Qupirruit : Insects and Worms in Inuit Traditions (original) (raw)
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Qupirruit: Insects and Worms in Inuit Traditions
Arctic Anthropology, 2010
Although small heings such as the qupirruit (insects and worms) appear in many different contexts in Inuit culture, they have not received much attention from scholars. In this paper we examine the symbolism associated with these small animals. We show that their small size makes them suitable to operate on the level of the tarniq, a miniature image of a being. We discuss how insects often connect different scales and easily transform into other beings. We first deal with the perceptions of insects as they take shape in narratives and practices, and their roles in the manufacture and use of amulets. Then we move to a more specific analysis of the distinctive features of the various qupirruit.
Museum Anthropology, 2008
Inuit have been making miniatures for thousands of years, and they are still very attractive to many Inuit today. In this paper, we explore the intrinsic ambiguity of Inuit miniatures. They seem like innocent toys or ornaments, but turn out to have great transformative power. As toys, they are instrumental in transforming children into adults; as ornaments, they may be charms or amulets; as amulets, they may be weapons against enemies; and as weapons or offerings, they may take life or generate it. Appearing as images of the world, they are in fact at its origin. Every living being traditionally derived its existence from a miniature image (the tarniq). Miniatures evoke a play of deception, transforming what appears to be real into an image of the miniature.
études inuit studies, 2019
The precontact lifeways of Yup'ik people in Southwest Alaska were poorly known until the 2009-2018 excavations at the Nunalleq site near the village of Quinhagak. Until recently, the site dating from around AD 1400-1675 had been locked in permafrost that secured the extraordinary preservation of organic artefacts and faunal materials. As in many other hunter-gatherer communities across the North, animals were economically and culturally central to the lives of Nunalleq residents. This multidisciplinary paper combines the ethnographic study of unearthed artefacts with the results of subsistence and dietary studies at Nunalleq, and demonstrates how precontact Yup'ik ecologies were embodied in material culture, particularly in the iconography of ceremonial objects such as masks and mask attachments. Early ethnographic records and collections suggest that Yup'ik masks were often complex in structure and imagery, and can be considered miniature models of a multilayered and ensouled universe. Masks and other material culture representations highlight the way humans and animals are related and ontologically linked in Yup'ik worldviews. By taking this approach, this study aims to better understand the role of animals in the belief systems and lifeways of a precontact Nunalleq community. KEYWORDS Alaska, Yup'ik prehistory, human-animal relationships, relational ontologies, masks RÉSUMÉ Chassés et honorés : Représentations animales sur les masques du site précontact de Nunalleq, sud-ouest alaskien Le mode de vie des communautés yup'ik pendant la période précontact dans le sud-ouest de l'Alaska était peu connu avant les fouilles archéologiques récentes, études inuit studies 43 (1-2): 107-136
The bringer of light: the raven in Inuit tradition
Polar Record, 2006
In the western Arctic and in the northwest coast and Alaska, the significance of the raven as a creator and trickster is generally acknowledged. In the eastern Arctic there are no such elaborate mythical cycles concerning the bird. But the raven still plays an important role in myths and rituals. In this paper, some features of the Alaskan complex and the position of the raven in the eastern Arctic are discussed. The basic features of the Alaskan raven complex are used as heuristic principles guiding research into the situation in the eastern Arctic region. It is argued that in many respects the raven is responsible for society but without being part of it. As a predator and a scavenger it is often associated with eating dirt, excrement and human flesh, and yet it created light, enabling people to see and invented tattooing, enabling women to marry.
Nalunaikutanga: Signs and Symbols in Canadian Inuit Art and Culture
Polarforschung, 1976
The caneept na]unaikulak is applied in many contexts in Eskimo life anel i s best glossed in English as: sign, symbol, marker, guide, characteristic or. most aptly, distinctive feature. Literally the ward me ans "i ts imp orlau t de-confuser" because, in action-oriented Inuit culture, it is the feature wh ich facihlates the initiation of a process of recognition and action, by cnding ignorance and confusion naJugiak end supplying the key to appropriate action and role behavior. Thus nalunaikulanga characterize not only sexes and spccies but also pl aces and people. enabling the Inuit to go ab out th e i r everyday lives of relating, cooperatinq, travelling, hunting and knowing. More recently, w ifh th e growth of individualism in Inuit commercial arts, individual arti s ts ' nalunaikutanga h av e been deve lopcd as aspects of style, subject matter, de te il or even m aterials us ed. While modern sculptures arc gene rally able to e xh ib i t the tr adi tional nalunaikutanga of the SUbjCTt matter portrayed canine teeth for polar b e ar s , heaks for hawks , amauUk parkas for w crnen , hunting weepons for men, e tc .-there i s danger th at the content of contemporary Inuit ethnic arts will stultify as an exhibition of th e whiteman's nalunaikutanga of th e distinctive but il1-remembered Inuit past.
Benjamin Whorf among the Inuit (1961/2014)
The Canadian Inuit lived in the least inhabited and most wide open of all the world's regions, (except for Antarctica). Yet, they were known for the abilities to find their way across trackless flat lands, white outs and huge bays, as well as to make geographical maps and remarkable 2-and 3-dimensional arts. This paper focuses on the Inuit mastery of abstract traces and metaphoric representations rather than material vestiges. For instance iniik are the [empty] tracks when a sled has been and iniksaq ('potential for a track') means [empty] space. Tumiit means [empty] footprints, an important means of finding game and avoiding dangers. This paper considers Inuit concepts of relatedness, (in)equality, representation and signs [nalu-nai-kuta-anga = that which de-confuses it, makes it obvious] 2 , in terms of humans, animals, the land and art. It also attends to the problematic of the translation of materiality, non-materiality and objectification in Inuit conceptual experiences.
Whether religion and ritual are elements of past cultures that can be studied effectively by archaeologists has divided experts for some time within the discipline. This paper examines specific animal rituals from two mobile hunter gatherer groups from Canada's North, the Naskapi Innu and Eastern Cree, in relation to Colin Renfrew's 1985 book The Archaeology of Cult. In this paper I seek to demonstrate that the archaeological concepts and methods put forth in Renfrew's (1985) work, related to analyzing religious and ritual contexts in large scale sedentary societies, cannot be neatly applied to Northern mobile hunter gatherer groups because of the nature of their movements across the landscape and their unique ritual relationships with animals. By going into detail describing, and subsequently analyzing the practical implications of the animal rituals and beliefs held by the Naskapi Innu and Eastern Cree, it is my goal to call more attention to the archaeological study of small scale mobile societies and their ritual practices that defy conventional methodologies for discerning and analyzing ritual in the archaeological record.
Inuksuk: Icon of the Inuit of Nunavut
Études/Inuit/Studies, 2000
The Inuit of the Canadian Arctic have long been known to the outside world through the accounts of explorers, whalers, traders, and missionaries. Famous for their igloos, dog sleds, kayaks and skin clothing, they became the quintessential hardy people of the American Arctic as portrayed in the film “Nanook of the North.” Now that they have emerged with their own agency in the world, their iconic distinctiveness is threatened by their near disuse of these traditional markers. In the past few years, the Inuit have combined their visibility to outsiders with their pride in heritage to select and foreground a few items, such as the inuksuk, the qulliq and the amautik, which have gone from the ordinary to the extraordinary. This paper explores the emergence of the inuksuk as an icon both for and of the Inuit in Canada, and considers its development, reintegration, commercialization and diaspora.