Unit 2
Peoples of the Arctic

The many original peoples inhabiting the North American and Greenlandic Arctic have adapted to varying environments, but they are all related. The Arctic peoples belong to the language family referred to as Eskaleut, and most Arctic groups emphasized a maritime (sea or seafaring) subsistence pattern—except for the Caribou Inuit. In Unit 2 we discuss, first, the general diversity of Arctic peoples in North America; second, two Canadian Inuit groups, with particular reference to seafaring and land-based subsistence patterns; third, the dynamics of the fur trade; and finally, the impact on the Inuit of absorption into a North American state.

Objectives

When you have completed Unit 2, you should be able to

1. discuss the geographic and environmental characteristics of the Arctic culture area.
2. identify the geographic locations of the major cultural groups of the Arctic region.
3. compare Netsilik, Caribou Inuit Classic, and Founder societies with regard to
   • economy (resources, technology, diversity of labour, seasonal mobility);
   • social organization (group membership, marriage rules, non-kin relations);
   • political systems (leadership, social control, warfare); and
   • ideological systems (rituals, beliefs, worldview).
4. identify the factors involved in the Caribou Inuit population growth, migration, and social group fission.
5. explain the impact of the 1915 Great Famine on the Caribou Inuit.
6. discuss the history of Inuit links to world markets.
7. identify the factors involved in the centralization of Inuit into settlements.
8. discuss contemporary studies regarding suicide among the Inuit.
9. outline the historical development of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the changing role of Aboriginal peoples in it.
10. describe the organization of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
11. outline the assumptions often created by the use of the ethnographic present.