I have recently been reading about the history of Arctic exploration, and have noticed that many authors on this topic, when discussing the native peoples, go out of their way to emphasize that the term “Eskimo” is no longer considered proper; the correct term, rather, is “Inuit.”
I had no real reason to doubt this claim, until I made the mistake of using the term in a conversation with a pal of mine who is of Inupiaq extraction. After thoroughly reaming me out for my error, he went on to passionately decry the high-handed efforts of the Canadian Inuit to unjustly impose the name of their own people on other native populations who never used the term to describe themselves. (Actually he used somewhat more expressive language than “high-handed” and “unjust,” which is why I’m leery of raising the subject with him again.)
As far as I have been able to discern so far from my reading, the term “Inuit” is intended to denote a group of neighboring cultures with shared linguistic roots, presumably analagous to “Indo-European.” I guess I can understand my friend’s annoyance at being saddled with a term that he doesn’t identify with; nobody goes around telling people of Scotch-Irish descent that they have to call themselves Indo-Europeans instead. But I am curious: was there ever, as he claims, a concerted effort by Canadian native political groups to enshrine “Inuit” as the proper anthropological blanket term for Arctic peoples?
As a recent resident, I can assure that Inuit has not supplanted Eskimo in Alaska. I have many Eskimo friends who use that term for themselves and their families without any pejorative connotation.
Greenlanders can properly be called Inuit based on linguistic affinity, but I believe that in general they prefer the term “Kalaallit.” It means “Greenlanders” though not of course in the literal sense of “people from a green land.” The ultimate origin of the word “Kalaallit” is disputed.
I grew up in Alaska, and I never heard an eskimo refer to themselves as Inuit. They always called themselves eskimos. Most I knew were Yupik though. But not all native americans in Alaska are eskimos, lots of them are indians or aleuts.
Yeah, but I’ve heard Inuit use the term pretty cheerfully among themselves, and I imagine you have, too. It’s a bit like “nigger” that way, in my experience.
What’s it like in Iqaluit these days, Nunavut Boy? It’s not like I miss it there, but when the days start getting longer, I sometimes think about the Arctic.
Frankly I’d be leery of raising any subject with him, for it sounds like this friend of yours was using you to vent all his frustrations on the subject. IMHO there’s no excuse for that.
The thing is, ordinarily he’s exceedingly laid back, so learning that this topic is a sensitive one with him is doubly surprising…which is another reason why I am trying to find out more about the subject. The local Inupiaq community here in Florida is relatively inconspicuous; he’s the only one I know. I have no idea whether this is a widespread concern among his folks at home, or if it’s just a personal hobgoblin of his, but I do know that matters of ethnic identity can carry a lot of emotional weight (as Nunavut Boy pointed out above). As someone who as yet has never been north of Minneapolis,* I have no real sense of how the various Arctic native communities interact; they could be fighting it out like the Hatfields and McCoys for all I know.
I certainly don’t blame my pal for having pride in his heritage; the more I read about the history of the Arctic, the more respect I have for the people who managed to survive and even thrive there. And I can certainly understand how cultural validation could be a highly important issue for such people, whose incredibly fine-tuned and well-adapted society was pretty much bulldozed over during the last few centuries.
There’s one darkly comic anecdote in one of the histories I’m reading, where a team of British explorers tries to translate the Bible for the benefit of their guides, with less than satisfactory results. Rendered into the local dialect, The 23rd Psalm ran: “The Lord is my great keeper; he does not want me. He shoots me down on the beach, and pushes me into the water.”
*although I really hope to visit Algonquin Provincial Park one of these days…
Hey, you Walloon fellow, come over here. Ok, here I am. What do you Walloon folk like to eat? Beer, chocolate, and mussels. Did that Walloon do something? He just posted. Go ask that Walloon over there. Yep. I just posted.
