Eskimo Kinsmen: Changing Family Relationship in Northwest Alaska
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62 REVIEWS ESKIMO KINSMEN: CHANGING FA“ strengthened by lineal,marital and fictive aug- ILY RELATIONSHIP IN NORTHWEST mentation and permanence, limited only by ALASKA. BY ERNEST S. BURCHJR. St. Paul, demography and lack of knowledge of persons Minnesota: West Publishing, 1975. 9% x 6% supposedly related, or individualdesires to inches. Hard cover, $12.95. deactivate relationships. Although Burchtakes issue withthe general This very useful work by an unusually com- anthropological assumption of “formlessness’’ petent anthropologist is an attempt to inte- in Eskimo kinship and social organization, he grate the existing literature on Eskimo kinship includes so many additional conjunctions in and interpersonal relations with his own field Eskimo “real life” behaviour (regional varia- work on Eskimo kinship and its meaning. In tions in classification and terminology, alter- particular, Bwch traces the sequences of native classifications,synonyms, naming, change in kinship and in social relationships substitution,inconsistencies, etc.) as to sup- over a period of more than 100 years. His port the argument that Eskimo kinship was research was a combination of dependence really a personally flexibletool with very few upon the memories and goodwill of infor- formally limitingelements. mants,detailed cross-checking of data pro- Burch identifies 33 roles and 27 reciprocal vided for consistency, and reliance on relationships implicit in Eskimo kinship and published data itself. It apptars to have been examines them primarily from the point of an acceptable approach. view of their “solidarity aspect”.For example, Describing the past subsistence cycle, Burch he notes emotionaldistance in the marital notes that Eskimos usedkin groups as hunting relationship,early avoidance patterns (men groups, so that kinship was a factor of social used to live in the mens’ house), and brittle- organisation.Moreover, Eskimo suspicious- ness. He describes marriage primarily as an ness of strangers and of intergroup violence economic relationship and also suggests ab- made kin tiesabsolutely necessary for the original rigidity in roles (but notes considera- protection of the individualaway from, or ble variations in individual cases). Marriages even at, home. Cruelty to those without kin were expected to be unstable, though in recent support -orphans, for example - was uni- times their bonds have been firmer. Infidelity, versal. always the chief cause of strain, has become One basic thrust of the book is that the more narrowly defined recently; civil divorce disease and alcoholism which followed upon is now less common and easy than the sever- the Eskimo’s contacts withwhite people ance of ties under the aboriginal system. resulted in great population destruction and Burch describes husband-and wife-sharing, massive migration between 1850 and 1885, but denies their common occurrence. He be- and these so disrupted kin ties as to cause lieves the prime motivation to be one of increasing use of non-kin-based forms of increasing kin ties, though by his own activity, such as employmentwith white presented data, fear of jealousy (in a recipro- people. cal arrangement) and sexual interest seem the Inmoredetai1,Burch covers the sedentariza- more dominant, and his data could be inter- tion of Eskimos from 1890 to the commence- preted to show that tolerance of such forms ment of the Second World War. Establish- by mates was a defensive manoeuvreto over- ment of schools acted as a centralizingfactor, come potential violence as a result of infidel- while the need to hunt and trap tended to ity, or an excuse for sexual attraction to decentralizeEskimo life. Thedrop in fur non-mates. prices during the great depression, however, In discussing cross-generation relations he caused the almost complete concentration of notes that, although infanticide is practised, Eskimos into villages by 1940. This ended the children in the aboriginal system were well kin-based settling of disputes (by feudor war). cared for. Adoptionwas, however, so common Instead, school, church and villageactivity that children could be thought of as kinship took over kin-based educational religious and currency. Education was putatively by exam- recreational functions. By this time Eskimos ple, but this method became less possible with had come into contact with Eskimos and the increase in population in the twentieth others in urban meas and in work relation- century due to better health care. Obedience ships,a fact which further attenuated the wasdemanded from children and physical value of the kin ties. punishmentwas often harsh.Relationships Burch notes not only the real but also the were,however, normally loving, only be- fictive elements of Eskimo kinship in which, coming formal with increasing age. Favour- for example, one was related to anyone one itism and non-favouritism of children reflected had ever had sexual relations with, as well BS the treatment parents received from grand- to their children. In fact, Eskimo kinship was parents (for whom the grandchild was named). REVIEWS 63 Burchfinds this behaviourinexplicable, al- PERMAFROST TERMINOLOGY. m- though it can be explainedin psychoanalytical PARED BY R. I. E. BROWNAND W.0. KUPSCH. terms. Ottawa: National Research Council Of Can- Burch also attempts to explain that geronti- ada, 1974. (Technical Memorandum no. 111). cide was rare and onlypractised “when 5% x 8% inches, 62 pages, illustrated. Soft necessary”; again, however, an alternative cover, $3.00. explanation based upon inconsistencesin child care is possible, admore likely. Burch also This glossary of terms is designed to aid the discusses nepotic relationships (varied); in-law increasing number of people in Canada who relationships(strained); siblings (normal are intcmted in ‘weasaffected by permafrost. rivalry and love), co-siblings (potential mates) It is a very useful compilation of the terms in and affinal (varied) relationships. current use, and as such fulfils a real need. More important to Burch are the strategy The major part constitutea a listing of 146 and patterns of.afFiliation. He feels that by terms and their definitions, with additional tradition Eskimos needed kin to survive, to clarifyingcomments and references where gain wealth and power and, more recently, appropriate. Nearly 100 alternative terms and simply for Wative needs, for “happiness”. cro& references are also given. Since kin affiliation was crucial, some The glossary was compiled under the spon- aboriginal villages werealmost entirely multi- sorship of the Permafrost Subcommittee of generational “single” .families. He described the AssociateCommittee on Geotachnical the household compositionof several turn-of- Research of the National Research Councilof the-centuryvillages in detail. These cases Canada. At twostages in its compilation, support Burch’s argument for the continuing opinions were sought from many people in- importance of family ties in northwestern volved in permafrost research in Canada, and Alaska. He notes that to focus on the nuclear as far as possible h qon6enms was obtained. family alone wouldobscure the range and In some cases, however, the authors report flexibility of kin ties used by Eskimos. “conflicting opinions”, and in an attempt to Burch’s work, overall, is careful, detailed resolve them haveexpanded the existing and useful. Information is presented in nor- detinitions in some cases, even to the point of mative and behavioural terms. Care and introducing new qualifications that are proba- objectivity are the most valuable aspects of bly not universally applicable. For example, this useful book. They impart, unfortunately, solifluction is definedas “the process of slow, a somewhat lifeless flavour to excellent ma- gravitational, downslope movement of satu- terial. This may be because Burch‘s assump- rated, nonfrozen earth material behaving tions about motivation include no element of apparently as a viscous mass over a surface dynamicpsychological thinking, and relafe of frozen material.” While there is a strong to commonsense terms such as “survival”, trend towards the use of “solifiuction” only “power”, “wealth” and “affiliation”. Why this with regard to cold climates (with the impli- is an essential.part of Eskimo life, and how cation of freezing ur thawing procases nor- it evolved, is not explained, and a comparison mallyinvolved), a restriction to saturated with other cultures is not made. Because of flow “over a surface of frozen material” is this, details regarding motivation and &kt, probably further than some researchers will which are onlysporadically distributed wish to go. throughout this work, have a potentially dif- The authors also discuss the problem of ferent meaning to the psychologically sophis- the dual use of the word “frozen”.On the one ticated reader. All this would be irrelevant hand, “freezing” is thought of as a process except that the title “relationships” impliea which OCCIKS when water changesfrom liquid some psYchological aspects to this reviewer. to solid, and thus it might be thought essential In fairness, this was not Burch’s aim. None- that “frozenground” contain ice. On the theless, the reader might keep in mind that it other hand, the term “frozen” can be taken as is the structure and pattern of family relation- applying to all makrials at a temperature ships, rather than any significantaffective of below O’C, whether the water present is information, which is meant by Burch’s title, in liquid or solid state (for it is necessary to That structure and pattern are well defined. note that underwater sediments willnot freeze at precisely 0°C). The authors havecon- Arthur E. Hippler formed to normal modem practice in using “frozen” in the last-mentioned sense in rela- tion to permafrost.Following this policy, specimen sections in the glossary read: ‘‘permafrost:the thermal condition in soil or rockhaving temperatures below 0°C .