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As the modern world continues to grow, we tend to forget that not everyone moves with its advances and sticks with the old ways of living, preserving their history and roots. One example can be the Inuit, inhabitants of regions in Greenland, Siberia, and Quebec (Jones). Many people have known them as “Eskimos”, however, they deem the term unacceptable and prefer to be called Inuit as it means “the people” (Inuit Culture). The culture is ancient in the sense that they still maintain a traditional lifestyle over total modernization. Their origins are believe to date back 4,000 years ago (Inuit Culture). They are a culture that practices true adaption. Inuit people live in cold, rough climates and so they depend on land and sea to survive as well as the mainland for …show more content…
Some Inuit populations may have the luxury of gathering herbs and other plants as long as the climate permits for such treats. For clothing, animal skin is mainly used in order to cover up for the tough winters. Due to dependence upon nature, Inuit culture is strong on sharing and co-operation. Meals are shared and everyone is expected to do their part for the benefit of the community (Inuit Culture). In other words, their culture is relatively collectivist. Despite modernization, the Inuktitut language is still taught and exercised, but the English language is also enforced in local schools (Jones). The native language is also used for radio and television programs (Inuit Culture). It is quite fascinating to see how this culture has been able to adapt to changes over the years, but it may not be ignored that it is still a way of life that struggles to survive. However, Inuit culture stick to the traditional ways of storytelling and dancing like drum dancing. Oral storytelling is also very popular and has been passed down from one generation to the new (Inuit
Inuit Odyssey, by CBC’s: The Nature of Things covers the long and eventful journey of the Inuit people. Canadian anthropologist, Dr. Niobe Thompson searched for the answers to questions about who the modern day Inuit are, where did they come from, how did they survive and who did they conquer along the way? Thompson explored the direct lineage between modern day Inuit and the Thule people, and their interactions with the Dorset and Norse Vikings in their search for iron. Thompson is ultimately concerned with how the current warming climate will affect the Inuit people therefore, he decides to retrace the creation of the Inuit culture, starting his journey in the original homeland of the Thule people.
They are mostly meat eaters because of the location the Haida, Iroquois, and Inuit had. The Inuit, Haida, and Iroquois ate sea animals like fish, seals, etc. and land animals like birds polar bears, etc. In the article www.firstpeopleofcanada.com it states that the inuit tribe, Haida tribe, and the Iroquois tribe mostly were meat eaters due to their location.
First I will define the definition of terms used in this paper. When I use the word Aboriginal, I understand this as a label given from the colonizers/ Europeans to identify Indigenous peoples. Canadian legislation defines Indigenous peoples as Aboriginal, I understand this as indifferent from the dominant ideology, therefore, the colonizers named Indigenous peoples as Aboriginal. According to teachings I have been exposed to it’s a legal term and it’s associated with discrimination and oppression. However, audiences I have written for prefer the use of Aboriginal. More premise to this reference is Aboriginal, Indigenous, First Nations, Indian and Native are used interchangeable, but it should be noted these names do represent distinct differences. Furthermore, I will use Indigenous to represent an empowering way to reference a unique general culture in Canada. Under the title of Indigenous peoples in Canada, for me represents: First Nations people, Metis people and Inuit peoples. These are the two titles I will use when I reference Indigenous people from an empowering perspective and Aboriginal from a colonizer perspective.
This paper addresses the results of interviews, observations, and research of life in the Ottawa tribe, how they see themselves and others in society and in the tribe. I mainly focused on The Little River Band of Ottawa Indian tribe. I researched their languages, pecking order, and interviewed to discover the rituals, and traditions that they believe in. In this essay I revealed how they see themselves in society. How they see other people, how they see each other, what their values were, what a typical day was etc. I initially suspected that I would have got different responses from these questions but in reality the results in the questions were almost completely the same. I studied this topic because mostly all the people that are close to me are associated in the Ottawa tribe. I additionally love the Native American culture, I feel it is beautiful and has a free concept.
The Inuits food plans are fish and hunted arctic animals. The main reason the Inuit are still in northern Canada, is because they are used to their lifestyle and the northern
The entire film is spoken in Inuktitut to show how the language is very crucial in telling the story and explain the importance language plays in their culture and everyday lives, from hunting for food to taking care of the elders. The tribes in Atanarjuat consider themselves tribes that have to fight and survive on their land. This characteristic represents visual sovereignty as it is a trait the elders telling the story have also passed down through generations. They are using the methods of visual storytelling to explain actual occurrences within a Native American tribe or family. “Igloolik Isuma Productions, Inc., the company that produced this film, employs ethnographic film conventions to serve didactic purposes within the Inuit communities of Canada, forging much-needed economic opportunities in depressed markets, educating younger generations alienated from community elders and tribal epistemologies through diasporic conditions, and addressing the lingering effects of colonization, natural environments in immediate peril, and high mortality, substance abuse, and incarceration rates in order to expand to future children and the unknowledgeable public” (Raheja 201). Some of the ways that visual sovereignty is seen is by describing the power women have in the Inuit culture, allowing the audience to see how the different gender roles are played out in Native American culture. The filmmakers also pay attention to detail by panning through landscapes slowly and holding on to specific scenes that enable the audience to gather the intensity of the situation. We see different shots from the characters’ daily lives, showing the methodology behind cooking and preparing meat, and the disputes that occur on the ice between the tribes for food or marriage. The filmmaker deliberately took incredibly long shots of people
This is an introduction to the Cree Indians way of life explaining about the foods they ate, significance of story telling, myths, religious beliefs, rituals performed, and their present day way of life. It is almost impossible to touch on every aspect because of what is not printed and only known by elders.
The terms Aboriginal peoples, American Indian, Indian, Indigenous Peoples, First Nations and Native American are used to describe the original habitants in North America and South America. These people have a proud history and heritage and it seems that most of the professors, collegiate and scientists try their best to use terminology that best represents their heritage, “The National Aboriginal Health Organization Terminology Guidelines
The unit readings argue that anthropologists insist that global flows also partake in affecting local practices. The beliefs and customs of the Inuit are accounted for their interaction with the environment, but these factors also interrelate with neighbouring societies, global capitalism, and international NGOs, as Martha of the North describes. The Inuit were used by the Canadian government in a form of racism and cruelty. To affirm sovereignty in the vast arctic land, Canada had to have permanent residences residing within these territories. They had created a façade that they were providing the Inuit with the opportunity of a better life when in reality, they did not care about them at all. The government had less than honest intentions. What the people who represented the nation did to the relocation of the Inuit is unacceptable and its effect can be explained through holism but also goes beyond the concept on an international scale. Global practices influenced the local practices of the Inuit in the High Arctic. The government representatives of Canada at that time did not value the lives of these people and only cared about their own
When you mention Alaska and the Arctic Circle, one envisions igloos, dog sleds, and invariably, Eskimos. However, little do most know, that what most refer to as Eskimos is actually a generalization representing three distinct groups. In order to understand the societies that live in this region and acknowledge their cultural differences we must explore the different groups that inhabit this region of which there are two: the Inuit, and the Yupik.
“Defining one’s ‘culture’ is a life long process,” according to Indian rights activist Norman DesCampe of the Grand Portage Chippewa Tribe. “You have to live it.” Today, the life long process of understanding indigenous cultures is limited by terms of “cultural survival.” The ability of future generations to define themselves as Inuit or Kayapo is threatened as their natural environments and social integrity is hurt by government negligence: indigenous cultures must be protected under a political structure that allows the people to live as they choose to live, outside of the transformative power of established nation-states, and the assumptions of these powers.
Across Canada and the United States there are many First Nations languages which are a part of the Algonquian language family, all of which with varying states of health. Although these languages share many characteristics of the Algonquian language family, the cultures, systems of beliefs, and geographic location of their respective Nations differentiate them. In being shaped by the landscape, cultures, and spirituality of the First Nations, the language brings the speakers closer to their land and traditions while reaffirming their identity as First Peoples. Using the Blackfoot Nation to further explore this concept, this paper will show that while language threads together First Nations culture, spirituality, traditions and land, as well as their identity, each of these essential components also maintain and revitalize the language.
For many Native Americans, English has begun to take priority over their Native American languages, especially in Native youth. This has made the efforts to try to understand and study these languages extremely difficult. Yet, with the emergence of technology in the lasts century, the documentation of those Native American languages as well as research has become as easy as ever. Anthropologists have also been crucial to the collecting knowledge on Native American customs and culture and restoring their once forgotten meaning. For example, in the English language, many people would define “old woman” as a female who is elderly. However, because of its deep meanings, the Ojibwe language offers as sacred place for elder women, as someone who can reflect the culture, beliefs and values of that language. Due to the availability of documentation of Tribal languages, these languages are beginning to return to its normal meaning. Take for example, the decedents of the Native group, Dakota, after they settled in Canada, it has been a continuous effort by their descendants to try to restore and revitalize their language which has been an extremely important task for them. Language to Native Americans can be seen as the foundation of their identity. Just as any one person’s name to them in their first language is the sweetest thing that their ears may hear, the same is true for Native
Indigenous people are those that are native to an area. Throughout the world, there are many groups or tribes of people that have been taken over by the Europeans in their early conquests throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by immigrating groups of individuals, and by greedy corporate businesses trying to take their land. The people indigenous to Australia, Brazil and South America, and Hawaii are currently fighting for their rights as people: the rights to own land, to be free from prejudice, and to have their lands protected from society.
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) can be broadly defined as the knowledge and skills that an indigenous (local) community accumulates over generations of living in a particular environment. IK is unique to given cultures, localities and societies and is acquired through daily experience. It is embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships and rituals. Because IK is based on, and is deeply embedded in local experience and historic reality, it is therefore unique to that specific culture; it also plays an important role in defining the identity of the community. Similarly, since IK has developed over the centuries of experimentation on how to adapt to local conditions. That is Indigenous ways of knowing informs their ways of being. Accordingly IK is integrated and driven from multiple sources; traditional teachings, empirical observations and revelations handed down generations. Under IK, language, gestures and cultural codes are in harmony. Similarly, language, symbols and family structure are interrelated. For example, First Nation had a