Inughuit

ETHNONYMS: Arctic Highlanders, Avanersuarmiut, Cape York Inuit, Itanere, Kap Yorkere, Polar Eskimo, Polareskimoer, Polargroenlaendere, Smith Sound Inuit, Thuleeskimoer, Thulegroenlaendere, Whale Sound Inuit

Orientation

Identification. The Inughuit are a Greenland minority constituting about 1 percent of the general population. They speak a unique Inuit dialect and exist as a distinct subculture. Very much aware of their unique identity, they are proud people and strongly believe that survival in their harsh environment depends on the use of Inughuit ways and experience. The Inughuit feel uncomfortable outside their native communities and territory and choose not to live elsewhere in Greenland or Denmark. Over the decades, the Inughuit have been renamed a number of times by White visitors. "Polar Eskimo," the most common name, was given by Knud Rasmussen in 1903. The Inughuit call themselves "the great and real human beings," and until White contact in 1818, they believed that they were the only humans in the world. "Thule Inuit" is a misnomer, as it refers to the prehistoric culture antecedent to all current Inuit groups.

Location. The Inughuit live in the high Arctic on the west coast of North Greenland between 75° to 80° N and 58° to 74° W. Once called the "Thule District," the region is officially labeled Avanersuup Kommunia. There are four sunlight seasons: dark (twenty-four hours of darkness) from mid-October to mid-February; daylight (twenty-four hours of sunlight) from mid-April to mid-August; and two day/night seasons in between. There are also four climate seasons: Summer (no sea ice) from mid-July to mid-September; fall (unsafe sea ice) from mid-September to mid-October; winter (total sea ice) from mid-October to mid-May (with dark and light periods); and spring from mid-May to mid-July. The average temperature is —31° F in winter and +41° F in summer.

Demography. Estimates place the pre-1880 population at 100-200 people, the 1880-1930 population at about 250, and the 1980 population at 700. The sex ratio, once favoring males 60 percent to 40 percent, has been balanced for the past sixty years.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Inughuit speak their own dialect of the Inuit language, with "s" replaced by "h."

History and Cultural Relations

The Inughuit are descendants of the Thule culture people who migrated from Canada to Greenland about a.d. 900. In the mid-1880s several polar expeditions visited Inughuit territory in search of Sir John Franklin, who was missing in his attempt to find the Northwest Passage. In the 1860s a small band of Canadian Eskimo settled in Inughuit territory and taught the Inughuit to build kayaks, to hunt from kayaks, to fish with leisters, and to hunt caribou with bows and arrows. Prior to that time caribou were believed to be poison and were not eaten. With the kayak, food shortages became less of a threat to survival with only one crisis period in late winter before the sun returned. From 1891 to 1909 Robert Peary spent much time among the Inughuit during his quests to reach the North Pole, which he claimed to reach in 1909 accompanied by Matthew Henson and four Inughuit, Odaq, Iggianguaq, Sigdluk, and Ukujaq. Frederick Cook also may have reached the North Pole in April 1908 with two Inughuit, Apilaq and Itukusuk. Among changes brought by Peary were rifles and ammunition for hunting, iron sewing needles and other Western tools, coffee, tea, sugar, and other processed foods.

Following his 1903-1904 visit, Knud Rasmussen became the protector of the Inughuit, introducing Christianity and establishing a Lutheran mission in 1909. Baptisms for adults were actively conducted from 1912 to 1934. To ensure the regular flow of European goods, Rasmussen had a store built at Uummannaq in 1910 with Peter Freuchen serving as the first storekeeper until 1920. In 1927 Rasmussen established the Hunter's Council with the non-Inughuit storekeeper, minister, and physician and three of the best Inughuit hunters as members. The council established the Thule Law in 1929 which regulated hunting, settled conflicts, and provided assistance to the poor. The Thule Law lasted until 1963 when the West Greenland municipal system became the central authority.

In 1930 Uummannaq housed a government center, a new store, a church, a hospital, a school, and homes for the minister and physician. In 1937 Inughuit territory was incorporated into the Danish Greenland colony, with the Inughuit, like other Greenlanders, becoming Danish citizens in 1953. Between 1951 and 1955 the United States built Thule Air Base near Uummannaq. Pollution from the base made hunting poor and the village population had to move to Qaanaaq in 1953. In 1968 a B-52 bomber with four atomic bombs crashed, leaving ground radiation that restricted hunting in the area. In May 1979 the Inughuit along with other Greenlanders were given home rule, with only defense and foreign relations matters resting with Denmark. In the 1980s the Inughuit joined other members of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference to fight against the Canadian Arctic Pilot Project (APP) , fearing that their hunting grounds would be destroyed by year-round oil-tanker traffic. The APP was eventually discontinued.

Settlements

Villages are on the coast facing the sea. Up until the early 1900s, many families moved from one settlement to another each winter. Settlements included as many as five families of relatives and friends, with anyone free to settle where they wanted and to use whatever dwellings already existed. Summer settlements were smaller and occupied only for hunting purposes. Today, with the presence of stores and access to wood for house construction, the Inughuit are relatively permanently settled in six communities—Qaanaaq (the capital) , Siorapaluk, Qeqertarsuaq, Qeqertaq, Moriusaq, and Sivissivik. Another one hundred or so formerly used settlements lie abandoned. The traditional dwelling was a bulb-shaped stone house built into a slope with an entranceway measuring approximately ten feet by sixteen-and-a-half feet facing the sea. A small roof hole allowed ventilation, while the long low entranceway kept warm air trapped inside. The temperature ranged from 32° F at floor level to near 80° F near the ceiling of the single room, heated by a soapstone lamp. The dwelling housed a single family of from five to ten individuals. Sealskin tents were used in the summer because of drips into the stone house and because the tents were easy to move from one settlement to another. On hunts in winter, the men built snow houses. Beginning in the 1950s the stone houses were first replaced by wooden houses covered with sod and turf and then by all-wood houses raised on poles to avoid permafrost problems. The stone houses had belonged to the user; the wood houses now belong to the person who buys the wood.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The Inughuit are still hunters, although some work for the government or in stores, the hospital, the school, and so on. Unlike West Greenlanders who rely on fishing, the Inughuit hunt seal and walrus, which are available all year. Contrary to popular belief, they do not kill baby seals. Migrating beluga and narwhals are also hunted in the winter sun season and the skin eaten raw as a source of vitamin C. Migrating birds, and especially the plentiful small auks, are also hunted. An Inughuit delicacy, kivioq, is made by stuffing small auks in a sealskin with blubber and left to sit for six months. When the skin is cut open, the feathers are removed and the tender auk meat is eaten; it tastes much like mature cheese. Other game include arctic fox, polar bear (now under a government quota), hare, ptarmigans, reindeer, and musk-ox. The dog is of vital importance as the power for the sleds used in hunting. A dog team consists of eight to ten male and female dogs hitched to the sled in a fan shape with each dog on its own harness line. The Inughuit hunters are among the best dog sledders in the world. Kayaks and motor boats are both used for hunting today.

Division of Labor. Men hunt and women treat skins, sew clothing, and care for the household. As both men's and women's work is necessary for survival, the sexes are accorded equal status.

Land Tenure. No individual or group owns land or hunting grounds. All are free to hunt or build a dwelling where they want.

Kinship

The Inughuit have the traditional bilateral Inuit kinship system and terminology. There are no clans or exogamous groups. Traditionally, cousin marriage was not allowed, although cousin marriages have occurred since the 1940s with the doubling of the population.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. There was no formal wedding ceremony. Couples simply informed their neighbors that they were married, although it was usual to ask for the parents' consent. Couples who acted as if they were married were treated as such. A skilled person was preferred as a marriage partner, although romantic love was a consideration as well. Monogamy was the rule, with the few polygynous marriages lasting only a few years. Numerous deaths owing to accidents and illness meant that many men and women married more than once. A girl who had already shown her ability to have children was a desirable partner. Newlyweds would first settle with the parental family that had room and then establish their own home. Divorce was not common, and trial marriages were used to encourage marital stability. Childlessness was reason for divorce.

Domestic Unit. Small extended families were common. A young couple would follow their parents, and the parents, when old, would follow their children; thus, it was important to have children. Boys, seen as future providers, were preferred, although female infanticide for that reason alone was not practiced. Infanticide, once used in times of starvation, has now been abandoned with the availability of food in stores.

Inheritance. In traditional times, the few personal possessions of the deceased were placed on the grave. Danish law is now followed.

Socialization. Children learned the requisite skills by imitating their parents or other relatives of the same sex. Children were treated as adults with parents either suggesting a better way to do something or allowing the children to learn from their mistakes. Because lnughuit are now Danish citizens, school is mandatory and is taught in either West Greenlandic or Danish.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. The family was the basic social unit, with no tribal structure or leadership. Especially skilled hunters might have a say in matters, but no one was obligated to follow their suggestions. Although they lived over a broad area, frequent traveling made for frequent contact and all Inughuit were well informed about happenings in the society.

Political Organization. The Inughuit are Danish citizens and governed by Danish law.

Social Control and Conflict. Public opinion and ridicule were used both to prevent and to end conflicts. Problems were often settled by outside parties in order to avoid escalation into an open conflict. Only rarely would hunters join together to kill a troublesome person who tyrannized people. Neighbors would intervene in family fights only if it seemed a matter of life or death.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The Inughuit, like other Inuit groups, believed in the Mother of the Sea (Nerrivik ) and the Moon Man. She controlled the sea mammals and he made sure that taboos were followed. If someone violated a taboo, the Moon Man would appear in a dream or in the guise of a polar bear to remind the wrongdoer. The central belief in pre-Christian Inughuit religion was that everything in nature was alive and had a soul (inua ). Incorrect human behavior could offend the souls and lead to calamities such as a poor hunt or starvation. Protection from such disasters was provided by wearing amulets or reciting spells in the proper tone, although spells could lose their power if used too often. Amulets and spells were also used to bring good luck. The Inughuit believed that humans had three parts—the immortal soul, the name, and the body. In 1903, Majaq, the hunter, told Rasmussen (1908): "The human soul is what makes you beautiful, what makes you into a human being. The soul alone makes you will, act, be enterprising. It is the soul that gives you drive in your life. Therefore, the body must collapse when the soul leaves it." An individual's personal name had its own force and was tabooed after the person died in order to save its power until it could be given to a newborn of the same sex. The qualities of the deceased name's owner were believed to follow the name to the next bearer. Thus, infants were often named for deceased friends and relatives of their parents. Those who shared the name of someone who died had to change the name until it was put into use again.

Religious Practitioners. Any member of the society could be a shaman (angakkoq ), although the spirits would not work through just anyone. Special qualities were needed, and the best hunters were often shamans, with their power measured by the number and power of the helping spirits they controlled.

Medicine. Traditionally, some illnesses were attributed to a loss of the human soul, with recovery contingent on the shaman traveling to the spirit world and bringing back the lost soul. Other maladies such as broken bones and cuts were treated by experienced adults. Persons with serious handicaps had much difficulty surviving. Since 1928, however, a physician has served Inughuit communities.

Death and Afterlife. After a death, the settlement was tabooed for five days, with no activities save food preparation permitted. The Inughuit did not fear death, for it was seen as a stage between life in this world and life in the next. The next world was much like this one, except that it was free of illnesses, unsuccessful hunts, and other problems. There were two pleasant afterworlds, one in the sea and one in the sky. The notion of hell was introduced by the Christian missionaries. As all evil was thought to stay in the corpse, anyone who touched it was restricted from some activities for a year. The task of removing the body usually fell to a relative who carried it through a hole or side window so that the soul would not be able to find its way back. The corpse was then covered by stones and personal objects set on the grave. Grave robbing was forbidden, although objects could be substituted for valuable hunting tools so they could be used. The soul of the deceased remained near the grave to make sure all rules were followed and to frighten any violators.

Bibliography

Gilberg, Rolf (1976). The Polar Eskimo Population, Thule District, North Greenland. Appendix: Polar Eskimo Bibliography. Meddelelser om Grønland, 203(3):1-87. Copenhagen, Denmark.

Gilberg, Rolf (1984). "Polar Eskimo." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 5, Arctic, edited by David Damas, 577-594. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Herbert, Wally (1981). Hunters of the Polar North: The Eskimos. Time-Life Books: Peoples of the Wild. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Holtved, Erik (1967). Contributions to Polar Eskimo Ethnography. Meddelelser om Grønland, 182 (2): 1-180. Copenhagen, Denmark.

Rasmussen, Knud (1908). People of the Polar North: A Record, edited by G. Herring. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner.

ROLF GILBERG