Inuit, Whalers, and Cultural Persistence Structure in Cumberland Sound and Central Inuit Social Organization

In most descriptions of Canadian Inuit and Alaskan "Eskimo" groups, the environment is seen to be the major, and often only, factor conditioning social and political organization. It is easy to see why Arctic anthropologists and archaeologists have idealized Inuit survival ability: it is the one aspect of their way of life that is most comprehensive in terms of society's own cultural system. Inuit fascinate people as they wonder how, and rejoice in the fact that they can, eke out an existence under such intolerably harsh conditions. Although the environment does play a major role in shaping the central Arctic Inuit political, social, and economic landscape, many aspects of Inuit society are determined culturally. Who hunts with whom, how the product of the hunt is distributed, who marries whom, etc. are all given value and meaning that is culturally determined, and not as preordained by environmental factors as most might suppose. The text concludes with an examination of the politics of survival: the life for the Central Inuit peoples and the new territory and government of Nunavut.