The Real People

Without any doubts in my mind, I have found the Inupiat (Inupiaq) culture to be the most interesting Native group studied thus far. It blows my mind that for 4,500 years people have inhabited the severe environment along the Arctic Coast and the North Slope of Alaska. (Yet, the Inupiat are only one of many distinct “Eskimo” groups living in the North American Arctic.) Inupiat literally means “real people.” The populations’ determination to exist, despite such inhospitable conditions, completely justifies such a supreme title. Furthermore, it is amazingly profound that their livelihood has been maintained primarily in reliance to large marine mammal hunting. The list of marine mammals hunted includes but is not limited to, walrus, bowhead whale, bearded seal, spotted seal, ringed seal, ribbon seal, belukha, tomcod, sculpin, water fowl, and polar bear (they are not considered terrestrial because the majority of their life is spent hunting on the sea-ice; much like the Inupiat people).

I find it baffling to even consider venturing out into the Arctic Ocean in a walrus skinboat (umupiat); to set-up camp on the treterous moving sea-ice; where we would remain until one of crews in the local fleet of four to nine boats managed to kill a bowhead whale, which would feed the entire village for the winter. This feat is even more amazing when considering it may continue, day upon day, week upon week, for some two months!

Bear in mind that the monstrosity (in addition to anything else killed) had to be rowed back to the camp where it would be slaughtered. (This rowing must persevere without any thought to personal discomforts because once the whale’s momentum was lost it took great effort to get it moving again.) After chopping-off the head as an offering of respect to the behest and benevolence of all animals, a butchering will continue (perhaps well into the night) until nothing is left but the red-stain of the gory reminder where the carcass had been.

Being a woman, I would have had an entirely different role in the efforts. (For the sake of comparative analysis, I will pretend that I am not thin, pale, pasty, and weak; and would have been able to handle the physical and emotional demands of such an incredible culture.) Females are traditionally responsible for the processing of the food and the raw materials derived from the hunted game. It would have been my responsibility to keep the crew (whose men’s house I am associated with) fed and clothed. In addition to the other wives and mothers of the skinboat crew members, I would have been scraping, cutting to size, and sewing together the thick hides of female walrus, using special stitches that only go halfway through the hide. If done correctly, the double, overlapping seams will be completely waterproof. When finished, the men will help stretch the finished cover over the boat frame and lash it to the gunwales.

(The Inupiat culture has many rituals that accompany their hunting cultural traditions; which are too numerous and detailed to also discuss, but are as equally, uniquely fascinating.)

I would also like to mention the seemingly taboo custom of sharing wives and extended families in Inupiat Native culture. Such illicit behavior makes perfect sense when taking into account the skinboat captain’s need to have a mainstay of skillful and loyal males to rely upon. In this case, sons, brothers, and brothers’ sons are the most likely candidates for forming foundations of traditional skinboat crews. Customary marriages and post-marriage homes reflect the crucial necessity to have related males in the community. For me, traditional Inupiat culture personifies the universe’s nature of infinite persistence in existence and thoroughly reinforces the limitless capabilities of mankind.

(Author's Note: The traditional Inupiat (Inupiaq) whale hunt is still practiced today. To see it done with the conviences of modern technology: click here )