Inupiat people
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| A family of Inupiat from Noatak, Alaska, 1929. |
| Total population |
|---|
| 13,500[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| North and northwest Alaska (United States) |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
The Iñupiat[pronunciation?] (plural) or Iñupiaq[pronunciation?] (singular) and Iñupiak[pronunciation?] (dual) (from iñuk 'person' - and -piaq 'real', i.e., 'real people') or formerly Inyupik,[2][3] Inupik[pronunciation?] are the people of Alaska's Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs and the Bering Straits region. Barrow, the northernmost city in the United States, is in the Inupiat region. The Iñupiat were divided into two regional hunter-gatherer groups: the Taġiuġmiut (formerly Tareumiut) («people of sea»), living on or near the north Alaska coast, and the Nunamiut («people of land»), living in interior Alaska.
Contents |
[edit] Groups
[edit] Ethnic groups
The Iñupiat people are made up of the following communities.
[edit] Regional corporations
To equitably manage natural resources, Iñupiat people belong to several of the Alaskan Native Regional Corporations. These are the following.
[edit] Language
Their language is known as Iñupiaq. There is one Inupiat culture-oriented institute of higher education, Iḷisaġvik College.
[edit] Subsistence
Iñupiat people are hunter-gatherer such as all Eskimo peoples. Iñupiat people continue to rely heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing. They harvest walrus, seal, whale, polar bears, caribou, and fish.[1] Both the inland (Nunamiut) and coastal (Taġiumiut, i.e Tikiġaġmiut) Iñupiat depend greatly on fish. Ducks, geese, rabbits, berries, roots, and shoots are also food staples throughout the seasons where they are available. The inland Iñupiat also hunt caribou, dall sheep, grizzly bear and moose, where the coastal Iñupiat hunt walrus, seals, beluga whales and bowhead whales. Polar bear is also cautiously hunted. The capture of a whale benefits each member of a community, as the animal is butchered and its meat and blubber allocated according to a traditional formula. Even city-dwelling relatives thousands of miles away are entitled to a share of each whale killed by the hunters of their ancestral village. Maktak, which is the skin and blubber of Bowhead and other whales, is rich in vitamins A and C[4][5] and contributes to good health in a population with limited access to fruits and vegetables.
In recent years oil and other resources have been an important revenue source for the Inupiat. The Alaska Pipeline connects the Prudhoe Bay wells with the port of Valdez in south central Alaska. However, because of the oil drilling in Alaska’s arid north, the traditional way of whaling is coming into conflict with one of the modern world’s most urgent priorities: finding more oil.[6]
[edit] History
Inupiaq groups in common with other Eskimo (Inuit and Yupik) groups, often have a name ending in "miut," which means 'a people of'. One example is the Nunamiut, a generic term for inland Inupiaq caribou hunters. During a period of starvation and influenza (brought by American and European whaling crews[7]) most of these moved to the coast or other parts of Alaska between 1890 and 1910. A number of Nunamiut returned to the mountains in the 1930s. By 1950, most Nunamiut groups, like the Killikmiut, had coalesced in Anaktuvuk Pass, a village in north-central Alaska. Some of the Nunamiut remained nomadic until the 1950s.
[edit] Current issues
Inupiat people have grown more concerned in recent years that climate change is threatening their traditional lifestyle. The warming trend in the Arctic affects the Inupiaq lifestyle in numerous ways, for example: thinning sea ice makes it more difficult to harvest Bowhead Whales, seals, walrus, and other traditional foods; warmer winters make travel more dangerous and less predictable; later-forming sea ice contributes to increased flooding and erosion along the coast, directly imperiling many coastal villages. The Inuit Circumpolar Council, a group representing indigenous peoples of the Arctic, has made the case that climate change represents a threat to their human rights.
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the Inupiat population in the United States numbered over 19,000.
[edit] Iñupiat territories
North Slope Borough : Anaktuvuk Pass (Anaqtuuvak , Naqsraq), Atqasuk (Atqasuk), Barrow (Utqiaġvik, Ukpiaġvik), Kaktovik (Qaagtuviġmiut), Nuiqsut (Nuiqsat), Point Hope (Tikiġaq), Point Lay (Kali), Wainwright (Ulġuniq)
Northwest Arctic Borough : Ambler (Ivisaappaat), Buckland (Nunatchiaq), Deering (Ipnatchiaq), Kiana (Katyaak, Katyaaq), Kivalina (Kivalliñiq), Kobuk (Laugviik), Kotzebue (Qikiqtaġruk), Noatak (Nuataaq ), Noorvik (Nuurvik), Selawik (Siilvik, Akuligaq ), Shungnak (Isiŋnaq , Nuurviuraq)
Nome Census Area : Brevig Mission (Sitaisaq, Sinauraq), Diomede (Inalik), Golovin (Siŋik), Koyuk (Quyuk), Nome (Siqnazuaq), Shaktoolik (Saqtuliq), Shishmaref\ (Qiġiqtaq), Stebbins (Tapqaq), Teller (Tala), Wales (Kiŋigin), White Mountain (Natchirsvik), Unalakleet (Uŋalaqłiq)
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d "Inupiat." Alaska Native Arts. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ Frederick A. Milan (1959), The acculturation of the contemporary Eskimo of Wainwright Alaska
- ^ Johnson Reprint (1962), Prehistoric cultural relations between the Arctic and Temperate zones of North America
- ^ Geraci, Joseph R.; Smith, Thomas G. (June 1979). "Vitamin C in the Diet of Inuit Hunters From Holman, Northwest Territories". Arctic 32 (2): 135.
- ^ "Vitamin C in Inuit traditional food and women's diets".
- ^ Mouawad, Jad (December 4, 2007.). "In Alaska’s Far North, Two Cultures Collide". New York Times.
- ^ see John Bockstoce's 1995 Whales, Ice, & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic
[edit] Further reading
- Heinrich, Albert Carl. A Summary of Kinship Forms and Terminologies Found Among the Inupiaq Speaking People of Alaska. 1950.
- Sprott, Julie E. Raising Young Children in an Alaskan Iñupiaq Village The Family, Cultural, and Village Environment of Rearing. West, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 2002. ISBN 0-313-01347-0
- Chance, Norman A. The Eskimo of North Alaska. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. ISBN 0-03-057160-X
- Chance, Norman A. The Inupiat and Arctic Alaska: An Ethnology of Development. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1990. ISBN 0-03-032419-X
- Chance, N.A. and Yelena Andreeva. "Sustainability, Equity, and Natural Resource Development in Northwest Siberia and Arctic Alaska." Human Ecology. 1995, vol 23 (2) [June]
[edit] External links
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