The Inuit Paradox Summary

A beavers dam and crack the ice in 40-50 different places. The beavers would then have to come out of the broken holes in the ice. Moose were the Mi’kmaq’s most productive food and were hunted from February to mid March. Meat and fish would then be dried and smoked to preserve them. Berries, roots and edible plants were also a source of food for the Mi’kmaq, (Nova Scotia 3; Davis 27).

These native peoples had to then change recipes and use other technologies so their bodies would be healthy and survive. One method that was used, that Pilcher describes, is the combination of the protein and amino acids from corn and beans as eating corn alone does not supply a balanced diet, but both corn and beans do.

              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 Indians also catch lots of other animals. The Inuit people rely on fish, sea mammals, and land animals for food, heat, light, clothing, tools, and shelter( ? ). The Inuit Tribe is all about not wasting any part of animals they kill. They will use animals fat for lighting homes, animal bones are turned into tools and weapons, and animal bones are also used for arts (Sontella 20). Animals are a big part of the Inuit’s culture. They have many traditions and cultural beliefs based around the animals of the north.

However, The Netsilik Eskimo was a unique read in the sense that Balicki did much more than just describe their evolution. He achieved his purpose by focusing primarily on the ways of the Netsilik before the introduction of the firearms, imported clothing, or steel tools. Although it could seem outdated to some readers, it was informative in the area of the lifestyle of the Netsilik that the author was focusing on. If a reader wants to learn more about the recent lifestyle of the Netsilik within the last 50 years, this book does not touch on those subjects. Nevertheless, it was fascinating specifically to me because I was looking to learn about how a group of people could survive in such rigid winter conditions for such a long period. They had very little interaction with white people compared to other tribal groups, so the subject is less touched upon in our education system today. Today, when the early education system in our nation focuses on Native North American tribes, the Netsilik is not included because they were not affected by the famous bills and laws passed by the United States

You just learned about how dissimilar, and the same two tribes can be to each other, and how they are comparable, how the Dene’s style varies, and how the Inuit are distinct. The Dene and the Inuit are similar on caribou, clothing, and location. The Dene is different because of the houses they live in. The Inuit is different because more of their territory is close to water. Think about this; how unlike do you live, than a person your age living in another place, like London, Paris, Moscow, or the

(Higgins, 2008) The Beothuk had mainly a marine diet consisting largely of harp seal as well as other various types of fish, their diet also included birds. (Pastore) The island was rich and abundant in marine food sources but had limited food sources inland. When the Europeans settled along the coastal shore the Beothuk were forced to move inland and so they adjusted their hunting practices and lifestyle to inland practices such as hunting caribou. (Higgins, 2008) Many Beothuk as a result were malnourished and starving. (Pastore) Due to resources being scarce and irregular provision sources the Beothuk would jerk meat such as fish, seal flesh, venison and birds to preserve it. (Howley, 1915) The Beothuk also made sausages with seal guts stuffed with seal flesh, seal fat, eggs and a variety of other ingredients. (Howley,

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.

Historically, Aboriginal people eat traditional foods found on their land, such as fish and plants. Since being displaced, a significant amount of traditional food consumed is contaminated due to “anthropogenic activities, [and] environmental activities (e.g. mercury and PCBs)” (Richmond and Ross 404). In addition, consumption of traditional

The Inuit developed a way of life well-suited to their Arctic environment, based on fishing; hunting seals, whales, and walruses in the ocean; and hunting caribou, polar bears, and other game on land. They lived in tents or travelled in skin-covered boats called kayaks and umiaks in summer, and stayed in

The Inuit are very spiritual people and they do not believe in a lot of the same things we do. They believe in something called Animism, all living and nonliving things have a spirit. When someone or something dies they believe that things spirit goes to the spiritual world. They only people powerful enough to talk or communicate with these spirits are religious leaders, Shamans or “Angakoks”. The way these religious leader speak with them is through dances or charms. They wear masks and clothes of an animal because they believe it helps them to communicate with them better. Not all spirits are good ones, when the weather was bad or there was an illness going around they believed it to be a displeased spirit, but the Inuit used guidelines to try to make the spirit happy. There was five rules that need to be followed in order to please the spirits, 1) women are not allowed to sew caribou skins on the inside of there igloo on sea ice in the winter. 2) Inuit can not eat sea mammal and land mammal at the same meal. 3) A knife used to kill whales had to wrapped in sealskin, not caribou skin. 4) After killing a seal melted snow had to dripped into its mouth to quench the spirit's thirst. 5) The Inuit saved the bladder of the hunted because they believed that’s where the spirit was found inside. One of the most important spirits was Sedna, The Goddess of the Sea. She provided them with food from the sea, which made the Inuit most happy.

In Inuit housing have air tight crowded and are inadequately ventilated (e.g schools) with that air is passed from one person to another.

The Inuit’s served using weapons and their hands. They hunted these animals Caribou, whales, fish, oxen, seals and even walruses. The Inuit’s hunted with sharp sticks, spears and bow and arrow. The housing was made out of long grass and dirt. The houses were Igloos and an underground barrier. Now you know some facts about the Inuit Tribe.

First, I would like to discuss the strategy of hunting and gathering, the sole strategy until twelve thousand years ago. Hunting and gathering is a form of subsistence dependent upon wild plants and animals for the majority of the calories of the diet. While its name underscores the importance of hunting in this lifestyle, this is misleading as the majority of caloric needs in societies practicing this strategy are met by gathering wild edible plants and berries.

The Inuit ate raw meat because they had very few natural resources and very few edible plants to eat. When food is being cooked the longer the person has it being cooked the more nutrients has been taken away. When food is cooked some of the vitamins like vitamin c and vitamin b, have been lost or taken away during the process of it being cooked. Cooked food has