Eskimo Acculturation

The indigenous Arctic peoples are the Yuit/Yup'ik of Siberia and Alaska, the Inupiat of Alaska, and Inuit of Canada, Greenland, and Iceland; they have also been generically called Inuit. The term Eskimo is a name derived from an Algonquin word meaning “to eat it raw” and has been considered by many Arctic people to be an uncomplimentary name, much like the term “Indian” for the indigenous peoples south of the Arctic Circle. From ancient times, these people of the north lived a nomadic to seminomadic lifestyle, which was close to nature, in harmony with their unique environment, and aware of the seasons and the subsistence that was available throughout the year. Survival-appropriate technology was the way of life, and whatever was hunted or gathered was completely utilized, and there was little if anything wasted; for example, walrus intestines were dried and made into waterproof clothing. Their religion was animistic; their belief is that all creation, whether animate or inanimate, has souls, and thus all creation is to be treated with respect and to share a good life.

When the Europeans arrived and exercised their more dominant technology, a disruptive acculturation was attempted to bring about the evisceration and absorption of the Inuit culture. Due to the remoteness and harsh winters, many of the Arctic people did not experience European “conversions” of their homeland until the 20th century. Whether the colonization of the “White men” came in the1720s, as experienced of the Inuit in Greenland by the Danish, or in1950s, by the Inuit of Alert Bay, the result has been similar to their culture and environment. The changes that occurred became forms of cultural genocide as the acculturation oppression of the gamut of cultural expression ensued as follows: Drum songs and festivities were outlawed and replaced by Christian music and holidays; the separate accommodations of men's houses and the women and children's houses ceased; the sharing of wives to create a kinship between families stopped; the nomadic lifestyle was replaced by permanent housing; the semi-submerged houses were replaced by drafty houses, requiring oil to heat and money to pay for the oil; “good Christians” didn't have tattoos and labrets, and so they were prohibited; the hierarchies ceased as a result of the declining numbers due to infectious diseases, with which shamans were ill-prepared to deal. The respect of animals' spirits was replaced with Christianity and the medical system, since the missionaries threatened eternal sanctions against all those who professed or practiced a faith in anything outside the religious confines of the church; the ravages of alcohol created ripples of pain and sorrow throughout the indigenous people's lives and communities, as they struggled to adapt to these foreign ways while their world was constantly changing, on multiple levels at an incredible speed. The contacts and settlements of Euro-Americans and the enforcement of “civilization” tactics on the northern aboriginal people have come full circle as these indigenous people have learned to defend their aboriginal home-land and rights in the political arena, bringing about beneficial changes like the Alaska Native Land Claims and the Land Claims Agreement in Canada.

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