Indigenous Ways to the Present

The traditional pursuit of whales by Eskimo hunters remains an area in which humans articulate directly with natural processes. To present-day urban dwellers, such direct relations between people, wild animals, and the environment may seem exotic but they continue to be important pursuits for many I?upiat and Yupik peoples. This volume traces regional Native whaling practices from approximately 2,000 years to the present. Contributions center on three themes: variations in whaling, Yupik and I?upiat whaling traditions over time, and interactions with changing environmental conditions that include major climatic episodes as well as shorter fluctuations. Western Arctic Native whaling has never been a uniform practice. By calling attention to local, flexible adaptations, this volume distinguishes between common approaches and how societies lived in real time and space. Papers by: Allen P. McCartney and Roger K. Harritt; John C. Dixon; Roger K. Harritt; Owen K. Mason and Valerie Barber; Yvon Csonka; Lev G. Dinesman and Arkady B. Savinetsky; James M. Savelle and Allen P. McCartney; Howard W. Braham; Lyudmila S. Bogoslovskaya; John C. George, Stephen Braund, Harry Brower, Jr., Craig Nicolson, and Todd M. O'Hara; Barbara Bodenhorn; Carol Zane Jolles; Mary A. Larson; Susan W. Fair; Mark S. Cassell; and Herbert O. Anungazuk.