Indigenous Iñupiat
People
Madeline Hall
Michaela Hernandez
Michael Pryer
Chris Ramirez
Iñupiat
The name "Inupiaq," means "real or
genuine person”
• Traditional clothing: outer
and inner pullover tops
(Parkas ,Kuspuks/qiipaghaq)
• Outer and inner pants
• Socks, Boots
• Tops/Pants=Caribou Skin
with fur
• Fur faces inside on inner
garments, outside on outer
garments
Where do they reside?
• Historically, Inupiat
people can be
found in North
Western Alaska
within the artic
circle, but they also
previously
conquered the
Circumpolar
North(Canada,
Siberia, and
Alaska).
• They are currently
located all over the
world.
1,820 Bering Strait Inupiat
3,675 Kotzebue Sound Inupiat
1,850 North Alaska Coast Inupiat
1,050 Interior North Inupiat
Demographics and Language
• Barrow, (population 4,434) and Kotzebue,
(3,107), are the region's largest cities where
the population is mostly Inupiat Eskimo.
• Alaskan Inupiaq includes two major dialect
groups: North Alaskan Inupiaq and Seward
Peninsula Inupiaq.
• Alaska is home to about 13,500 Inupiat, of
whom about 3,000, mostly over age 40, speak
the language.
Houses and Settlement
• Traditionally,
homes are usually
made from sod
blocks, laid over
driftwood or whale
bone and walrus
bone frames
(dome-shaped).
• Usually hold 8 to
12 people
Resources
• Their lives
evolve around
the whale,
walrus, seal,
polar bear,
caribou and fish.
• Birds and Eggs
are important
part of diet.
Video Iñupiaq Whale Hunt
http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=LAqEK7
K5oCQ
Traditional Tools
• Variety of stone,
wood, bone, and
ivory
• Bow Drill: starts
fires, drills holes
• Hunting
equipment and
tool kits are
separate
Traditional Transportation
• Umiaq is a large
open skin boat, 15 25 feet long (carried
up to 15 people)
• Kayaks
• Baset sled
• Snowshoes
Inupiat Cultural Patterns
• Cyclical annual
activities and
traditions
• Winter months with
little to no sunlight
• Summer activities
• Fall harvest and
preparations for winter
Historically Rural
• Traditionally and
historically live in arctic
tundra and sub-arctic
areas
• The only plants that
thrive are small shrubs
and lichen
• Mammals that survive
on land are compact
and stocky to retain
heat
Western Contact
Poverty & Wealth
• Pre-contact Inupiat societies were stable with
their own economic structure
• Post-contact Inupiat societies have been
impoverished
– Social problems
– Loss of culture
– Apathy
Education
• Western education ignores traditional Inupiat
education and knowledge
– Forced ‘special education’ programs
– Mind vs. Body
• Low motivation to complete education
• Lack of tools/finances to go onto college
• Urbanized and assimilated youth
War and Peace
• Historically divided and at war within Inupiat
society
– Alliance and Conflict by Ernest Burch Jr.
– Ten separate nations
– Stereotype of docile and submissive Eskimos
• Assimilation post-contact
Minority Status
• Alaska Natives are 15% of the population
within Alaska
• Inupiaq are only a fraction of this number
• With historical and ongoing assimilation
culture is disappearing
Oppression
•
•
•
•
•
Children forced into boarding school system
Missionaries/Christianization
Enforced destruction of language and religion
Subsistence-restricting laws
Forced urbanization/modernization
Segregation/Forced Integration
•
•
•
•
Boarding schools
JOM program
Separate health care
Absorbed into growing urban centers and
Missionary towns
Darlene Wilson
Age 21
Juneau, AK September 2012
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WESTERNIZATION
URBANIZATION

Lack of education

Depression

Alcoholism

Domestic Abuse

Racism
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Many Iñupiat people depend on subsistence
living.
It is becoming harder to hunt the whales, seals,
and walrus that are needed for survival.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/0,,contentMDK:21951825~p
agePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:244363,00.html
What exist???
Roots in Animism
Spirits
Supernatural Existence
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
Reincarnation and recycling of spirit
Deceased members names given to newborns
Animism
Natural Physical Entities
Christianity Missions
Holidays
Relationship
Reciprocal
Responsibility
Redistrubtion
Respect
Elder Care
Community
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Immediate kin
Endogamous
Kinship ties
Umialik
Extended family
Importance of children



Manifest Destiny
Global Warming
Protestant Missions
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Qargi club houses
North Slope Festival
Messenger Feast
Qatizut s
Sources
• http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/articl
e.php?artID=196
• http://library.thinkquest.org/22550/inupiaq.ht
ml
• http://www.uaf.edu/anlc/languages/i/