Nunamiut
 Asod house(ivrulik) inAnaktuvuk Pass, Alaskain 1957, shortly after the village was established. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| InlandAlaska(United States) | |
| Languages | |
| Iñupiat language,English | |
| Religion | |
| Presbyterianism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Iñupiat,Uummarmiut |
TheNunamiutorNunatamiut(Inupiaq:Nunataaġmiut,IPA:[nunɐtaːɴmiut],"People of the Land" ) are semi-nomadic inlandIñupiatlocated in the northern and northwesternAlaskaninterior, mostly aroundAnaktuvuk Pass, Alaska.
History
[edit]Early Nunamiut lived by hunting caribou instead of the marine mammals and fish hunted by coastal Iñupiat. After 1850 the interior became depopulated because ofdiseases,the decline of thecaribouand themigrationto the coast (including the Mackenzie Delta area inCanada,where they are calledUummarmiut) where whaling and fox trapping provided a temporarily promising alternative.[1]
Historically, the Nunamiut huntedcaribou.When caribou numbers dwindled in the 19th century, some Nunamiut migrated towards theMackenzie Riverdelta.[2]Around 1910, with caribou continuing to be insufficient to sustain the native hunting, Nunatamiut migrated further into theSiglitarea. They were spurred by increased demand for furs by theHudson's Bay Companyand the possibility of jobs within thewhalingindustry. TheInuvialuitof the Siglit area were unhappy with the arrival of the Nunatamiut, afraid that the Nunatamuit would deplete the Inuvialuit's Bluenose caribou herd. But the Nunatamiut, inland hunters of the Iñupiat region, were in high demand by the American whalers.[3]
Eventually, the Nunatamiut who settled in the Siglit area became known as theUummarmiut(people of the green trees) and intermarried with the local Inuvialuit.[4]
In 1938, several Nunamiut families returned to theBrooks Range,around Chandler Lake and theKillik River.In 1949, the Chandler Lake Nunamiuts moved to Anaktuvuk Pass; later, the Killik River group moved there also. Anaktuvuk Pass is the only Nunamiut settlement. Afederally recognizedAlaskan villageis located Anaktuvuk—the Village of Anaktuvuk Pass, the Naqsragmiut Tribal Council.
Recording of culture and history
[edit]The Nunamiut were visited afterWorld War IIby Norwegian explorer and authorHelge Ingstad.He stayed for a period in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska among the Nunamiut, and afterward wroteNunamiut - blant Alaskas innlandseskimoer(translation: "Nunamiut - Inland Eskimos of Alaska" ). During the last few years of his life, he worked on categorizing and annotating the large quantity of photos andaudio recordings(141 songs) he had made while living with the Nunamiut in 1950. The effort resulted in a booklet,Songs of the Nunamiut,with an accompanying CD containing the audio material. This is an extremely valuable contribution to the preservation of the Nunamiut culture because it turned out that much of what he had gathered in the mid-20th century was now lost locally and was only preserved in his recordings. Representatives from the Nunamiut later suggested naming a mountain in the Brooks range after him. Five years after Ingstad's death, it was namedIngstad mountain.
Culture
[edit]According to archaeologistLewis Binford,the Nunamiut depend on meat more so than any other living hunter-gatherer group. The annual cycle of Nunamiut life revolves around the annual migrations of caribou.
Spring:The main caribou migrations happen in March and April, when caribou move north through Anaktuvuk Pass to feed on the plains.
Summer:The plains thaw and become a marshland swarming with blackflies and mosquitoes.
Autumn:The caribou hunting cycle repeats in September and October when caribou retreat south again.
Winter:There are about 72 days of total winter darkness starting around November 15.[5]
Language
[edit]The native language of the Nunamiut is a dialect ofIñupiaq.In the late 1960s, theUniversity of California, Berkeleysent undergraduate linguistics student (now Arctic explorer)Dennis Schmittto the Nunamiut to study their dialect. There are few native speakers today.[6]
References
[edit]- ^Stephen Adolphe Wurm, Peter Mühlhäusler, and Darrell T. Tyron (1996),Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas
- ^"People of Mackenzie River".arcticblast.Retrieved2007-09-30.
- ^"Ivvavik National Park of Canada".pc.gc.ca.Retrieved2007-09-30.
- ^David Morrison; Curator of N.W.T. Archaeology; District of Mackenzie; Canadian Museum of Civilization."Retracing an Archaeological Expedition".canadianarchaeology.com. Archived fromthe originalon 2007-07-03.Retrieved2007-09-30.
- ^"The Nunamiut Eskimo".Retrieved2007-09-23.
- ^"Dennis Schmitt, Arctic Explorer".Archived fromthe original(The Warming Island Project)on 2007-12-25.Retrieved2007-09-23.
Further reading
[edit]- Binford, Lewis Roberts.Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology.New York: Academic Press, 1978.ISBN0-12-100040-0
- Blackman, Margaret B.Upside Down: Seasons Among the Nunamiut.Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.ISBN0-8032-1335-2
- Gubser, Nicholas J.The Nunamiut Eskimos, Hunters of Caribou.New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965.
- Ingstad, Helge.Nunamiut; Among Alaska's Inland Eskimos.New York: W.W. Norton, 1954.
- Ingstad, Helge.Songs of the Nunamiut historical recordings of an Alaskan Eskimo community.[Oslo, Norway]: Tano Aschehoug, 1998.ISBN82-518-3778-2
- Kakinya, Elijah, et al.Nunamiut Unipkaanich = Nunamiut Stories: Told in Inupiaq Eskimo.Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, 1987.
- Rausch, Robert.Notes on the Nunamiu Eskimo and mammals of the Anaktuvuk Pass Region, Brooks Range, Alaska
- Spearman, Grant R.Nunamiut History. [Alaska]: North Slope Borough School District, Title IV, Indian Education Program, 1982.
External links
[edit]- Documentary- 50 Years of Northern Light, a look at Anaktuvuk Pass as reflected by the village church building. Directed by Caven Keith, 2011
- Documentary- Tradition Meets Modernity in Native Alaska, Wil Carson uses filmmaking to explore the changes in traditional Nunamiut village life, 1998
- Faces of the Nunamiut: Tourist Art and Traditional Knowledge in Northern Alaska-National Science Foundationgrant
- Gates of the Arctic National Park Sights Page- the establishment ofGates of the Arctic National Park and Preservein 1980 placed Anaktuvuk Pass, the Nunamiut's historic land, in the middle of a national park.
- Interview with Dennis Schmitt-Dennis Schmitt,linguist, Arctic explorer, discoverer ofWarming Island,researched the Nunamiut dialect in the 1960s, underNoam Chomsky
- Mask making exhibit
- North Slope Borough School District- public school system
- Restore Nunamiut Kayak-The University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, and the Simon Paneak Memorial Museum, Anaktuvuk Pass, are restoring the only remaining Nunamiut (inland) kayak.
- Simon Paneak Memorial Museum[dead link]- created by the Nunamiut people, located in Anaktuvuk Pass,Aipanni, the newsletter of the Simon Paneak Memorial Museum Endowment Campaign
- A heritage of whales and whaling among the Nunamiut Inupiat- ancient days, traditional times, commercial whaling, whaling today.
