Iñupiat

The Iñupiat are an Indigenous people who live in northwestern Alaska. The term Iñupiat means “real people” or “genuine people.” Iñupiaq is the singular form of Iñupiat and is also the name of their Indigenous language. The ancestors of the Iñupiat first settled in the region about a thousand years ago. According to the 2020 US Census, more than 5,600 Iñupiat people live in Alaska, and 10,500 additional people claim some Iñupiat heritage. Only a small portion of the people speak the Iñupiaq language, with most Indigenous speakers as part of the older generation. There are continuing efforts, however, to preserve the language.

Background

The Iñupiat of Alaska are closely related to the Inuit cultures of Canada, Greenland, and other parts of Alaska. Some people classify the Iñupiat as part of the Inuit culture, while others classify the group as separate but culturally related. The Inuit live mainly throughout the Canadian Arctic and Greenland and comprise eight main groups: the Labradormiut, Nunavimmiut, Baffin Island, Iglulingmuit, Kivallirmiut, Netsilingmiut, Inuinnait, and Inuvialuit. The groups all have different homelands and have slightly different cultures. The whole Inuit homeland, which generally includes parts of Alaska and Greenland, is called Nunangat. Traditionally, the Inuit were hunters and gatherers, and they moved throughout the year to find new hunting grounds with the seasons. Many Inuit communities throughout the Arctic still rely on subsistence hunting and gathering practices. Inuit culture and art are highly culturally and artistically sophisticated, with many modern artists working in fields ranging from woodcarving to printmaking.

Overview

The history of human settlement in Alaska and other Arctic areas stretches back thousands of years. The first humans settled in the Arctic about four thousand years ago. The original inhabitants of the region are culturally related to the modern-day Iñupiat and the Inuit. The ancestors of the Iñupiat people were known as the Thule and moved into northern Alaska about 1050 CE. The Iñupiats’ range has varied over time, but they have lived as far south as Unalakleet on Alaska’s central coast and as far north as Barrow on the state’s northern peninsula.

The Iñupiat people have a culture that revolves around their hunting practices. They live mostly a subsistence lifestyle, harvesting marine and land mammals, fish, and birds. The Iñupiat find meaning and cultural connection through their subsistence hunting. This hunting sustains families both nutritionally and spiritually, as they believe their hunting practices connect them with nature, each other, and their ancestors.

Various groups of Iñupiat rely on different types of animals depending on where they live. Nearly all the Iñupiat depend on fish. Those who live along the coast also depend on hunting marine mammals, such as walruses, seals, and whales. The Iñupiat, who live inland, hunt caribou, sheep, bear, and moose. They also rely on berries, roots, shoots, geese, rabbits, and ducks for food.

Many Iñupiat still practice whale hunting, which is one of the most culturally important hunting practices in their society. The Iñupiat have been harvesting whales off the Alaskan coast for thousands of years. Older Iñupiat pass on the hunting tradition to younger generations. The practice begins by preparing the umiaq, which is the traditional boat used during the hunts. The boats are made by preparing seal skins to cover the boats. They also prepare caribou sinew to turn into thread. The Iñupiat also spend time at the hunting camp when they prepare to hunt for the whales. After the hunt is finished, the people prepare the whale using traditional tools and methods.

Part of the reason that subsistence hunting is important to the Iñupiat is that food shipped into northern Alaska is often extremely expensive and difficult for many people to afford. Furthermore, the Iñupiat see prepackaged store-bought food as less healthy than natural sources of food.

Although the Iñupiat depend on whaling for subsistence, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) attempted to ban their harvest of bowhead whales. The IWC said that a low population of bowhead whales caused them to implement the ban. The Iñupiat and other Indigenous groups created the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC) to fight the ban. In 1977, the IWC held a special meeting during which they replaced the ban with a quota system. In 1978, the first year of the system, the Iñupiat were permitted to land twelve whales. From 2013 to 2018, the quota was increased to allow the landing of 330 whales over the six-year period. In the 2020s, the quota rests at around 280, with a reevaluation every five years.

The Iñupiat, like other Indigenous communities, are focused on preserving the environment. The Iñupiat monitor their activities to ensure they do not harm the environment with their subsistence activities. Visitors to Iñupiat land are supposed to comply with all policies and regulations to ensure they also do not harm the environment. The Iñupiat have also embraced some modern changes, such as using electric lights and snowmobiles. Many have gotten jobs in the oil and gas industry, which has grown near their homeland with the discovery and extraction of oil in Alaska.

In the twenty-first century, the Iñupiat have faced consequences of human-caused climate change. Flooding, a decrease in mammal populations, and other effects of climate change pose an increasing risk to the Iñupiat way of life.

Alaska is home to about twenty Indigenous languages, including Iñupiaq. Iñupiaq is closely related to the Inuit languages spoken throughout Canada and Greenland. The Alaskan Iñupiaq language includes two major dialects, North Alaskan Iñupiaq and Seward Peninsula Iñupiaq. The dialects differ mostly because of differences in vocabulary, suffixes, and sounds (or phonology). Despite the impact of colonization and modernization, Iñupiaq is one of the Indigenous languages that survive in Alaska. This is in part because Iñupiat elders stress the importance of using the language, as they believe the language is key to understanding their culture. Since 2017, organizers have provided an intensive language workshop held throughout Iñupiat communities to ensure the survival of the Iñupiaq language.

Despite challenges to the environment, their language, and their traditional ways of life, the Iñupiat continue to thrive in thirty-four villages across Iñupiaq lands.

Bibliography

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