Endangered Peoples of the Arctic: Struggles to Survive and Thrive

by Freeman, Milton M. R.

• ISBN13: 9780313306495
• ISBN10: 0313306494
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

In the Arctic regions, virtually all inhabitants are cultural minorities within their own countries, and although their native culture is constantly evolving naturally, outside pressures are endangering their most important traditions. Endangered Peoples of the Arctic focuses on 14 endangered cultures, from the Inuit tribes in Canada, Alaska, and Greenland to the Saami in Sweden. Students and interested readers will become informed about the contemporary impacts on their traditional way of life, such as loss of language, military intrusions, oil drilling, and wildlife protection, and how these groups are responding. The chapters are written by anthropologists based on their recent fieldwork, which guarantees unparalleled accuracy and exciting immediacy. The Arctic regions are the heartland the groups profiled in Endangered Peoples of the Arctic, and the varied Arctic peoples share common threats from governments and neighbors to the south. Each chapter is devoted to a specific people, including a cultural overview of their history, subsistence strategies, social and political organization, and religion and world view; threats to their survival, and their response to these threats. A section entitled "Food for Thought" poses questions that encourage a personal engagement with the experience of these peoples, and a resource guide suggests further reading and lists films and videos, pertinent organizations and web sites. As the curriculum expands to include more multicultural and indigenous peoples, this unique volume will be valuable to both students and teachers.

Author Biography

MILTON M. R. FREEMAN is Henry Marshall Tory Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	vii
Barbara Rose Johnston
Introduction: Challenges to Cultural Survival in the Arctic	xi
Milton M. R. Freeman
The Aleuts of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska	1	(16)
Helen D. Corbett
Susanne M. Swibold
The Chukchi and Siberian Yupiit of the Russian Far East	17	(22)
Peter P. Schweitzer
Patty A. Gray
The Cree of James Bay, Quebec, Canada	39	(20)
Harvey A. Feit
The Evenkis of Central Siberia	59	(16)
David G. Anderson
The Innu of Labrador, Canada	75	(18)
Adrian Tanner
The Inuit of Nunavut, Canada	93	(20)
Bruce Rigby
John MacDonald
Leah Otak
The Sheep-Farming Kujataamiut of South Greenland	113	(18)
Rasmus Ole Rasmussen
The Inupiat of Alaska	131	(20)
Barbara Bodenhorn
The Isertormeeq of East Greenland	151	(16)
Grete K. Hovelsrud-Broda
The Kalaallit of West Greenland	167	(20)
Richard A. Caulfield
The Kaska of Canada	187	(16)
Patrick Moore
The Whalers of Lofoten, Northern Norway	203	(20)
Arne Kalland
The Saami	223	(24)
Hugh Beach
The Yupiit of Western Alaska	247	(20)
Ann Fienup-Riordan
Index	267	(10)
About the Editor and Contributors	277