Society and Culture_GR-2

Assignment 1 - Group- D

“Assignment 2 - Eskimos”

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT

(Term-V; Batch 2021-23)

Under the Supervision of

Prof. Abhishek

Submitted by Group D
Ananya Singh – PGFA2105
Apurv Bijawat- PGFA2109
Harshit Srivastava – PGFA2123
Mugdha Sinha – PGFA2135
Natasha Kala – PGFA2137
Priyansha Purwar – PGFA2140
Shiva Sambhawi – PGFA2147

JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

A-32 A, Sector 62, Institutional Area, Noida- 201309 (U.P.)
 Contribution Table

Headings Student Name

Introduction Priyansha Purwar

Natasha Kala
Eskimos - Culture

Shiva Sambhawi
History of Eskimos

Ananya Singh
How are Eskimos different from us

Prejudice & Biases related to Mugdha Sinha

Eskimos

Harshit Srivastava
Language

Changes in their lifestyle since their Apurv Bijawat

origin
 Introduction – Eskimos

Eskimo, a collection of Arctic and subarctic Indigenous peoples with unique cultural and
linguistic identities. The culturally related Unangan people live in the Aleutian Islands
(Aleuts). As a people, the Inuit inhabit some of the world's most wide and northernmost
territory. The overall Inuit population is estimated to be well over 200,000 people.
Because of the great distances that separate Inuit villages, the Inuit speak a common language
that has spawned a multitude of dialects.
The word "Eskimo," which has long been used to Inuit, may have originated from the
Mi'kmaq of eastern Canada, who spoke a phrase that sounded similar to Eskimo and meaning
"raw meat eaters." The term "Eskimos" was invented by "Southerners" to describe Inuit.
When Europeans and others first used the phrase in the early 16th century, it related to the
ingestion of raw flesh, but it quickly became a culturally derogatory term as the name spread
a caricature of the Inuit. Inuit means "human beings" in English. Regardless of modern
interpretations, the word Eskimo, which was formerly widely used in Alaska, is today
considered pejorative and unpleasant. By the twenty-first century, the word Inuit had mostly
taken its place.

Inside and outside of their own areas, the Inuit are politically organised. Founded in 1977, the
Pan-Arctic Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) is a non-profit organisation committed to
promoting Inuit unity, protecting Inuit rights and interests on a worldwide scale, and
safeguarding the survival and extension of Inuit culture and civilisation. To strengthen their
right to self-determination, Inuit have chosen for a range of government structures within
their territory. Public governments, tribal governments, and Inuit self-government are a few
examples. From the home rule government of the North Slope Borough in Alaska to Nunavut
and Nunatsiavut in Canada, the Inuit have access to various forms of self-determination and
self-government. Additionally, the Greenland government in Kalaallit Nunaat has made
progress toward independence since the original 1979 Greenland Home Rule Act.
However, Inuit face a variety of challenges, including language erosion, urbanisation and
shrinking settlements, significant social and economic inequities with other groups in the
nations where they live, political marginalisation and colonisation, and climate change.
 History of Eskimos

Genetic evidence suggests that humans arrived in America in many waves from northern
Asia. The Na-Dene, Inuit, and Indigenous Alaskan groups, on the other hand, show mixing
from many populations that arrived later in America and are closely related to people from
far north-eastern Asia (such as the Chukchi) but only indirectly to the dominant indigenous
American type. The great majority of indigenous Americans may be traced back to a single
Paleo-Indian migration. This more recent ancestral component accounts for more than half of
the genomes of modern Eskimo-Aleut speakers.
The earliest Paleo-Eskimo civilizations that have been positively recognised date back 5,000
years. The Paleo-Eskimo peoples, whose ancestors most likely arrived in Alaska between
3,000 and 5,000 years ago, seem to have descended from people associated with the Arctic
small tool tradition in eastern Asia.
According to linguists, the word "Eskimo" comes from the Montagnais (Innu) word
ayas̆kimew, which means "netter of snowshoes." Long ago, the inhabitants of Canada and
Greenland chose different names. In Canada, the term "Inuit," which means "people," is used,
and although other regional names are often used, Inuktitut is the name given to the language
in eastern Canada. In their native tongue, "Greenlandic" or "Kalaallisut," the Inuit of
Greenland refer to themselves as "Greenlanders" or "Kalaallit." The Inupiat, who are known
as "genuine people," as well as other ethnic groups that fall under the umbrella term "Inuit,"
are found throughout Alaska.
 Eskimos – Culture

Marriage
Marriages were regularly organised, sometimes by the parents, sometimes by the community.
Marriage became common when women reached puberty and males became productive
hunters.
Family structure
A man may live with his wife/wives and children, his parents, including his in-laws, and
adopted children, a huge family of kins each of whom has their own parents, spouses, and
children, or a number of families who live together and share resources.
Travel
The inhabitants went in qajaq, single-passenger covered seal-skin canoes that were
exceptionally buoyant and could be rapidly righted by a seated person even if completely
flipped.
Eskimos also created umiaq ("woman's boat"), larger open boats made of timber frameworks
wrapped in animal skins, to transport people, merchandise, and dogs. They were 6-12 m (20-
39 ft) wide with flat bottoms that allowed the boats to reach the beach.
In the winter, Eskimos would hunt marine creatures by carefully studying an aglu in the ice
and waiting for air-breathing seals to use it.
Art
Eskimos art is art created by Eskimos, or dwellers of the Arctic who were previously known
as Eskimos, a word that is now typically considered disparaging outside of Alaska.
Since the southern markets for Eskimos art began to develop in 1945, prints and figurative
pieces carved in relatively soft stone, such as soapstone, serpentinite, or argillite, have
become more popular. Among the subjects were birds, bears, walruses, seals, human forms,
incredibly tiny masks, and others.
The Dorset people carved bears and other creatures out of ivory, adding skeletal structure
lines to the ivory's surface; these bears are known as "flying bears." These items were used in
shamanic rituals with magical or religious significance or worn as amulets to ward off evil
spirits. The artwork is extremely detailed, featuring geometric, animal, and humanoid forms.
Tools
Natural resources like as stone, bone, ivory, antler, and animal skins were used to make the
Eskimo's dishes, tools, and weapons. Fine earrings, dance masks, amulets, fetish figurines,
and attractive combs and figures were also carved in miniatures and carried about to impart
tales and subjectifying their mythology and oral history.
Inuit artists rapidly started creating ivory miniatures for commercial uses, such as adorning
European weaponry, equipment, canoes, and even musical instruments. Whalers were
presented with cribbage boards as well as carved walrus and narwhal tusks.
Mythology
The Eskimos' mythology is quite similar to the religion of other polar places. Traditional
Eskimos religious practises can be regarded as a form of shamanism based on animist
principles. In some aspects, Eskimos mythology goes beyond what the term "mythology"
implies.
Religion
While Christianity is the majority religion of the Eskimos today, many Eskimos still practise
some of their old religious beliefs. Some think that the Eskimos adapted traditional notions to
Christianity to differing degrees, whilst others argue that the Eskimos transformed
Christianity to their worldview.
It raises the question of whether traditional Eskimos' myths, rituals, and taboos really qualify
as beliefs, let alone religion, given how closely they are bound to the wary and circumspect
society that was imposed on them by their harsh environment.
The Eskimos did not worship anyone since they lived in a varied and unpredictable world,
but they feared a lot.
Sprits
All objects, including humans, were thought to have a spirit or soul by the Eskimos. These
spirits were thought to continue to exist after death, a concept held by practically all human
groups.
An old Eskimos saying states that "the greatest risk of our existence is that our dinner
consists entirely of souls." Murdering an animal is analogous to murdering a person if you
think that all creatures, including humans, have souls.
Once a deceased's anirniq, whether animal or human, is free to seek retribution. Only by
following custom, avoiding taboos, and performing the necessary ceremonies can the
deceased's soul be appeased.
 Language

The Eskaleut language family is indigenous to northern North America and a tiny area of
northeastern Asia. It is also known as Eskimo-Aleut and Inuit-Yupik-Unangan. Native
speakers of the family's languages can be found in Greenland, the Russian Far East, and parts
of what are now the United States (Alaska), Canada (Inuit Nunangat), including Nunavut, the
Northwest Territories (primarily in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region), northern Quebec, and
northern Labrador (Nunavik) (Chukchi Peninsula). The Inuit-Yupik-Unangan language
family is connected to the Eskaleutian, Eskaleutic, or Eskaleutian language family.
There are two branches of the Eskaleut language family: Eskimoan languages and Aleut
languages. The Aleutian and Pribilof Islands are also part of the Aleutian branch, which
speaks a single language, Aleut. Aleut is spoken in a variety of dialects. The Yupik
languages, which are spoken in western and southwestern Alaska as well as Chukotka, and
the Inuit languages, which are spoken in northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, are the two
branches of the Eskimoan languages. Inuit languages are separated into dialects and spread
over a broad geographical region. While the variants in the Diomede Islands and East
Greenland vary somewhat, nearby types are frequently very similar.
Sirenik, an Eskimo language, is not known where it falls in the Eskimoan family. Others see
it as a distinct branch of the Eskimoan family, alongside Yupik and Inuit languages, although
other linguists regard it as a branch of Yupik.
 Prejudices and Biases Related to Eskimos

Simply because the Inuit never chose to identify as "eaters of raw meat," using the term
"Eskimo" now is seen as disrespectful or insulting. The word is an exonym, which is a label
for a group that is given by another group, and its ongoing use risks feeding negative
prejudices. According to Mini Aodla Freeman, "The term 'Eskimo' has no meaning to me.
Instead of other races, the Inuit distinguished themselves from the natural animals.”
Eskimo is viewed as insulting by some since it is commonly understood to imply "diners of
raw meat" in the Algonquian languages spoken by many populations around the Atlantic
coast. Unidentified Cree speakers speculated that the original word that was mistranslated to
Eskimo may have been askamiciw (meaning "he eats it raw"); the Inuit are referred to as
askipiw in several Cree literature (meaning "eats something raw"). Nevertheless, the phrase
continues to have a negative meaning for many Inuit and Yupik.
They are often referred to as “Others”. Staszak (2009) contends that "the Other" is built on
two groups, one of which is the norm and has a valued identity, and the other of which is in
some respects distinct. In order to emphasise the contrast between the Self and the Other,
where the Self is something to aspire to and value, the West has branded the Other as
"Savages," "Barbarians," and "Coloured People." With their efforts at cultural assimilation,
the West has imposed its ideals on the Other as a result of the process of colonisation
(Staszak, 2009).
Since the 1920s, all Inuit-related movies have portrayed the Inuit and their culture in
unfactual ways. The Inuit culture was not depicted in these movies as it truly was; rather, it
was created by the filmmakers to look like it should. Even now in Canada, it is common for
non-Indigenous people to describe Indigenous culture using characteristics like poor, dirty,
drunk, and dependent, i.e. surviving off the government. They refer to these kinds of
differences as "cultural stereotypes."
Despite being portrayed as "naturally peaceful," Eskimo people changed once they started
drinking alcohol and became corrupted by modernity and civilization. According to her, this
kind of perception of inuit has had negative effects, leading inuit to begin viewing themselves
through the same lenses as the documentaries. As a result, it is crucial that we revaluate our
views of inuit because "our views about inuit help create the framework they are forced to
reside in." She contends that by having a thorough understanding of Eskimo culture, one may
combat inaccurate and stereotyped perceptions and create a realistic one that is backed by
facts.
 How are Eskimos different from us?

 Etymology: The word "Eskimo" comes from the Montagnais (Innu) word ayas̆kimew,
which means "netter of snowshoes." Similarly, Indian means inhabitants of India and
south Asia pertaining to India.
 Race: First and foremost Eskimos have different race and biological developments than
us where Eskimos belong to Mongoloid family tree and Indians are a mix of Indo-Aryan,
Dravidian and Mongoloid race.
 Language: Some of the languages spoken in India include Hindi, English, Tamil,
Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujrati, Odia, Urdu etc. Having Hindi as the most
prevalent language whereas the most prevalent languages among Eskimos are Eskimoan
and Aleut language.
 Lifestyle: The lifestyle of Eskimos is totally adapted to an cold and icebound
environment having almost no vegetation. That is why their food mostly includes seals,
walruses, fish, seabirds, reindeers, whales etc. Whereas India having a more moderate
temperatures experiences both hot and cold weather making India more of a vegetation
rich state and this is why grains are an important part of Indian diet.
 Marriages: Most of the times there are no large ceremonies in Eskimo marriages and the
couple is considered married after the birth of their first child. There are both
monogamous and polygamous marriages among Eskimos but polygamy is rare as only
few men can afford multiple wives. But in India there is a culture of big fat Indian
weddings and polygamy is illegal for majority of the people.
 Festivities: Quiviasukvik is the first day of Inuit calendar and is believed to start with the
sunrise of 24th December. This new year is the major festival they celebrate. Their feast is
derived from traditional Inuit religion but in modern times it has Christian influence.
India on the other hand is known for its multiple festivities like Holi, Diwali, Durga Puja,
Eid, Gurupurab etc. And Indians celebrate each of them in different ways having
different influences.
 Changes in Eskimos lifestyle since their origin

The hunting culture

Eskimos used to hunt from small, sealskin boats that were quick and manoeuvrable. You
might recognise today's version of this canoe, which the Eskimos still call a kayak.
Hunting has always been an important part of the Eskimos' culture. Until around fifty years
ago, these indigenous peoples subsisted completely on land and water. Greenland's economy
has evolved, and the country is no longer primarily a hunting nation.
To pay for electricity and other modern luxuries, most Eskimos have switched to traditional
wage-earning employment. Hunting culture, skills, and food, on the other hand, remain a
significant part of their lives and identities.
The Eskimos continue to eat seal, walrus, and reindeer as they have for centuries. Some
traditionalists refuse to utilise contemporary materials in the creation of their clothing and
boots, preferring to use their hunting prizes - polar bear and reindeer skins - as they have
always done.
Some of the guys still use traditional hunting methods such as harpoon throwing and
kayaking.
The world of hunting is deeply interwoven in the Eskimos' mythology, communal
organisation, identity, and even DNA. They consume a high protein, high fat diet, for
example. They have been shown to digest fats more effectively than Europeans.
Pressure from conservation groups
However, well-meaning outsiders have recently attacked the Eskimos' ancient culture. Many
of the creatures that were historically essential to this hunting culture have been restricted by
various environmental groups, including those inside Greenland's government.
The claim is that the increased quotas will make life more difficult for the small parties of
hunters that continue to hunt outside the property. Despite their good intentions, these outside
animal rights initiatives fundamentally contravene ancient Eskimos ideals. This is a real clash
of civilizations, and it may jeopardise the way of life of one of the world's few remaining
aboriginal peoples.
However, various solutions are being considered to address the problem. Caribou hunting is
being evaluated for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an important part of
the life of the Eskimos and other local tribes.

The ice is changing

The Eskimos have lived in the worst circumstances for years. They understand the
meteorological patterns that allow them to safely go on sea ice for hunting operations. For
some of these indigenous people, hunting is not a recreational activity; it is a means of
livelihood. When they are hungry, they turn to water for sustenance.
Temperatures have risen by 2 to 5 degrees Celsius during the preceding 50 years, according
to substantial study on the implications of Arctic warming, and may rise by another 10
degrees. This change is having an impact on the fauna and environment of the Arctic.
According to Eskimos hunters, the weather in Greenland is getting increasingly
unpredictable. They assert that land and sea ice are changing. What was once familiar terrain
has become unstable, making navigation and travel dangerous. Summer glaciers are melting
faster than ever before, and traditional hunting paths have become perilous. Even seasoned
hunters have gone beneath the ice.
Because of the changing climate, they are now hunting in fjords rather than on sea ice, which
is safer and more fruitful.

The culture is changing

As hunting has become increasingly impossible for even the most devoted traditionalists,
more family members are taking up contemporary employment to augment their family's
income. Women are working for pay in order to earn money to spend on store-bought
products. Some of the males may now return to their traditional occupation as hunters. One
unexpected result is that women are losing knowledge of traditional procedures such as
sewing animal skins.

The future
The good news is that there is a growing appreciation of aboriginal peoples' rights, such as
the Eskimos, to maintain their centuries-old way of life. A rising number of supporters are
coming out in favour of the people's culture that has survived for so long.
The United Nations Environment Programme has urged for more environmental monitoring
in Arctic areas. What is happening in the Arctic looks to be a foreshadowing of what is to
come in the rest of the world.
Finally, it is becoming clear that comprehending the Eskimos' culture and environment will
help us all in the long run, not only their survival.