Cultural Contact and Conflict. Acculturation among the Inuit

Contact between cultures is commonplace in today's world. New innovations are diffused rapidly from one culture to another. Frequently, the innovation and diffusion process enriches both originating and borrowing cultures. At times, however, cultural conflict has resulted in the virtual destruction of some cultures and dramatic modifications in many others.

Contact between European and non-Western cultures during the Age of Exploration typifies the impacts of cultural contact and conflict. European explorers in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and elsewhere encountered indigenous cultures during their voyages. In South America, Spanish conquistadors forced many Native Americans into slavery to fill their need for labor to mine gold and silver.

Many other Native Americans died as a result of exposure to European diseases. Still others fled or were exiled from the areas near European settlements. The result was the wholesale destruction of many existing Native American cultures and their replacement by European cultural practices.

Modification of an existing culture in response to pressure from other cultures is known as acculturation. In some cases, acculturation results in the disappearance of the original culture. Many of the Native American cultures of eastern North America were eliminated shortly after European contact. Other cultures survived, but greatly altered. Although European contact obliterated many Native American cultures, elements of Native American cultural practices influenced European settlers and their descendants in the Americas.

During colonial days, for example, many Americans living on the frontier adopted Native American crops, house construction, hunting, and other cultural practices. Some of these remain ingrained in American culture today.

Acculturation among the Inuit. The Canadian Arctic region, which is known to the Inuit as Nunavut, or simply "Our Land," is one of the most inhospitable environments on earth (Figure 2-11). Because of the region's extreme northern location, residents of the Canadian Arctic must endure weeks of continuous darkness during the winter. Temperatures plummet as low as -75° F (-60° C). Strong winds and violent storms cause large snowdrifts, restrict visibility, and result in extremely low windchill temperatures.

Because these conditions combined with a short, cool summer render agriculture impossible, the Inuit lived primarily by hunting. They were nomads, migrating from place to place in order to hunt seals, whales, caribou, fish, birds and other animals, depending on the season.

Figure 2—11. The Inuit Homeland. The Inuit or Eskimo people inhabit much of the northern region of North America from Alaska easterly to Greenland. Formerly, a nomadic culture, most Inuit now live in villages, with many of their settlements located near open water

Europeans first made contact with the Inuit during the late sixteenth century; however, for the next 250 years there was little interaction between Western and Inuit cultures. When global demands for whale oil began to increase in the early nineteenth century, North American and European whalers began to penetrate the Arctic region in earnest. New whaling technologies increased the efficiency of whaling ships, and as a result the whale population of the Arctic Ocean began to decline dramatically. As the whale population decreased, the Inuit who had previously relied on the whale began to depend more on the hunting of land animals.

Meanwhile, Western demands for furs increased too. Fur traders penetrated the Arctic region offering the Inuit money, food, and other Western artifacts in exchange for furs. Some dishonest traders, aware that the Inuit had little concept of Western cultural values, offered far less than the true value of the pelts to their Inuit hosts. Nevertheless, the fur trade resulted in sustained cultural contact between the Inuit and Western cultures. The Inuit had now become familiar with Western technology, European languages and cultural values, and the money economy. As this exposure continued, the Inuit began to lose their self-sufficiency.

Traditional Inuit culture slowly began to adopt Western ways. Igloos, kayaks, and dogsleds are being replaced by buildings, motorized boats, and snowmobiles. Blue jeans, television sets, supermarkets—artifacts of Western culture—are being integrated into the Inuit culture.

The diffusion of Western culture to the Inuit village of Holman on the west coast of Canada's Victoria Island typifies the acculturation of the Inuit. The Inuit living in this region first made contact with Westerners in the late 1800s. In the early twentieth century, a trading post was established near the site of the present village of Holman.

Fur traders encouraged the local Inuit to trap animals and sell their furs. The fur trade brought money into the community. Inuit trappers found processed food, manufactured tools, clothing, and other items for sale at the trading post. Gradually, they replaced traditional handmade artifacts with manufactured items.

As they became more fully integrated into the Canadian money economy, the Inuit began to give up their nomadic life-styles. By 1967. the entire Inuit population of the western part of Victoria Island had settled in the village. Many moved into prefabricated Western-style houses provided by the Canadian government. In 1962. A school that provided instruction for children through the ninth grade was built, with classes conducted in English. Those desiring high school, college, or vocational and technical training were encouraged to go to school at Yellow knife, the capital of the Northwest Territories a thousand miles to the south.

Ten years later, a nursing station staffed by a full-time nurse was opened. During the 1970s, electricity was provided to the community, while snowmobiles replaced dogsleds as the primary means of winter transportation. Some old-timers regretted this change because snowmobiles that broke down in inaccessible areas were. of course, inedible. An airport was completed in 1978. and television and radio service was introduced in 1980.

The availability of radio and television contributed to the popularity of spectator sports among the Inuit of the Northwest Territories. Many avidly followed National Hockey League games on radio and television. By 1990 many Inuit women and men were active in amateur hockey competition. In 1991 eight teams from across the Canadian Arctic competed in the Northwest Territories' first women's amateur hockey championship tournament.

Has acculturation benefited the Inuit'? Clearly Western technology has helped them cope with the difficult physical environment in which they live. Yet the material expectations of the Inuit have increased accordingly. Television and radio provide information about the more opulent life-styles of southern Canada and the United States. At the same time, educational and employment opportunities for the Inuit population in the Canadian Arctic are very limited. Yet the Inuit population has benefited from modern medical technology and is increasing rapidly.

In 1992 residents of the region voted overwhelmingly to dissociate from the Northwest Territories and establish a separate territory called Nunavut. For better or for worse, the traditional culture has disappeared as the Inuit have become acculturated into the Western-dominated culture of North America.