Lure of the North. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1940. Freuchen, Peter. Adventures in the Arctic. New York: Julian Messner, 1935. Hall, Charles Francis. Life with the Esquimaux; A Narrative of Arctic Experience in Search of Survivors of Sir John Franklin’s Expedition. Rutland, VT: C.E. Tuttle, 1970 (published originally in 1865). Houston, James A. Confessions of an Igloo Dweller. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Jenness, Stuart, ed. Arctic Odyssey: The Diary of Diamond Jenness, 19131916. Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1991. Kilbuck, John. The Yup’ik Eskimos: As Described in the Travel Journals and Ethnographic Accounts of John and Edith Kilbuck Who Served with the Alaska Mission of the Moravian Church, 1886-1900, edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan. Kingston, ON: Limestone Press, 1988. Lee, Betty. Lutiapik: The Story of a Young Woman’s Year of Isolation and Service in the Arctic. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1975. Lyall, Ernie. An Arctic Man: Sixty-five Years in Canada’s North. Edmonton: Hurtiq, 1979. MacInnes, Tom, ed. Klengenberg of the Arctic: An Autobiography. London: Jonathan Cape, 1932. Morrow, W.H., ed. Northern Justice: The Memoirs of Mr. Justice William G. Morrow. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. Müller-Wille, Ludger, ed. Franz Boas among the Inuit of Baffin Island, 1883-1884, Journals and Letters, trans. by William Barr. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1998. Pryde, Duncan. Nunaga: Ten Years among the Eskimos. London: Eland Books, 1971. Rasmussen, Knud. Across Arctic America: Narrative of the Fifth Thule Expedition. New York: Greenwood Press, 1969 (published originally in 1927). Ross, W. Gillies, ed. An Arctic Whaling Diary: The Journal of Captain George Comer in Hudson Bay, 1903-1905. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. Rowley, Graham W. Cold Comfort: My Love Affair with the Arctic. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1996. Speary, John R. Igloo-Dwellers Were My Church. Calgary: Bayeux Arts, 2001.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 195
Steffansson, Vilhjalmur. Writing on Ice: The Ethnographic Notebooks of Vilhjalmur Steffansson, edited and introduced by Gísli Pálsson. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2001. Washburn, Tahoe Talbot. Under Polaris: An Arctic Quest. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1999. Woodman, David C. Strangers Among Us. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1995.
VI. WORKS BY INUIT WRITERS 1.
Anthologies
Andrews, Susan B. and John Creed, eds. Authentic Alaska, Voices of Its Native Writers. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. Fortescue, Michael, ed. From the Writings of the Greenlanders—Kalaallit Atuakkiaannit. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1990. Gedalof, Robin, ed. Paper Stays Put: A Collection of Inuit Writing, drawings by Alootook Ipellie. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1980. Petrone, Penny, ed. Northern Voices: Inuit Writing in English. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. 2.
Fiction and Poetry
Bigjim, Frederick Seagayuk. Sinrock. Portland, OR: Press-22, 1983. ─────. Walk the Wind. Portland, OR: Press-22, 1988. Ipellie, Alootook. Arctic Dreams and Nightmares. Penticton, BC: Theytus Books, 1993. Lowenstein, Tom, ed. Eskimo Poems from Canada and Greenland. London: Anchor Press, 1970. Markoosie. Harpoon of the Hunter. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1970. 3.
Memoirs
Ashoona, Pitseolak with Dorthory Eber. Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1971. Bodfish, Waldo Sr. Kusiq: An Eskimo Life History from the Arctic Coast of Alaska. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1991. Brown, Emily Ivanoff. The Roots of Ticasuk: An Eskimo Woman’s Family Story. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest, 1981.
196 ● BIBLIOGRAPHY
─────. Grandfather of Unalakleet: The Lineage of Alluyagnak. Fairbanks: Eskimo Indian Aleut Printing, 1974. Ekoomiak, Normee. Arctic Memories. New York: Holt, 1988. Frederiksen, Thomas. Eskimo Diary, trans. by Jack Jensen and Val Clery. London: Pelham Books, 1981. Freeman, Minnie Aodla. Life among the Qallunaat. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1978. French, Alice. My Name is Masak. Winnipeg: Peguis, 1977. ─────. The Restless Nomad. Winnipeg: Pemmican, 1991. Green, Paul, aided by Abbe Abbot. I am Eskimo, Aknik My Name. Juneau: Alaska Northwest Publishing, 1959. Hendrik, Hans. Memoirs of Hans Hendrik, the Arctic Traveller: serving under Kane, Hayes, Hall and Nares, 1853-1876, trans. by H. Rink, edited by George Stephens. London: Trubner, 1878. Igloliorte, John. An Inuk Boy Becomes a Hunter. Halifax, NS: Nimbus, 1994. Maggo, Paulus. Remembering the Years of My Life: Journeys of a Labrador Inuit Hunter. St. John’s, NL: ISER Books, 1999. Paungat, Helen. Recollections of Helen Paungat, A Life in the Keewatin. ICI Autobiography Series, Eskimo Point (Arviat), NU: Inuit Cultural Institute, 1988. Pitseolak, Peter and Dorothy Eber. People from Our Side: A Life Story with Photographs and Oral Biography. Montréal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1993. ─────. Peter Pitseolak’s Escape from Death, edited by Dorothy Eber. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977. Senungetuk, Joseph E. Give or Take a Century: An Eskimo Chronicle. San Francisco: Indian Historian Press, 1971. Senungetuk, Vivian and Paul Tiulana. A Place for Winter: Paul Tiulana’s Story. Anchorage: CIRI Foundation, 1987. Trasher, Anthony Apakark with Gerald Deagle and Alan Mettrick. Thrasher... Skid Row Eskimo. Toronto: Griffin House, 1976. 4.
Science, Philosophy, Politics, and Social Science
Angmaalik, Pauloosie, Saullu Nakasuk, Elisapee Ootoova and Herve Paniaq. Interviewing Inuit Elders: Introduction, edited by Jarich Oosten and Frederic Laugrand. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 1999. Attagutsiaq, Tipula, Alasi Joamie, Akeeshoo Joamie, Jayko Pitseolak, Elisapee Ootoova and Therese Ijjangiaq. Perspectives on Traditional Health, edited by Michele Therrien and Frederic Laugrand. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2001.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ● 197
Aupilaarjuk, Mario, Tulimaaq Aupilaarjuk, Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Rose Iqallijuq, Johanasi Ujarak, Isidore Ijituuq and Michel Kupaaq. Cosmology and Shamanism, edited by Bernard Saladin d’Anglure. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2001. Bigjim, Frederick Seaguyak and James Ito-Adler. Letters to Howard: An Interpretation of Alaska Native Land Claims. Anchorage: Alaska Methodist University Press, 1974. Commission on History and Culture. Puiguitkaat (The 1978 Elder’s Conference). Barrow: North Slope Borough, 1978. Ekho, Naqi and Uqsuralik Ottokie. Childrearing Practices, edited by Jean Briggs. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2000. Immaruittuq, Emile, Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Mariano Aupilaarjuk, Tulumaaq Aupilaarjuk and Akeeshoo Joamee. Perspectives on Traditional Law, edited by Jarich Oosten, Frederic Laugrand, and Wim Rasing. Iqaluit, NU: Nunavut Arctic College, 2000. John, Paul. Qulirut Qanimcit-llu Kinguvarcimalriit / Stories for Future Generations: The Oratory of Yup’ik Elder Paul John, edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan, trans. by Sophie Shield. Bethel, AK and Seattle, WA: Calista Elders Council and the University of Washington Press, 2003. Kawagley, A. Oscar. A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1995. Kenick, Edna. Bible, a Picture Writing by Edna Kenick, Nunivak, Alaska, edited by L.L. Hammerich. Copenhagen: Kommissionaer Munksgaard, 1977. Lynge, Argaluk. Inuit Issittormiut Kattuffiata Oqaluttuassartaa / Histoire de la Conférence Circumpolaire Inuit / The Story of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. Nuuk, Greenland: Atuakkiorfik, 1993. Lynge, Finn. Arctic Wars: Animal Rights, Endangered Peoples, trans. by Marianne Stenbaek. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1992. Meade, Marie. Agayuliyararput / Our Way of Making Prayer: Yup’ik Masks and the Stories They Tell, edited by Ann Fienup-Riordan. Seattle: Anchorage Museum of Art and History and the University of Seattle Press, 1996. Napoleon, Harold. Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being. Fairbanks: Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, 1991. Simon, Mary May. Inuit: One future—One Arctic. Peterborough, ON: Cider Press, 1997. Thorpe, Nancy, Naikak Hakongak, Sandra Eyegetok and the Kitikmeot Elders. Thunder on the Tundra, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit of the Bathurst Caribou. Victoria, BC: Tuktu and Nogak Project, 2002.
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5.
Myths and Legends
Brown, Emily Ivanoff. Tales of Ticasuk: Eskimo Legends and Stories. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 1987. Oquilluk, William A. with Laurel L. Bland. People of Kauwerak: Legends of the Northern Eskimo. Anchorage: Alaska Pacific University Press, 1981. Tagoona, Armand. Shadows. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1975. 6.
Children’s Literature
Igloliorte, John. An Inuk Boy Becomes a Hunter. Halifax, NS: Nimbus, 1994. Kusugak, Michael Arvaarluk. Baseball Bats for Christmas, art by Vladyana Krykorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1990. ─────. Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails, art by Vladyana Krykorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1993. ─────. Who Wants Rocks? Illustrated by Vladyana Langer Krykorka. Willowdale, ON: Annick Press, 1999. Kusugak, Michael Arvaarluk and Robert Munsch. A Promise is a Promise, art by Vladyana Krykorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1988.
About the Author
Pamela R. Stern (B.A., University of Florida; M.A., University of Pittsburgh; Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley) is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She has taught anthropology at the University of Arkansas and at San Francisco State University and held a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral training fellowship in alcohol studies. Dr. Stern’s research among Inuit began in 1982 when she was a participant in the Harvard Adolescence Project directed by John and Beatrice B. Whiting. Her subsequent Arctic research has concerned life course transitions, parenting, intelligence, women’s health, romantic passion, spouse exchange, wage work, economic development, and citizenship. Dr. Stern’s scholarly writings are published in American Anthropologist, Anthropologica, Cultural Survival Quarterly, Ethos, Etudes/Inuit/Studies, and Terrain. She has served as a reviewer for the journals Arctic, Arctic Anthropology, and Etudes/Inuit/Studies and has been a guest editor of Arctic Anthropology. She is the co-editor with Lisa Stevenson of the forthcoming Inuit Studies in an Era of Globalization (University of Nebraska Press).
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