Monday, November 18, 2013

Mission, Vision, Values

Mission:
The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project is a cultural anthropology course-based
project meant to raise critical consciousness about the rich cultural diversity in our
indigenous world. Being totally aware of the limitations of being outsiders, we are a
group of multidisciplinary undergraduate students who believe in cross-cultural
sensitivity and participatory agency aimed at disseminating information about
indigenous realities as accurately as possible.


Vision:
The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project’s vision is to create an online cross-cultural
space for students, professionals, and youth to learn and exchange cross-culturally
sensitive information about contemporary indigenous experiences. From that outsider
student’s perspective, we will try to theoretically explore possible collaborative solutions to problems that affect the indigenous populations of our planet. Finally, we hope for the future creation of a space where indigenous youth can share their experiences and their realities with us for real mutual collaboration to take place.


Values:
  • We value the maximization of benefits to indigenous peoples and other vulnerable populations in the world.
  • We value the respect for persons all over the world.
  • We value the equal treatment of people, and we are against the exploitation of vulnerable groups around the world.
  • We value collaborative cross-cultural learning and critical thinking.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Gender and Population



Gender roles in the Inuit society are based on the situation and can often be reversed. For example, if there was a family with no sons, the father would still teach one of his daughters how to hunt. This means that there is no definite gender identity, it was all adaptive and highly flexible. Children before puberty are associated and put into groups of socialization according to the gender of the person that held their last ancestral name. After puberty, they perform duties and roles of their biological sex. But these roles and duties could often be altered due to factors such as deaths in the family or disabilities. 
In the 1950s, issues began rising that caused much domestic violence. Many male activities came to a halt and were not able to be performed due to the enforcement of permanent settlement. Women adapted very well to household lives and were able to earn more social power. The imbalance of status of Inuit men and women caused problems such as domestic violence. Violent domestic assaults have been increasing over the years. Women and children are the main victims and shelters for the abused have increased by 54%.
Some factors that contribute to such crimes include:
-forced settlement; men can't hunt
-economic stress and dependency
-poor communication
-men's belief that they have lost their dominance/ power

Inuits live in the lands of Alaska, Greenland, Canada and Siberia. Their population is about 100,000 and the greatest population of them is in Greenland. There is about 45,000 Inuits that inhabit there. Denmark has passed policies to help protect these tribes from further exploitation from the industrial world. 


Morgan, Clara. "The Arctic: Gender Issues." The Arctic: Gender Issues. Parliament of Canada, 24 Oct. 2008. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.
"Common Menu Bar Links." Aboriginal Peoples in Canada in 2006: Inuit, Métis and First Nations, 2006 Census: Inuit: Inuit Population: Young and Growing. Statistics Canada, 05 Apr. 2011. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.




Kinship




  Kinship in the Inuit culture is bilateral. This means that members of the father's family and members of the mother's family are both equally considered kin. The Inuit have terms that describes various categories of family members, such as anagjuk for an older sibling of the same sex and nukaq for a younger sibling of the same sex. The nuclear family is the primary household in Inuit society. Inuit households may also contain the widowed parent of one of the spouses or an unmarried sibling. Usually within the village, several households are kin to each other. The Inuit readily have mix marriages with a spouse from outside of the kin group. Inuit to Inuit marriages are still fairly common, but mixed marriages are rising.Separation and divorce rates are rising with communities.
   In Inuit society, the position of women is much debated. Inuit mythology portray men as dominant, often participating in polygamy and female infanticide. Ironically, women play a major economic and political role. Women dominate in the salaried fields, such as education. Women also lead many of the major aboriginal organizations.

Bibliography:
Multicultural Canada
   N.d. Kinship, Family, and Social Organization. Web      document, http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/a5/4

Marriage and Family




To people of the Inuit tribe, marriage is conducted in the way  business deals are conducted in the United States. Marriage many times does not include a ceremony, and are initiated purely by the blessing of family members.  A man and woman begin living together, and from there on they care for each other in the way a husband and wife would. Among some clans of Inuit' s, a man lives with his potential brides family for a few months to prove his worth for the daughter, and once this had been proven, he is allowed to  begin sleeping with his bride-to-be. This switch from sleeping separately to sleeping together is metaphoric for the betrothal between the two people. Love marriages are becoming more common, however arranged marriages do still occur. At the time of birth, two families agree between themselves to promise their infants for marriage. Another common practice among the Inuit's is polygamy. To show off wealth, richer men within the community  participate in polygamous relationships with two women. Having multiple wives suggests to the rest of the community that a man can provide for two women.  The elder of the two wives was is generally in charge of homemaking duties while the younger, tends to be more for sexual pleasure. Polygamy with one woman and two men is also practiced but it is a lot less common due to a woman's inability to tend to more than one husband. The Inuit culture also practices 'co marriage' in which two couples conduct a wife trade temporarily, mostly  for sexual purposes. The two families involved would create a bond similar to that of cousins.
                In the Inuit culture, children's minds are said to be undeveloped at the time of birth. With this in mind, the connections made between children and their parents does not come with birth but is more learned during the first few years of life. The concept of adoption is very popular among the Inuit people due to these formed relationships in place of natal relationship. Beating of children is not uncommon, especially children that have become orphans after infancy. Many times the parents are not the only people that participate in abusive behavior towards children. Other people of the community  take part in bullying and taunting specific children, these children often with disabilities. Families that are close will sometimes adopt each others  children as it would create a connection between the two families.




Burch, Ernes S., and Werner Forman
1988  The Eskimos: University of Oklahoma Press

Maxwell, Joseph Alex
2012 A realist approach for qualitative research: Sage Publications

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Religion


Inuit’s originally believed in animism. This means that to them everything has a spirit, whether it be human, non-human, living, or non-living. By use of charms, carved masks, ceremonial houses called 'Kashims’, and ritualistic dances, Shamans or 'Angakoks’ were the only people who could control or communicate with the spirit world.
The spirits were used by the Inuit to explain certain happenings, because of this there are many rules that would need to be followed to make the spirits happy. For instance, if they would hunt an animal for food, many rituals and respects would need to be paid to that animal so that that animals’ spirit wouldn't come back as a demon.
Human spirits could also come back as demons due to madness or illness to that person. People were believed to have three parts; the body, the spirit, and the name. So, when a person dies only their body actually dies, their spirit and name keeps living. This is why parents will name their children after ancestors to ensure the spirit continues on.
"Here are rules that needed to be followed in order to appease the spirits:
    • Women were not allowed to sew caribou skins inside igloos on sea ice during the winter.
    • The Inuit people did not eat sea mammal and land mammal meat at the same meal.
    • A knife used for killing whales had to be wrapped in sealskin, not caribou skin.
    • After killing a seal, melted snow had to be dripped into its mouth to quench the spirit's thirst.
    • The Inuit saved the bladder of the hunted animals, because the belief was that the spirit was found inside."
Bibliography:
Bremer, Melissa; Sajecki, Anna; Findlay, Heather
     2007 The Inuit http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_inuit5.html. Accessed on 11/2/15

Friday, November 1, 2013

Language

            The Eskimo language has two different spoken dialects. One dialect is called Yupik which is spoken in Siberia and southwestern Alaska. Yupik consists of five different dialects within it. The other is a dialect continuum called Inuit, spoken in Greenland, Canada, and northern Alaska. “The distinctiveness can be seen in the variety of language names; in “Greenland it’s called Kalaallisut (“the Greenlandic way”), that of eastern Canada Inukitut, that of western Canada Inkitun (“in the Inuit way”), and that of North Alaska Inupiaq (“real person”)” (Eskimo-Aleut Languages 2013).

 A written system for the Eskimo language was established using both symbols and roman writing (with the Latin alphabet) originally by Christian missionaries who were looking for a way to convert the bible to their language. In 1976, the Inuit Cultural Institute (ICI) approved the new writing system so that the Eskimo people has a standardized writing method, this is still used today. 

English
Central Yupik
Iñupiatun
North Baffin Inuktitut
Kalaallisut
person
yuk
iñuk [iɲuk]
inuk
inuk
frost
kaneq
kaniq
kaniq
kaneq
river
kuik
kuuk
kuuk
kuuk
outside
ellami
siḷami [siʎami]
silami
silami

Bibliography:
2013 Eskimo-Aleut languages
      http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/192563/Eskimo-Aleut-languages. Accessed on 11/1/13
2013 Inuit Languages
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_languages. Accessed on 11/1/13
2013 Inuktitut Tusaalanga
      http://www.tusaalanga.ca/node/2505. Accessed on 11/1/13

Monday, October 7, 2013

Location


The Inuit live in Arctic regions in Canada, Russia, Alaska, and Greenland. These environments are often harsh, with little resources. Because there are limited building materials in this environment, Inuit build circular houses, known as “igloos”, out of large blocks of snow in the winter. When it is too warm for snow in the summer, the Inuit live in huts made from animal skins. They often have two separate camps for winter and summer, where they follow the animals. It is very snowy for most of the year. Because of the harsh weather, not many people disrupt their daily lives, but it is also hard to leave or enter the community. For this reason, trade, health care, communications, and technology are limited to the Inuit. 

Resources:
National Aboriginal Health Organization

N.d. Inuit Background. Electronic Document, http://www.naho.ca/inuit/overview-of-inuit-                 health/inuit-background/


            Gardiner, Lisa
2007 Inuit Culture, Traditions, and History. Electronic Document,                                                     http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/inuit_culture.html

Background



The Inuit are an indigenous tribe who live in harsh snowy climates. They mainly speak the Inuktitut language, which is common in the eastern Arctic. They are sometimes called “eskimos”, although some Inuit find this offensive. The Inuit get around by using sleds made from animal bones and skins pulled by dogs. They also use small boats for hunting and traveling over the water. Because few plants grow in the Arctic, the Inuit diet consists of mostly meat from whales, walruses, seals, and fish. Essential parts of Inuit culture are storytelling, mythology, and dancing.
The Inuit had little contact with anyone else prior to the 1940s. Traders would pass through on explorations or hunting trips, but few ever expressed interest in settling in the frozen Arctic. The invention of airplanes made it easier to cross the Arctic, and during the Cold War, the Arctic became an important location where enemy countries were able to be closer to each other. This led to the development of airbases, settlements, and other military bases to keep an eye on enemy countries. With these developments came schools and health care centers that changed Inuit life. Inuit children were forced to attend schools that promoted other cultural traditions. With more health care, the Inuit were able to live longer, and thus the population began to grow. Although they are no longer uncontacted, the Inuit still live relatively independently. 

Resources:
Gardiner, Lisa
2007 Inuit Culture, Traditions, and History. Electronic Document,                                                     http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/inuit_culture.html