Inupiat
Encyclopedia
The Iñupiat or Iñupiaq (singular) and Iñupiak (dual) (from iñuk 'person' - and -piaq 'real', i.e., 'real people') or formerly Inupik are the people of Alaska
's Northwest Arctic
and North Slope
boroughs and the Bering Strait
s region. Barrow
, the northernmost city in the United States, is in the Inupiat region. Their language is known as Iñupiaq. There is one Inupiat culture-oriented institute of higher education, Iḷisaġvik College
.
Inupiat people continue to rely heavily on subsistence hunting
and fishing
, including whaling
. 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
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.
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.
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, see John Bockstoce's 1995 Whales, Ice, & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic) 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.
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the Inupiat population in the United States numbered over 19,000.
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
's Northwest Arctic
Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska
-National protected areas:* Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge ** Chamisso Wilderness* Bering Land Bridge National Preserve * Cape Krusenstern National Monument* Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve...
and North Slope
North Slope Borough, Alaska
-National protected areas:* Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge ** Cape Lisburne** Cape Thompson* Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ** Mollie Beattie Wilderness * Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve...
boroughs and the Bering Strait
Bering Strait
The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
s region. Barrow
Barrow, Alaska
Barrow is the largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is one of the northernmost cities in the world and is the northernmost city in the United States of America, with nearby Point Barrow being the nation's northernmost point. Barrow's population was 4,212 at the...
, the northernmost city in the United States, is in the Inupiat region. Their language is known as Iñupiaq. There is one Inupiat culture-oriented institute of higher education, Iḷisaġvik College
Ilisagvik College
Iḷisaġvik College is a public community college located in Barrow, Alaska, on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. The College is the only tribally controlled college in Alaska and is the northernmost accredited community college in the United States. Accredited in 2003 by the Northwest Commission on...
.
Inupiat people continue to rely heavily on subsistence hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, including whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
. The capture of a whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
benefits each member of a community, as the animal is butchered and its meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
and blubber
Blubber
Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue found under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds and sirenians.-Description:Lipid-rich, collagen fiber–laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, except for parts of the appendages, strongly attached to the musculature...
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
Muktuk
Muktuk is the English word for the traditional, pre-agrarian, Inuit/Eskimo and Chukchi meal of frozen whale skin and blubber...
, which is the skin and blubber of Bowhead
Bowhead Whale
The bowhead whale is a baleen whale of the right whale family Balaenidae in suborder Mysticeti. A stocky dark-colored whale without a dorsal fin, it can grow to in length. This thick-bodied species can weigh to , second only to the blue whale, although the bowhead's maximum length is less than...
and other whales, is rich in vitamins A
Retinol
Retinol is one of the animal forms of vitamin A. It is a diterpenoid and an alcohol. It is convertible to other forms of vitamin A, and the retinyl ester derivative of the alcohol serves as the storage form of the vitamin in animals....
and C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
and contributes to good health in a population with limited access to fruits and vegetables.
In recent years oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
and other resources have been an important revenue source for the Inupiat. The Alaska Pipeline
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System
The Trans Alaska Pipeline System , includes the Trans Alaska Pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems...
connects the Prudhoe Bay wells with the port of Valdez
Valdez, Alaska
Valdez is a city in Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 4,020. The city is one of the most important ports in Alaska. The port of Valdez was named in 1790 after the Spanish naval officer Antonio Valdés y...
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.
Inupiat people have grown more concerned in recent years that climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
is threatening their traditional lifestyle. The warming trend in the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
affects the Inupiaq lifestyle in numerous ways, for example: thinning sea ice
Sea ice
Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....
makes it more difficult to harvest Bowhead Whales, seals
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
, walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
, and other traditional foods; warmer winters make travel more dangerous and less predictable; later-forming sea ice
Sea ice
Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....
contributes to increased flooding and erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
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.
Inupiaq groups in common with other Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
(Inuit and Yupik) groups, often have a name ending in "miut," which means 'a people of'. One example is the Nunamiut
Nunamiut
The Nunamiut people are a semi-nomadic inland Inupiaq Eskimos located in northern and northwestern Alaska, mostly around the Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska, whose ancestors date back hundreds of years.-History:...
, a generic term for inland Inupiaq caribou
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
hunters. During a period of starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
and influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
(brought by American and European whaling crews, see John Bockstoce's 1995 Whales, Ice, & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic) 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
Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska
Anaktuvuk Pass is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 249 at the 2007 Census Bureau estimate.-Geography:...
, a village in north-central Alaska. Some of the Nunamiut remained nomadic until the 1950s.
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the Inupiat population in the United States numbered over 19,000.
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 0313013470
- 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 0-03032419-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]