Eskimos in Alaskan Society Essay

In these 5 paragraphs I will talk about the Inuit and Haida tribes.The second paragraph will talk about challenges they both face.The third will talk about resources they both have.The fourth will talk about the Universals of Culture such as shelter,tools,and clothing.

Where: They live in the northern areas of North America where it is very cold such as Alaska (the Alaskan coast), and Canada. This cold climate influences their whole way of living.

The Inuit people, with their diets mostly consisting of protein and fat, suffered little from major dietary health problems that we are so used to seeing today. This might come as a bit of a shock to most of us growing up constantly seeing the food pyramid and being taught that that the only way to stay healthy is to consume a balanced diet of grains, vegetables, meat, eggs and dairy.

              The Inuit tribe has used many natural resources in assisting them to provide food. As they hunt, many of their game don’t just provide food, yet more than that. The Inuit hunters have used sealskin and blubber, from seals they have caught, were used to make clothing, materials for boats, tents, harpoon lines, and fuel for heat and light. Their boats, harpoons lines, clothing, help them gather even more food.

The Inuit people live at a unique location. They live in the far North and into Canada. “There is a Canadian village, named Grise Fjord, just 500 miles from the North Pole” (Sontella 7). The Inuit people

Secondly then let's get into the Inuit group.Now we are going to talk about the differences about the Inuit group.The Inuit people eat different than the other cultures.They eat animals such as Hooded Seal,Beluga ,Walrus,and Whales.They

The people of Inuit, Yup’ik, Unangan, and other Native Americans Indians have lived in the harshest environment on Earth from Siberia, across Alaska and Canada, and to the East of Greenland along the coast of the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean. From Labrador to the interior of Alaska the Athapaskan, Cree, Innu, and other Native’s people lived in the subarctic region of the land. These people had the ability to depend on their years of knowledge of the sky, ice, ocean, land, and animal behaviors in order to survive. Living in the area that was vast and dealing with seasonal dynamic extremes these Native people of the Artic and Subarctic had a honorable endurance for an millennia of exchanged goods, ceremonies, and shared feasts with neighboring goods that has help them throughout the years.

The Canadian Inuit were a domestic, tribal, egalitarian society in the 19th century. And some cultural changes occurred; making the Inuit adapt and become more aware of other resources they could get hold of, for gathering and hunting for food. In the 19th Century, the Europeans discovered the Inuit culture and this provided new resources for the Inuit to gain an easier way to gather and hunt for food. But because of the European influence, the Inuit’s culture changed to adapt with European Individuals living in their land, and European resources that had been made access to them. By this cultural change in the 19th century there was “an increased diversity in the social structure and material culture of the Labrador Inuit society” (Auger, 1993:27). The Labrador Inuit was a significant Inuit Society to have an ethnographical research made to understand a little bit more to; how the Inuit was affected and how the food process was changed. It will also be discussed the significant ideas and techniques that the Inuit used to gather and hunt for resources.

In the film “Eskimo Fight for Life” the Inuit winter camp has a defined social structure. From generation to generation the roles of men and women remain the same. The most important role for men is to hunt to feed the camp. They hunt seal which is a symbol within the camp because it conveys the meaning of survival. The women are responsible for supplying the camp with the necessary clothing such as fur coats and boots. The women also teach their daughters these skills so that they can make their own clothes and boots. The Inuit camp also has their own language which enables them to communicate with one another. With the use of language, the elders, especially the grandmothers, can tell the children stories. These stories are one way they pass

Inuit, Haida, and Iroquois are all alike. They all live in Canada. The Inuit live in northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and Siberia. The Haida live in the west coast of British Columbia. The Iroquois live in the shores of the Great Lakes to St. Lawrence, Georgian Bay, and Ontario.The Europeans interrupted their lifestyles. For the Inuit, it was good and bad. For the Haida, it was bad. For the Iroquois, it was also bad. The Europeans brought drugs and alcohol. They all killed the animals they ate. The Inuit used stone knives, harpoons, Bone Knives, and an ulu. The Haida used bows and arrows, snares, deadfalls, and harpoons, The Iroquois

The Kwakiutl mainly reside in the geographical region of the North Pacific Coast. Stretching along the coast of present day British Columbia. This area begins near the southern border of Alaska; from the Juan de Fuca Strait and extends down south to Yakutat Bay. This region is overlaid with a diverse landscape that has greatly impacted the Kwakiutl way of life. The multitude of resource available to the Kwakiutl has prominently sustain practically every aspect of their culture and society. The ever changing layout of this area created an impenetrable home for the Kwakiutl to inhabit. The coast is shattered with numerous islands and key rivers such as the Columbia, Salmon, and Bella Coola. This opens up a system of travel, commerce, and also creating very strict opportunities for other cultural influences. With the surrounding area thick in dense forests and rugged terrain that includes mountain ranges to valleys rich with life sustaining variables such as wild game, plants, timber, and potential settlement. This varied landscape also greatly isolated the Kwakiutl, making it difficult for any outside influences or possible threats to their way of life, F. Boas 1966, page 7.

The Netsilik are an indigenous community that are descendants of the Thule culture, they reside North of Hudson Bay, just above the Arctic circle. They call themselves the Netsilik or “people of the seal” because of their unusual diet (Young, 1970). In his video Young states that, “The winter months for the Netsilik people starts in September and last right up until June, during these months the temperatures can range anywhere from 30-50 degrees below 0” (1970). During the 2-3 months of warmer weather, “the summer tundra remains wet, since permafrost not far below the surface prevents drainage” (Netsilik, n.d). This causes the Netsilik to migrate frequently.

First let’s begin by introducing the economics and resources of the Yup’ik before and after contact. Subsistence and commercial activities were otherwise the same as economics and resources at that time. Traditionally, the yup’ik were hunters and gatherers (foragers), who relied on the region 's ecology to support their social and ceremonial complexity. Unmatched in any other part of the Eskimo world. The ecological aspect of their support came from a rich coast line, teaming with walrus, seals, and beluga whales along with herring, halibut and cod. The rivers were rich with an abundance of at least 5 different species of salmon. The wetlands have millions of migratory waterfowl. The land also offered numerous species of fur bearers such as fox, musk rat, beaver, mink and otter. Before contact these resources made the Yup’ik well off in economics and resources. Pre-contact trade in native articles, including furs and sea mammal products, was maintained between riverine and coastal groups within the region as well as between the Yup 'ik Eskimos and the Athabaskan peoples to the east.

The Inuit people are also known as Eskimos. They have lived in the Artic area; the Tundra, where the climate is cold and too severe for trees to grow, for over a thousand years. Over the thousands of years living in the Artic environment, the Inuit people have adapted culturally and biologically. Among the biological adaptations, their bodies altered permitting them to adapt to the environment in five ways. In addition to biological adaptations, the Inuit people also adapted culturally, changing how they dressed, the type of home they lived in, and the number of individuals in their groups.

They do not have cars. They use dog sleds to get around. Dog sleds are when they have a sled, with all of their things they need to transport, and have dogs pull it. They use very strong dogs, which are huskies. They cannot use dog sleds to go across the Arctic waters.