Circumpolar peoples

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Circumpolar coastal human population distribution ca. 2009 (includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) Circumpolar coastal human population distribution ca. 2009.png
Circumpolar coastal human population distribution ca. 2009 (includes both Indigenous and non-Indigenous)

Circumpolar peoples and Arctic peoples are umbrella terms for the various indigenous peoples of the Arctic region.

Contents

Approximately four million people are resident in the Arctic, among which 10 percent are indigenous peoples belonging to a vast number of distinct communities. They represent a minority with the exception of Greenland of which 90 percent of its population is composed of Inuit.

It is difficult to find an exact number of the indigenous peoples in the Arctic as states have a tendency to downplay the numbers. Moreover, each state has its own different methods to count its indigenous population. For instance, Russia excludes from the official status of "small peoples of the North" (Russian : "малые народы Севера" or "Коренные малочисленные народы Севера") every community that exceeds  50,000 people. [1] They are therefore excluding from the definition certain numerically large indigenous communities like the Komi peoples, Karelians or Yakuts. [2]

Prehistory

The earliest inhabitants of North America's central and eastern Arctic are referred to as the Arctic small tool tradition (AST) and existed c. 2500 BCE. The AST consisted of several Paleo-Eskimo cultures, including the Independence cultures and Pre-Dorset culture. [3] [4] The Dorset culture (Inuktitut: Tuniit or Tunit) refers to the next inhabitants of central and eastern Arctic. The Dorset culture evolved because of technological and economic changes during the period of 1050–550 BCE. With the exception of the Quebec / Labrador Peninsula, the Dorset culture vanished around 1500 CE. [5]

Dorset / Thule culture transition dates around the 9th–10th centuries. Scientists theorize that there may have been cross-contact of the two cultures with sharing of technology, such as fashioning harpoon heads, or the Thule may have found Dorset remnants and adapted their ways with the predecessor culture. [6] Others believe the Thule displaced the Dorset.[ citation needed ]

Historical and contemporary peoples

By 1300, the Inuit, present-day Arctic inhabitants and descendants of Thule culture, had settled in west Greenland, and moved into east Greenland over the following century. Over time, the Inuit, and other related peoples, have migrated throughout the Arctic and subarctic regions of Canada (Inuit Nunangat), Greenland, Russia (Siberia), and the United States (Alaska). [7]

Other Indigenous peoples of the circumpolar north include the Chukchi, Evenks, Iñupiat, Khanty, Koryaks, Nenets, Sámi, Yukaghir, and Yupik. Yupik people still refer to themselves as Eskimo which means "snowshoe netters", not "raw meat eaters" as it is sometimes mistakenly translated. [8]

List of peoples by ethnolinguistic grouping

Chukchi, one of many Indigenous peoples of Siberia. Representation of a Chukchi family by Louis Choris (1816) Choris, Tschuktschen.jpg
Chukchi, one of many Indigenous peoples of Siberia. Representation of a Chukchi family by Louis Choris (1816)

Political representation in the Arctic Council

The voice of indigenous people in the Arctic is important as they have usually been seen as the representatives and voices of the impact of climate change in the Arctic. Some numerically large indigenous communities hold a role in the geopolitics of the Arctic region through the status of permanent participant in the Arctic Council. It is the case of the Aleuts though the Aleut International Association, the Canadian and Alaskan Athabaskans through the Arctic Athabaskan Council, the Gwichʼin through the Gwich'in Council International, the Inuit through the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Sámi through the Saami Council and the Indigenous peoples of the Russian north through Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON). Generally, when indigenous peoples participate in international discussion, they have the status of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in order to differentiate them from states. However, the Arctic Council established a unique model of indigenous participation by giving them the status of Permanent Participants.

It is a new reading of their participation and consultative right granted by the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in its article 18. Indigenous people are for once, seated at the same table as states representatives. It enables them to gain influence on the soft law making process, which was until now for states-only. They are also starting to gain influence in the making of legally binding texts as they participated in the making of the Arctic Search and Rescue (May 2011) or the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic (2013). Certain areas still remain under a state-only control as the Arctic Council's aim is to focus on sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic region, excluding de facto other topics like security or border disputes. Circumpolar peoples do not have access or have only limited access to these types of discussions which concerns their land but are discussed elsewhere.

Political aims

In 2023, the Statement of the Arctic Peoples’ Conference 2023 – Inuiaat Issittormiut Ataatsimeersuarnerat 2023 [9] was issued on the common circumpolar peoples' political goals for the 50th anniversary of the first Circumpolar Meeting of Arctic Indigenous Peoples. One of the main arguments is the defense of their right to well being.

A major preoccupation is the access to healthcare and the application of mental health policies as suicide, especially among the younger generations, is a major issue that threatens the future of these communities. They also call for climate justice and denounce green colonialism which is the land encroachment, resource extraction and renewable energy production on their land, without their consent as well as the  proliferation of marine protected areas that are not indigenous-led. They recall their right to determine their own priorities for development, which should be understood as not confined to economic development. Finally, they highlight the need to ask for their consensus before making any decision in the Arctic Council and that making decisions without consensus undermines its purpose and integrity.

Possible future discussions

With the melting of the ice and the possibility of opening new trade routes as well as extracting resources from the seabed, resource managements could be a major topic of discussion between Arctic States and Circumpolar Peoples. According to international law and indigenous rights, resource management should fall into a regime of co-management between the states and the indigenous communities present in the territory on which the resource extraction is being held. [10] Moreover, the law states that indigenous peoples have to be part of « strategic planning », in other words in defining the various deadlines of such projects. They should as well receive a « fair and equitable benefit sharing ». A revenue sharing scheme would improve Arctic indigenous peoples' living standards and enable them to gain further economic autonomy. Finally, following United Nation Declaration of the Right of Indigenous People, circumpolar peoples are aiming at having more political representation and being more consulted at all levels : national, regional or international.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eskimo</span> Exonym used to describe Indigenous people from the circumpolar region

Eskimo is an exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit and the Yupik of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, the Aleut, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the Eskaleut language family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inuit languages</span> Branch of the Eskaleut language family

The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and the adjacent subarctic regions as far south as Labrador. The Inuit languages are one of the two branches of the Eskimoan language family, the other being the Yupik languages, which are spoken in Alaska and the Russian Far East. Most Inuit people live in one of three countries: Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark; Canada, specifically in Nunavut, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories, the Nunavik region of Quebec, and the Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut regions of Labrador; and the United States, specifically in northern and western Alaska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iñupiat</span> Ethnic group

The Iñupiat are a group of Indigenous Alaskans whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaat, including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough, affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough; and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation. They often claim to be the first people of the Kauwerak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eskaleut languages</span> Language family of the Arctic and sub-Arctic

The Eskaleut, Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent, and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of what are now the United States (Alaska); Canada including Nunavut, Northwest Territories, northern Quebec (Nunavik), and northern Labrador (Nunatsiavut); Greenland; and the Russian Far East. The language family is also known as Eskaleutian, Eskaleutic or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan.

The Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region. The appellation "Thule" originates from the location of Thule in northwest Greenland, facing Canada, where the archaeological remains of the people were first found at Comer's Midden.

The Paleo-Eskimo were the peoples who inhabited the Arctic region from Chukotka in present-day Russia across North America to Greenland prior to the arrival of the modern Inuit (Eskimo) and related cultures. The first known Paleo-Eskimo cultures developed by 2500 BCE, but were gradually displaced in most of the region, with the last one, the Dorset culture, disappearing around 1500 CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siberian Yupik</span> Yupik who live near the Bering Strait

Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits, are a Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far northeast of the Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. They speak Central Siberian Yupik, a Yupik language of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inuit Circumpolar Council</span> Inuit run Arctic organization

The Inuit Circumpolar Council is a multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and Indigenous Peoples' Organization (IPO) representing the 180,000 Inuit, Yupik, and Chukchi peoples people living in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka (Russia). ICC was ECOSOC-accredited and was granted special consultative status at the UN in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirenik language</span> Extinct Eskimo–Aleut language

Sirenik Yupik, Sireniki Yupik, Sirenik, or Sirenikskiy is an extinct Eskimo–Aleut language. It was spoken in and around the village of Sireniki (Сиреники) in Chukotka Peninsula, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The language shift has been a long process, ending in total language death. In January 1997, the last native speaker of the language, a woman named Vyjye, died. Ever since that point, the language has been extinct; nowadays, all Sirenik Eskimos speak Siberian Yupik or Russian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saqqaq culture</span> Ancient people of Southern Greenland

The Saqqaq culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture in southern Greenland. Up to this day, no other people seem to have lived in Greenland continually for as long as the Saqqaq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inughuit</span> Greenlandic Inuit

The Inughuit, or the Smith Sound Inuit, historically Arctic Highlanders or Polar Eskimos, are Greenlandic Inuit. They are the northernmost group of Inuit and the northernmost people in North America, living in Greenland. Inughuit make up about 1% of the population of Greenland.

Sirenik or Sireniki are former speakers of a divergent Eskimo language in Siberia, before its extinction. The total language death of this language means that now the cultural identity of Sirenik Eskimos is maintained through other aspects: slight dialectal difference in the adopted Siberian Yupik language; sense of place, including appreciation of the antiquity of their settlement Sirenik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inuit</span> Indigenous peoples of northern North America

Inuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inuit culture</span> Culture of the Inuit in the Arctic and Subarctic region

The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America. The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat, and Yupik, and the Aleut who live in the Aleutian Islands of Siberia and Alaska. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenlandic Inuit</span> Ethnic group indigenous to Greenland

The Greenlandic Inuit are the indigenous and most populous ethnic group in Greenland. Most speak Greenlandic and consider themselves ethnically Greenlandic. People of Greenland are citizens of Denmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic</span>

Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic are the aboriginal peoples who live in the Subarctic regions of the Americas, Asia and Europe, located south of the true Arctic at about 50°N to 70°N latitude. This region includes the interior of Alaska, the Western Subarctic or western Canadian Shield and Mackenzie River drainage area, the Eastern Subarctic or Eastern Canadian Shield, and most of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia and Siberia. Peoples of subarctic Siberia and Greenland are included in the subarctic; however, Greenlandic Inuit are usually classified as Indigenous peoples of the Arctic.

The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat (IPS) is a secretariat for the six international Indigenous organizations affiliated with the eight-nation Arctic Council. The IPS does not represent indigenous peoples or their organizations, but assists those organizations in presenting their causes, and helps to disseminate information among them. IPS was established in 1994 under the auspices of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). It was around the same time that the category of Permanent Participants was being developed and applied to the three indigenous peoples’ organizations then observers in the AEPS. When the Arctic Council was established in 1996, both the Permanent Participants and IPS was reinserted into the new intergovernmental framework. Since commencing business in 1994, the role of the secretariat has been to facilitate contributions from the Permanent Participants to the cooperation of the eight Arctic states and to assist the Permanent Participants in performing, mainly communicational task.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naukan people</span>

The Naukan, also known as the Naukanski, are a Siberian Yupik people and an Indigenous people of Siberia. They live in the Chukotka Autonomous Region of eastern Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eskimology</span> Complex of humanities sciences relating to Eskimos

Eskimology or Inuitology is a complex of humanities and sciences studying the languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of the speakers of Eskimo–Aleut languages and Inuit, Yupik and Aleut, sometimes collectively known as Eskimos, in historical and comparative context. This includes ethnic groups from the Chukchi Peninsula on the far eastern tip of Siberia in Russia, through Alaska of the United States, Canada's Inuit Nunangat, including the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut Nunavik and Nunatsiavut, through NunatuKavut, to Greenland of Denmark. Originally, an Eskimologist or Inuitologist was primarily a linguist or philologist who researches Eskimo or Inuit languages.

References

  1. ↑ Dodds, K., & Woodward, J. (2021). The Arctic: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
  2. ↑ Fondahl, G., Filippova, V., & Mack, L. (2015). Indigenous peoples in the new Arctic. The New Arctic, 7-22.
  3. ↑ Hoffecker, John F. (2005). A prehistory of the north: human settlement of the higher latitudes. Rutgers University Press. p. 130. ISBN   0-8135-3469-0.
  4. ↑ Gibbon, pp. 28–31
  5. ↑ Gibbon, pp. 216–217
  6. ↑ Gibbon, p. 218
  7. ↑ "First Nations Culture Areas Index". the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
  8. ↑ "Arctic Peoples". British Museum.
  9. ↑ "Statement of the Arctic Peoples' Conference 2023 – Inuiaat Issittormiut Ataatsimeersuarnerat 2023". 25 July 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  10. ↑ Shadian, J. M. (2013). Of whales and oil: Inuit resource governance and the Arctic Council. Polar Record, 49(4), 392-405.

Bibliography

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