The north Alaskan Eskimo
Subtitle: a study in ecology and society
By: Robert F. Spencer.
Series: Bulletin (Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology) ;
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 1976
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 490
Subjects: Eskimos -- Alaska.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 455-461.
Reprint of the 1959 ed. published by Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, which was issued as no. 171 of the Bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology.
Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction. The problem -- The land and the people. The land -- North Alaskan Eskimo settlements -- Human relation to the biota. Flora -- Fauna -- Summary -- Language -- Houses and settlements. Houses of the Nuunamiut -- Houses of the Tareumiut -- Family and kinship. Introduction -- The nuclear family -- The extended family -- Kinship terminology. Lineal and nuclear consanguines -- Consanguineal kin : collaterals -- Affinal kin -- Step- and adoptive relationships -- Combined kin terms -- Factors in the system -- Collective responsibility -- Marriage -- Divorce -- Wife lending and wife exchange -- Qatanuutigiit -- Adoption -- Abandonment -- Conclusion -- Customary law -- Economy and society. Introduction -- Human ecology of the Alaskan Arctic Slope. Nuunamiut and Tareumiut -- The Nuunamiut -- The Tareumiut -- Summary: Nuunamiut vs. Tareumiut -- Property, wealth, and status. Ownership -- Wealth -- Competition and cooperation -- Voluntary associations. Partnerships -- Joking partnerships -- Women’s partnerships -- The hunting group and the umealiq -- The karigi -- Trade. Open trade -- Structured trade -- The Messenger Feast (Kimnic). Conclusion -- The individual and the life cycle. Introduction -- Pregnancy -- Birth -- Infancy -- Childhood -- Puberty -- Sexual behavior -- Marital behavior -- Old age -- Death -- Conclusion -- The supernatural. Introduction -- Cosmic view -- Dwarfs, mermen, monsters, and other supernatural beings -- Relation to animals. Land animals -- Sea animals -- Songs -- Charms and amulets -- Names -- Ghosts and souls -- Dreams and portents -- Masks -- Summary -- The wiivaksat : strangers in the sky -- Shamanism. Examples of shamanistic behavior -- The treatment of disease -- The cults. The cult of the whale. Whaling charms and songs -- Taking the whale -- Greeting the whale -- Close of the whaling season -- Nalukataq -- The cult of the caribou -- Culture change. Sources of money (1888-1948) -- Seasonal activities -- Food -- Meals -- Family and budgets -- Summary of modern economic life -- Christianity -- Folklore. The folktales -- Texts -- Children’s stories -- Conclusions. Ecology and society in North Alaska -- The place of North Alaska in Eskimo culture -- North Alaska and Eskimo culture history -- Bibliography -- Appendix 1. Tobacco -- Appendix 2. Dogs -- Appendix 3. Pottery -- Appendix 4. Time reckoning; enumeration.