Week+3+Innu+Peoples

Inuit, Inupiak Yupik, Eskimo - these are all names for the peoples who live in the Alaskan/Canadian/Greenland circum-polar region. They speak related languages, and share a common culture (to some degree). In the past they were hunters and gatherers living of land and sea mammals, and moving from place to place. Unfortunately, our textbook doesn't have any documentation relating to these people. Interestingly, many of these groups have never ceded their territory or made treaties with either the US or Canada. Until recently, their lands were not under threat, although this is changing. Although the Innu are not considered Inuit - the threats to their territory and way of life are similar to Inuit issues - see Survival International article on the Innu [|here]

Contextual Readings
1. Read about 19th century British-Inuit encounters in Alaska here and make notes about how Inuit people lived. 2. Read Arlene Stairs article available here 3. Read about Nunavut [|here] 

Webquest
Webquest 2 is here

Classroom Discussion Docs
Print out you example chart of the eskimo kinship system, and bring your notes on Rochfort Maguire about Inuit ways of life.

Movies
Watch "Nanuk of the North" here: media type="youtube" key="cLERFRQl5EY&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"

Now watch the clip called Saving a Language from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. http://archives.cbc.ca/society/education/topics/529/