Eskimos

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the history and life of Eskimos. The paper discusses the characteristics of the different groups of Eskimos, as well as their social and family structure. It discusses the hierarchical nature of Eskimo society and the differences between the status of men and women, as well as the roles of the children in their society.

From the Paper:

"Eskimo life is difficult, often a subsistence living under burdensome conditions. The Eskimo has become more sedentary than in earlier times as the tribe now does not have to travel as it once did to find food. Western observers have long seen the social role of the woman as being less than that of the male in Eskimo society, and this view has been brought about by practices such as co-marriage; marriage itself, which usually beings with the need for the man to "take" the woman violently from her home even if she is willing to go as part of the ritual; the taboos associated with women; and the hierarchy of authority that prevails throughout the society, leaving women in a lesser role as far as most important decisions are concerned. The woman is the center of the family in many ways because she makes the home and produces the goods needed by the family, but the supplying of raw materials by the male is given more weight."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Briggs, Jean L. Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1970.
• Burch, Ernest S. The Eskimos. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1988.
• Gubser, Nicholas J. The Nunamiut Eskimos: Hunters of Caribou. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965.
• Guemple, L. "Teaching Social Relations to Inuit Children." In Hunters and Gatherers 2 - Property, Power and Ideology, edited by T. Ingold, D. Riches, and J. Woodburn, 131-149. Berg, Oxford, 1988.
• Hata, Kimi. "Inuit/Eskimo Society." 2006. March 28, 2006. http://www.astronomy.pomona.edu/archeo/alaska/eskimo.html.

More papers on Eskimos:

• Descriptive Essay # 147966 : "Eskimo Society"
• Comparison Essay # 12924 : "Arunta & Eskimos"
• Term Paper # 112138 : "The Alaskan Eskimo Culture"

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