Settlements, kinship and hunting grounds in traditional Greenland A comparative study of local experiences from Upernavik and Ammassalik Robert Petersen Meddelelser om Gronland • Man & Society 27 Contents Abstract 9 Inuit without igloos 41 The summer travelling life: the tent 42 Introduction to the approach 11 The hunter's hut 43 Transportation 44 Chapter 1 The kayak 44 Hunting and Settlement 17 The umiak and other boats 47 Upernavik Municipality 17 The sledge and the dogs 50 The landscape 17 Imported tools 54 The climate and annual light 17 The gun 54 Plant life 18 The sealing net 55 Animal life 18 The saarlisaartoql slider 56 Ice conditions 21 Property ownership 57 Ammassalik Municipality 22 Resources and first acquisition rights 57 The landscape 22 Transfers of the right to decide 58 The climate 23 Ownership and territoriality 60 Plant life 23 Animal life 23 Chapter 4 Ice and currents 24 Local communities as organizations 62 The material: Catch Lists 25 Upernavik 62 Debate on the catch lists 27 The nuclear family and the household 62 Other relatives 65 Chapter 2 Kindred groups and fellow settlers 66 Social formation and geographical mobility 28 Ammassalik 70 Upernavik. A little about the settlement history 28 The earlier marital situation 71 The dialect 29 The Aqipi family 72 The folklore 30 Marriage and hostility among the families 75 The seasonal migrations 31 The time of the communal house 77 Technical innovations and changes The Aqipi family's dwellings and housemates 77 in hunting life 32 The Aqipi family's housemates and fellow The non-seasonal migrations 33 settlers 80 Ammassalik. The East Greenland population Supplementary information on kinship and in the past 35 residence 81 The South East Creenlanders and Ammassalik 35 Mobility and potential communal settlement 81 The settlement of the Ammassalik group 36 Endogamy or exogamy: examples from two places 82 Chapter 3 Settlements with a single household 83 The influence of material culture on mobility 39 Factors contributing to the unity of the settlement 84 Upernavik and Ammassalik districts 39 Common concerns 84 Transportable items 39 General distributions of food 84 Non-transportable items 39 Links between the settlements 85 The dwelling 39 Links between the centre and isolated places 86 The winter dwelling 40 CONTENTS Some types of links among households 87 Changes due to longer-term declines in Wife-swapping 87 the hunting 132 The social role of the name 87 Ammassalik 133 Singing-evenings and song-duels 87 Upemavik-Ammassalik, the centrifugal forces 136 Similarities and differences between the two districts 89 Potential population of the individual settlements 137 The gender-related division of labour 89 Family units - household units 90 Chapter 7 Negative reciprocity 92 The non-self-sufficient hunting society 139 Potential and balanced reciprocity 94 Definition 139 Croup norms in the light of mobility 94 Some effects of the technological changes 139 The units of the group 95 Hunting equipment 140 Settlements 96 The use of bought wood 142 Tentholds and summer camps 96 Net hunting 143 Settlement groups and regional groups 97 Clothing 143 Special roles 97 Dwellings 144 Sailing craft 146 Chapter 4 The dog sledge 148 Changes in the settlement pattern 99 Heating and lighting 149 Upernavik. The seasonal moves 99 New needs for shop goods 149 Technical innovations and changes in Earning potential and needs 150 hunting life 99 The need for plant 153 The non-seasonal moves 100 The role of the school in the hunting Settlements and population figures 101 districts 154 The degree of settlement 103 Some forms of socialization 155 The beginning of expansion 103 The cooperative idea 157 Settlements that were abandoned 107 Settlement formation during the expansion Chapter 8 period 108 Hunting communities as part of Creenlandic Ittuersuaq and Makkorsuaq and their family 108 society 159 Paangu and his family 110 The political and organizational framework 159 Abel Danielsen 111 The basic organization 159 Daniel Johnsen 111 Some organizational forms 160 Vittus Jensen and Ludvig Eliassen 111 Another kind of community activity: Voluntary Who followed whom? 112 organizations 767 What made people move to new places? 114 Some focuses in modernization 162 Ammassalik. The seasonal moves 115 The period immediately before modernization 162 Technical innovations and some changes 116 Modernization begins 163 The non-seasonal moves 117 Some modernization programmes 164 Settlements and population figures 117 The health service 165 Growth and change in the settlements 118 Education and training 165 A summary for both districts 120 Political structure 167 Implemented policies and the party system 168 Chapter 6 Economic conditions of the hunting settlements 169 Hunting areas and the growing population 125 Non-hunting-related incomes in the hunting Upernavik 125 districts 169 A few short-lived settlements 129 Aspects of the economy of the settlements in Emigration 130 the 1990s 171 The population base 171 CONTENTS Social benefits 172 Appendix 2 Wage incomes 173 Information from a number of people on Wages paid in the settlements 174 hunting conditions etc. from Ammassalik Catch sales 174 Municipality 256 Evaluation of the figures 176 Marie Aqipi 256 Massanti Aqipi 258 Final remarks 180 EbbeJosvasen 287 Josef Kaajammat 288 Appendix 1 Sofie and Nikolaj Maqi 296 Information from a number of people on hunting Lasarus Mikaelsen 298 conditions etc. from Upernavik Municipality 181 Timotheus Mikaelsen 305 Introduction 181 Boas Nuko 306 Nikolaj Aronsen 182 Joseas Sanimuinnaq 309 Bendt Frederiksen 188 Gertrud and Massanti Sanimuinnaq 310 Mathias Frederiksen 193 Nina Sinngertaat 311 VilhelmGrim 197 Ole Siverthsen 311 Peter Hansen 201 PeleJuliussen 205 Appendix 3 Jens Karlsen 206 The use of East Creenlandic place-names 315 Lauritz Karlsen 215 Isak Mathiesen 223 References 318 Marteeraq Martin Nielsen 227 Adam Petersen 237 List of Maps Ole Svendsen 240 Greenland endsheet, front Extracts from diary entries in 1966 242 Ammassalik Municipality and surroundings Valdemar Bidstrup 242 endsheet, front Timotheus, David and Knud Karlsen 242 Upernavik Municipality and surroundings endsheet, back Hans Aronsen 243 Nuussuaq with Kraulshavn 189 VilhelmGrim 245 The area north of Sondre Upernavik 198 Motor boat crews in S0ndre Upernavik in the The area around Sondre Upernavik 216 summer of 1966 247 The area south of S0ndre Upernavik 217 Motor boat crews in Tasiusaq in the summer Giesecke Isfjord and Aappilattoq 225 of 1966 247 Kullorsuaq and Southern Melville Bay 228 Placing of the houses and closest family ties in Sondre Upernavik settlement 248 S0ndre Upernavik in the summer of 1966 249 Tasiusaq settlement 250 Placing of the houses and close family ties in Tiileqilaaq settlement 273 Tasiusaq. Summer 1966 249 Ikertivaq near Isertoq 299.