Encyclopedia of World CulturesVolume I - NORTH AMERICA - I docx

Occupying winter villages from SeptemberthroughApril, the Ingalik used nets and traps set inthe ice to take avariety of fish.. The Yukon Ingalik traded withthe Eskimo ofNorton Sound, exc

Iglulik Inuit 155

forwomenand from agestwentytotwenty-sixformen isthe

mostimportantriteofpassage forHutterites Itsignifiesadult

status,is aprerequisite formarriage, and oftencreatescloser

bonds between the now-adult children and their parents

Arts Traditional crafts suchaspotterymakingand

deco-rative sewinghavenowlargely disappeared, though clothing

styleis an important indicator of Leut identity Sports and

dancingarevirtuallyabsent,and individualhobbies tend

to-wardproductiveactivitiessuchaselectrical wiring Singingis

the central expressive activity Hutterites sing inchurch, at

school, athome, andduringgroup activities.Thereis arich

and varied repertoire of songs andhymns

Medicine Medicalcare islargely free of religious content

andphysiciansareroutinelyused.Hutteritechiropractorsare

usedbybothcolony members and outsiders The Hutterites

have been the object of intense study by mental health

re-searchersanddisplayanunusually high incidence of affective

psychoses and low incidence ofschizophrenia when

com-pared to other groups and the U.S population ingeneral

The Hutterites alsodisplay aculture-specificdisorder called

Anfechtung, characterized by a feeling of having sinned

Treatment isthrough talk with the preacher, prayer, and

con-fession, usuallyproducing acure

Deathand Afterlife Death is seen as the stepleading to

paradise for those who have lived afaithfullife.Burial usually

follows three days after the death and is preceded byawake

and anin-gathering of colony members and baptized

mem-bers of other colonies The communal life provides emotional

support forthe family of the deceased

Bibliography

Bennett, John A (1967) Hutterian Brethren: The

Agricul-turalEconomyandSocialOrganizationofaCommunal People

Stanford:Stanford University Press

Hostetler,JohnA.(1974).Hutterite Society.Baltimore: Johns

Hopkins University Press

Hostetler, John A., and Gertrude Huntington (1970) The

Hutterites in North America New York: Holt, Rinehart &

Winston

Martens, Helen (1968) "Hutterite Songs:The Origins and

Aural Transmission of Their Melodies from the Sixteenth

Century." Ph.D diss., Columbia University

JOHN A HOSTETLER

ETHNONYMS:Aivilingmiut, Iglulingmiut, Tununirmiut The term "Iglulik" refers to the Iglulingmiut,

Aiviling-miut, andTununirmiut, Inuit-Inupiaq-speaking peoples lo-cated north ofHudsonBayintheCanadian Northwest Terri-tories Formerly, the Iglulik ranged over a wide territory that included parts of northern Baffin Island, MelvillePeninsula,

and northernSouthampton Island In the 1820s they num-beredbetween four hundred and six hundred,approximately the same as inthe 1980s

TheIglulikwereincontact with Whites in the1820s, but

itwas not untilregularvisitsbywhalingcrewsduring the sec-ondhalf of the nineteenth century that contact hada

signifi-cantimpact on their way oflife After 1920acculturation was accelerated with the establishment of Hudson's Bay Com-panytrading posts and Anglican and Catholic mission sta-tions, andthe presence of theRoyal Canadian Mounted Po-lice Since the 1960s thenumber ofIglulik who depend on hunting andgathering for their livelihood has been diminish-ing rapidly asadults findemployment in the mining and oil industries

Traditionally, the Iglulik engaged in a seasonal patternof subsistence activities and movement involving whale, seal,

and walrus hunting in the summer, caribou hunting and salmon andtroutfishinginthe autumn, seal hunting onthe sea ice in the winter, and seal and walrus hunting in the spring Kayaks and umiaks were employed in the summer hunting of marine animals, and caribou were stalked and killed with bows and arrows or driven into the water and speared from kayaks Birds, foxes, wolves, and polarbears were alsohunted

The nuclear family in which the husband was food provider and toolmaker and the wife was cook and clothes-maker was the basic unit ofIglulik society Formerly, when the Iglulik moved inland in the autumn tohunt caribou and fish, theyassembled in small camps of several families each Thecamp's leaderorleaderswererespected and mature men whoadvised the camp with regard to groupmovements and subsistence activities

Shamans curedthe sick and practiced divination by call-ing uponthe aid of spirits in trances In some instances a sin-gle manfilledthe roles of both camp leader and shaman The notionofthesoul was fundamental to the beliefs of the Iglu-lik, andthey held that the world around them was populated

by a host of supernaturalbeings, ghosts, and spirits

Bibliography Kleivan, Inge (1985) Eskimos: Greenland and Canada Lei-den: E J. Brill

Mathiassen, Therkel (1928) Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition,1921-24 Vol

6, Pt 1 Copenhagen, Denmark

Rasmussen, Knud (1929) Intellectual Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.Report of the Fifth ThuleExpedition, 1921-24 Vol

7, Pt 1 Copenhagen, Denmark

156 Illinois

Illinois

TheIllinois, including theCahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea,

Peoria,and Tamaroa, with the related Mascouten, lived

prin-cipally along the Illinois and Mississippirivers inthestatesof

Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri Theremnantsof theIllinois,

to-gether with theWeaandPiankashaw,nowliveonor nearthe

formerPeoriaIndianReservationinnortheasternOklahoma,

and arelargely assimilated with the European-American

pop-ulation

See Miami

Bibliography

Callender, Charles (1978) "Illinois." InHandbookof North

AmericanIndians Vol.15,Northeast, editedbyBruce G

Trig-ger, 673-680.Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

Goddard, Ives (1978) "Mascouten." In Handbook of North

AmericanIndians.Vol.15, Northeast, editedbyBruce G

Trig-ger, 668-672.Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

Ingalik

ETHNONYMS:DegHit'an, Inkality, Inkiliki, Ingelete,

Inkiliki-iugel'nut, Kaiyuhkhotana, Ten'a

Orientation Identification The Ingalikare anAmericanIndiangroup

inAlaska The term "Inkiliki" inseveralvariations first

ap-pears inthe Russian literatureof the 1830s and 1840s.The

name appears borrowed from Yup'ik Eskimo "Ingqiliq," a

generaltermfor Indians of theinteriorandmeaning"having

louses' eggs." Ingalik call themselves "DegHit'an" (the

peo-ple from here)

Location AtthetimeofRussiancontact inthe1830sthe

Ingalik lived in several villages on the lower Yukon and

Innokorivers,andonthe middle KuskokwimRiver,in

south-western Alaska Their territory was bounded by Eskimo

groups downriver and in the coastal regions, and other

Atha-paskans upstream-Koyukononthe Yukon, Kolchanonthe

Kuskokwim.Majorsettlementsinhistorictimesincluded the

villages of Shageluk on the Innoko, Anvik, Bonasila, and

Holy Cross on the lower Yukon, Kvygympaynagmyut and

Georgetown on the middle Kuskokwim The environment

wassubarctic boreal forest, characterized by shortwarm

sum-mersand long coldwinters.

Demography Inthe 1830s,the Ingalik hadapopulation

estimatedatbetween fifteen hundred andtwothousand

Fol-lowing the introduction ofEuropeandiseases, numbers fellto

sixhundred by 1900. Particularly devastating the

small-poxepidemic of 1838-1839 The presentpopulationis over fivehundred, althoughthisfiguredoesnottakeinto account significant intermarriage with Eskimo and other groups LinguisticAffiliation The Ingalik languageis oneofthe Northern Athapaskan languages, a subgroup of the Atha-paskan family There are two dialects, one spoken on the Yukon, thesecond restricted to the Kuskokwim The Kusko-kwimdialect haslargely been replaced by other Athapaskan languages, Eskimo, and English The Yukon dialectis pres-entlyspoken only by the older generation

History and Cultural Relations TheAthapaskan cultures are likely related to microblade tool horizons,whichappeared in Alaska from Asia around 8000 B.C By 4800 B.C., this culture had expanded over much of Alaska and northwesternCanada, areassubsequently occu-pied by the Northern Athapaskans Linguistic and cultural

evidence suggests that theProto-Athapaskan language was thatof an interior hunting people, probably centered in the easternAlaskan, upper Yukon River, and northwestern Cana-diancordilleran region Between 500 B.C andA.D.500, Atha-paskans expanded into western Alaska and languages began

to differentiate Athapaskan core cultural elements included

anemphasis on upland, big-game hunting, a matrilineal de-scent system, commemorative feasts for the dead, semisubter-raneandwellings, and use of snowshoes and toboggans

Fish-ing was of secondary importance As the ancestors of the Ingalik moved into riverine areas of southwestern Alaska, they came into contact with Eskimos Exposure to the cul-turesof these efficient coastal sea-mammal hunting and fish-ing specialists led to considerable Eskimoization of the Athapaskan core culture, with the Ingalik adopting a fishing economy and a bilateral kinship system By 1900, through in-termarriagewithEskimo, the Kuskokwim Ingalik had ceased

to exist as a cultural entity, and by 1980, Holy Cross village

onthe Yukon was at least 50 percentEskimo

Situated between Athapaskans andEskimos, the Ingalik traded with both Following Russian contact, the Ingalik oc-casionally visited posts such as Nulato on the middle Yukon

to trade Not as warlike as other groups, the Ingalik's tradi-tionalenemies were theKoyukon, although there was occa-sional friction with Eskimoand the Kolchan

Settlements

The Ingalik established winter villages on major streams, often at the mouth of a tributary A typical village contained a single large kashim or semisubterranean ceremonial men's house, five to ten smaller semisubterranean winter dwellings, raised pole food caches, and racks for canoes and sleds

Win-ter dwellings were occupied by more than one family, and a winter village would containfifty to a hundred or more peo-ple Spring and summer fishing camps, several miles from the winter village, consisted of less substantial A-frame or gabled dwellings built of logs covered by planks or bark

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities The Yukon In-galik were primarily subsistence fishermen, supplementing this by hunting and trapping caribou, moose, bear, and a

vari-ety of other fur-bearing animals The predictable salmon runs

Ingalik 157

permitted a moresedentarylife andlarger populationsthan

amongAthapaskangroups who relied onbiggame The

Kus-kokwim Ingalik in aboriginal times stressed hunting more

than did the Yukon Ingalik Occupying winter villages from

SeptemberthroughApril, the Ingalik used nets and traps set

inthe ice to take avariety of fish Caribou were hunted using

the surround and fences, and fur bearers were trapped and

snared forfood,clothing,and trade In April andMay,

fami-lies moved inland to lakes forfishingand,followingbreak-up

of the ice, moved to summer fishing camps on the main

streams Heretheyused a variety oftraps, nets,andweirs to

takequantities of salmon andwhitefish,whichthey dried for

winter use By the late 1800s, possibly because of hunting

pressure and use of the repeating rifle, caribou numbers

de-clinedsharply.This forced anincreased emphasis upon

fish-ing, particularlyonthe Kuskokwim By 1914, the European

fishwheel had been introduced into the region and by the

1930s had largely replaced the use of fish traps In recent

years paid employment, including fire-fighting and work at

fish canneries, has provided a source of income

Industrial Arts TraditionalIngalik crafts included

exten-sive woodworking in the manufacture ofcontainers, sleds,

birchbark canoes, snowshoes, dwellings, and weapons

Sim-ple pottery, some twined basketry, stone and bone tools,

birchbark containers, tailored skin clothing, snares, nets, and

fish traps were common products for use and trade

Trade Although the Ingalik traded with other groups,

most exchange waswith Eskimo The Yukon Ingalik traded

withthe Eskimo ofNorton Sound, exchanging wooden

uten-sils and furs forbelugaand seal oil, sealskins, and Siberian

reindeer skins Tobacco, tea, and metal tools reached the

Ingalik via Siberian trade routes The Kuskokwim Ingalik

traded primarily with the Kuskowagamiut Eskimo

down-stream, exchanging furs and birchbark canoes for seal oil,

sealskins, fish,and dentalium shells.DuringtheRussian and

early American period, metal tools,firearms, and cloth

be-cameincreasingly significant as trade items The availability

ofEuropean trade goodsled to adependence upon the fur

trade toacquirethem,withsignificantchangesinsubsistence

patterns and traditional social relations The importance of

tradetemperedtraditional hostilities between theIngalik and

their neighbors

Division of Labor Ingalik men were the primary

providers, responsible for trading, most hunting, fishing, and

the construction ofdwellings, tools, sleds, and snowshoes

Both sexescooperated inmakingbirchbark canoes Women

snared small game and tended fish nets near thevillage,made

clothing, preparedfood, andmanufactured potteryand

bas-kets

Land Tenure Individuals and families had the right to

oc-cupy and use land within theterritory of their village group

Rights to use certainfish-trapping andcaribou-huntingsites

belonged to families

Kinship KinGroupsand Descent While most Alaskan

Athapas-kans had matrilinealdescent andatripartite matriclan

struc-ture, the Ingalik were bilateral Formerly matrilineal, they

changed through contact and intermarriage with the bilateral

Eskimo Clans wereunknown,althoughtheIngalik"partner"

system-a special relationship between two people in sepa-ratevillages-was awidespread Athapaskan trait and may have been a vestige of the clan system

Kinship Terminology Ingalik kinship terms follow the Eskimosystem with identical paralleland cross-cousin terms, which are differentiated from those for siblings Kin terms imply generational differences, and lineal kin are distin-guished from collateral Also present is the Athapaskan dis-tinction between older andyounger siblings

Marriage and Family

Marriage The aboriginal Ingalik practiced local

endo-gamyandavoidedmarriageto first cousins Marriagewas mo-nogamous, with occasional polygyny by wealthy men The levirate and sororate were practiced, the latterrarely Resi-dence after marriage was initiallywith the wife's family The

couplethen lived with the husband's family until the man could build his own house Divorce wasuncommon, particu-larly when therewere children A divorced woman returned

to her mother's house

DomesticUnit Thetypical wintervillagehousewas

occu-pied by two or morenuclear families, usually fifteen to twenty persons Unitsinthe spring and summer fishingcamps were smaller In the winter villages, groups of men cooperated in caribouhunting and some fishing activities Contemporary Ingalik live predominantly in single and extended family units

Inheritance Songs, dances, and the right to wear certain masks at ceremonies passed from father to son At death, mostproperty was inherited bythespouse and children,

al-thoughthat ofawealthyperson would later be distributed at

apotlatch.Someitems were burned or placed in the coffin for useby thedeceased in the afterlife.The house of a deceased

adult was temporarily abandoned and sometimes burned Rights tofamily hunting andfishingsites were inherited Socialization Children were weaned after they began to walk The Ingalik were gentle and tolerant with their

off-spring, with mild punishments and threats for misbehavior Children learned various taboos, and older adults taught

them moral tales In aboriginal times, most learning came fromimitating adult activities.Today,children attendpublic schools, and increasing numbers continue their education be-yondhighschool

Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization Status came from theownership of materialobjects, especially fish Furs, alargehouse,canoes, redocher, and dentalium shells were alsoprized.Inaboriginal

timesleadership was situational, with some men excelling in subsistenceactivities, others in ritual, trade, or warfare Rich men and shamanswere often leaders

Political Organization Villageswere independent, recog-nizednearby communities as linguistically and culturally

sim-ilar, and sometimes intermarried and sharedpotlatcheswith them Russian andAmerican agents introduced the idea of chiefs during theearly-contactperiod.Today,elected leaders and participaion in collective political and economic oranizations havereplaced traditional patterns

158 Ingalik

Social Control Common methods of social control

in-cludedtaboos, ostracism, and fear of revengeorsupernatural

retaliation Habitual unacceptable behaviorwouldleadto a

meeting of the older men, who decided on an appropriate

punishment.A murder oraccidentalkilling usually led to

re-vengeby a male relative and sometimes a blood feud

Sha-mans wereconsideredpowerful and often served as opinion

leaders.jokingrelationships, kinship, and the partner system

alsoserved as social control mechanisms

Conflict Interpersonal aggression arose from disputes,

often over the opposite sex.Wrestling, beatings, and verbal

insults werethe result When a murder occurred between the

Ingalikand other groups, it could lead to warfare.Although

travel in another group's territory fortrading purposes was

permitted, relationships were sometimes tense Raids were

group decisions, often in retaliation for an earlierraid,a

dis-pute over caribou hunting grounds, or some other

long-standing animosity Raids were surprise attacks carried out at

night during the fall or earlyspring Attackers would blockade

house and kashim entrances, and shoot arrows through

smoke holes All men were killed if possible, the village

looted, and women and children abducted Warfare was

prob-ably infrequent, mitigated by the importance of trade

be-tweengroups During the early-contact period, attacks also

tookplace on Russian trading posts Beginning in the

Ameri-canperiod, conflict wasconrolledthrough a system of

mar-shals andcourts

Religion and Expressive Culture

ReligiousBelief The Ingalik shared theNorthern

Atha-paskan worldview of a universe in which all objects had a

spirit or soul, yeg In thebeginning, men, animals, and

inani-mate objects lived together and shared many traits They later

separatedand lost the ability to communicate People were

dependent on animals for food and thus had to remain on

good terms with them This they did by observingtaboos and

treating animalswith respect so they would continue to be

available for food Increaseceremonies were performed to

at-tract gameand ensure a steady supply The Ingalik also used a

variety of'songs" or magical chants to maintain the balance

between the humanandspiritual worlds These songs could

bepurchased, and both sexes had them Songs were used to

gain good hunting and fishing luck, enhance skills, cure

ill-ness andcommunicate with the spirits Through possession

of songs, nearly everyone had a little shamanisticpower

Am-ulets, often bits of animalskin,bone, or feathers, were worn

by all andwere often associated with animal songs Amulets

broughtspecific kinds of luck or conferred special abilities

There were numerous taboos and prohibitions, many of

which related to animals TheIngalik had a rich mythology in

whichanimals and the ritual number 4 were prominent

Russian Orthodox priests arrived among the Ingalik in

1845 andbaptized 437 Indians intwo years,though

under-standing of Christianityremainedsuperficial By1887-1888,

Episcopaland Roman Catholic missionaries had appeared on

the lower Yukon, mission schools had been established, and

the Orthodox faith largely replaced Today, the Ingalik are

nominal Christians, with the last mission school closing in

1957 TheIngalik world was created by Denato, an otiose

fa-ther figure Many spirits and beings inhabited the Ingalik

world, the most dangerous being Giyeg, the spirit of death

Helpers of the Giyegincluded the Nakani, a malevolent for-estspirit common among Northern Athapaskans Particu-larly important were the various animal and salmonpeople Religious Practitioners AllIngalik, through ceremonies andownershipof songs andamulets,participatedto some de-gree in the supernatural world Shamans were the primary practitioners, and they sometimes became powerful and

wealthy individuals with many followers Shamans derived their power from dreams, often of animals, and had animal

spirithelpers Shamans were of either sex and owned particu-larlypowerful songs Shamanistic power could be used for ei-thergood or evil, to kill people or to cure illness, to attract fish and game, and ensure success in warfare Russian and Americanpriests viewed shamanism aspagan and worked to eradicate it By the 1930s, it was nolongerasignificant fea-ture in Ingalik culture

Ceremonies The Ingalik ceremonial cycle consisted of sevenmajor observances, the majorityconcerned with ensur-ing a plentiful foodsupply.Inthefall,ashaman conducted a brief Doll ceremony, using dolls to predict the game supply A Bladder ceremony was performed at any time during the win-ter, offering animal bladders food toincrease game The peak

ofthe ceremonialcalendar came atmidwinter,with the

Pot-latch forthe Dead This festival honored a deceased relative

of the giverthrough a four-nightceremony of gifts of food andclothingtoguests Oftenprecedingorfollowingthe Pot-latch for the Dead was the Animal'sceremony Given by one village and attended by others, this was a series of symbolic

and imitative dances and singingintended to enhance the

gamesupply The Hot Dance was aneveningof dancing and sexual license oftenoccurring on the fourth night of the

Pot-latchfor the Dead In spring, the Mask Dance was given for guests from another village, with feasting and giving of gifts The Partner's Potlatch could be given at any time of year to bring prestige to avillage These were reciprocal with nearby

villagesand involvedtheexchange of food and gifts between

"partners" from the two communities Several lesser rituals were given to please important spirits, and there were a variety

of'puttingdown"ceremonies involving presentation of food

orgifts to mark rites of passage NeithertheDoll ceremony northe Bladderceremony has been performed since the late 1800s Others survive only in simplifiedform or have merged with Christianobservances

Arts Workingprimarily in spruce wood, the Ingalik pro-duced a variety of masks, bowls, and ceremonial objects Clothing wasdecorated with strips of fur and caribou skin Porcupine quills, feathers, and dentalium shells were also used forornamentation Wooden objects often had painted designs in red or black, and skins were sometimes dyed Pot-terywas incised with lines and dots.Ingalik women were tra-ditionally tattooed with short, straight lines on their chins or hands, and the men wore carved labrets or lip plugs Dancing and singing to theaccompaniment of tambourine drums and wooden clapper sticks was characteristic of most ceremonies Medicine TheIngalik believed people became ill and died because the Giyeg and his helpers trapped them Minor afflic-tions were treatedwithavarietyof herbal andanimal

reme-dies, but the more serious soul-loss caused by the Giyeg

re-quired shamanistic therapy A shaman would use his spirit

Inughuit 159

helpers, songs,sucking, andblowingto recoverthe soul and

effect a cure

Deathand Afterlife TheIngalikbelieved all deaths

ulti-matelyresulted from the loss of thespirit,oryeg.Inaboriginal

times warfare, periodic famine, accidents and suicide were

moreproximate causes.Followingdeath,thebodywasplaced

in asitting positioninthe kashim After fourdaysofsymbolic

feeding, singing, anddancing, the deceasedwastraditionally

given acoffin burial Cremation and exposurewerealso

prac-ticed.At death, a person's spirit traveled to theunderworld,a

journeyof four days There, the deceasedjoinedother spirits

wholivedinvillages.Aperson's property wasdisposedofby

burning, inhumation, giving it away, or inheritance Close

relatives observeda period of mourning andobservanceof

ta-boos Together with the increase ceremonies, death and its

commemoration was aprincipalfeature of the Ingalik

cere-monialround

Bibliography

Hosley,Edward H (1981) 'Environment and Culture in the

Alaska Plateau." In Handbook of North American Indians

Vol 6, Subarctic, edited by June Helm, 533-545

Washing-ton, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

Hosley, Edward H (1981)."InterculturalRelations and

Cul-turalChange in the Alaska Plateau." In Handbook of North

American Indians Vol 6, Subarctic, edited by June Helm,

546-555.Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

Osgood, Cornelius (1940) Ingalik Material Culture Yale

University Publications in Anthropology, no 22 New

Haven, Conn.: Department of Anthropology, Yale

Univer-sity

Osgood, Cornelius (1958).Ingalik Social Culture Yale

Uni-versity Publications in Anthropology, no 53 New Haven,

Conn.: DepartmentofAnthropology, YaleUniversity

Osgood, Cornelius (1959) Ingalik Mental Culture Yale

Uni-versity Publications in Anthropology, no 56 New Haven,

Conn.: Department ofAnthropology, YaleUniversity

Snow, Jeanne H (1981) "Ingalik" In Handbook of North

American Indians Vol 6, Subarctic, edited by June Helm,

602-617 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution

EDWARD H HOSLEY

Inughuit

ETHNONYMS: Arctic Highlanders, Avanersuarmiut, Cape

York Inuit, Itanere, KapYorkere, Polar Eskimo,

Polareski-moer, Polargroenlaendere, Smith Sound Inuit,

Thule-eskimoer,Thulegroenlaendere, Whale SoundInuit

Orientation Identification The Inughuit are a Greenland minority constitutingabout 1 percentof the general population.They

speak aunique Inuit dialect and exist as a distinct subculture Verymuch awareoftheir uniqueidentity, they are proud peo-pleand stronglybelieve that survival in their harsh environ-mentdepends on the use ofInughuit ways and experience The Inughuit feel uncomfortable outside their native com-munities and territory and choose not to live elsewhere in Greenland or Denmark Over thedecades, the Inughuit have been renamed anumberof times by White visitors "Polar Es-kimo," the most common name, was given by Knud Ras-mussen in 1903.TheInughuit call themselves "the greatand

realhuman beings," and until White contact in 1818, they believed thatthey were theonly humans in the world "Thule Inuit" is a misnomer, as itrefers to the prehistoric culture an-tecedent toallcurrent Inuit groups

Location TheInughuit live in thehighArctic onthewest coastof NorthGreenland between 75° to 80° N and 58° to

740 W Once called the "Thule District," the region is offi-cially labeled Avanersuup Kommunia There are four sun-light seasons: dark (twenty-four hours of darkness) from mid-October to mid-February; daylight (twenty-four hours of sunlight) from mid-April tomid-August; andtwo day/night seasons inbetween There arealso fourclimate seasons: sum-mer(noseaice)frommid-Julytomid-September; fall (unsafe

sea ice) from mid-September tomid-October,winter (total seaice) frommid-Octobertomid-May (with dark and light periods); and spring from mid-May to mid-July The average

temperatureis -31° F inwinter and +41° F in summer Demography Estimates place thepre-1880 population at 100-200 people, the 1880-1930 population at about 250, and the1980populationat700 The sex ratio, once favoring males 60percent to 40percent, has beenbalanced for the past sixty years

LinguisticAffiliation TheInughuit speak their own dia-lect of the Inuitlanguage, with Ys" replaced by 'h."

History and Cultural Relations The Inughuit are descendants of theThule culture people

who migratedfromCanadatoGreenlandaboutAD.900 In

the mid- 1880s several polarexpeditions visited Inughuit ter-ritory in search ofSir John Franklin,who was missing in his attempt to find the Northwest Passage In the 1860s a small band of Canadian Eskimo settled in Inughuit territory and taught the Inughuit to build kayaks, to hunt from kayaks, to fish withleisters, and to hunt caribou with bows and arrows Prior to that timecaribou were believed to be poison and were not eaten With the kayak,food shortages became less of a threat to survival with only one crisis period in late winter be-fore the sun returned From1891 to 1909 Robert Peary spent much time among the Inughuit during his quests to reach the North Pole, which he claimed to reach in 1909accompanied

by Matthew Henson and four Inughuit, Odaq, Iggianguaq, Sigdluk, and Ukujaq Frederick Cook also may have reached the North Pole in April 1908 with two Inughuit, Apilaq and Itukusuk Among changes brought by Peary were rifles and

ammunition for hunting, iron sewing needles and other

Western tools, coffee, tea, sugar, and other processed foods

Followinghis1903-1904 visit, Knud Rasmussen became

160 Inughuit

the protector of the Inughuit, introducing Christianityand

establishingaLutheranmission in 1909 Baptismsforadults

were actively conducted from 1912 to 1934 To ensurethe

regularflow ofEuropean goods, Rasmussen had a store built

atUummannaq in 1910 with Peter Freuchen serving as the

first storekeeperuntil 1920 In 1927 Rasmussen established

the Hunter's Council with the non-Inughuit storekeeper,

minister, and physician and three of the best Inughuit

hunt-ers as members The council established the Thule Law in

1929which regulatedhunting,settledconflicts,andprovided

assistance tothe poor The Thule Law lasted until 1963 when

the West Greenland municipal system became the central

authority

In 1930 Uummannaq housed a government center, a

new store, a church, a hospital, a school, and homes for the

minister and physician In 1937 Inughuit territory was

incor-porated intothe Danish Greenland colony, with the

Inug-huit, like other Greenlanders, becoming Danish citizens in

1953 Between 1951 and 1955 theUnitedStatesbuilt Thule

Air Basenear Uummannaq Pollution from the base made

hunting poor and the village population had to move to

Qaanaaq in 1953 In 1968 a B-52 bomber with four atomic

bombscrashed,leaving groundradiation that restricted

hunt-ing in the area In May 1979 the Inughuitalongwith other

Greenlanders were given home rule,with only defense and

foreign relations matters resting with Denmark In the 1980s

the Inughuit joined other members of the Inuit Circumpolar

Conference tofightagainst the Canadian Arctic Pilot Project

(APP), fearing that their hunting grounds would be destroyed

by year-round oil-tanker traffic The APP was eventually

dis-continued

Settlements

Villages are onthe coastfacing the sea. Upuntil the early

1900s,manyfamilies moved fromonesettlementtoanother

eachwinter.Settlements includedas many asfive families of

relatives and friends, withanyone freeto settle where they

wantedandto usewhatever dwellings already existed

Sum-mersettlementsweresmallerand occupied only forhunting

purposes. Today, with the presence ofstores andaccess to

wood for houseconstruction,the Inughuitarerelatively

per-manently settled in six communities-Qaanaaq (the

capi-tal), Siorapaluk,Qeqertarsuaq,Qeqertaq,Moriusaq,and

Siv-issivik Anotheronehundredor soformerly used settlements

lie abandoned The traditional dwellingwas a bulb-shaped

stonehouse builtinto aslope withan entranceway measuring

approximately ten feet bysixteen-and-a-half feet facing the

sea.Asmall roof holeallowed ventilation, while thelong low

entrancewaykeptwarm airtrapped inside Thetemperature

ranged from 32° Fatfloor levelto near800 Fneartheceiling

of the singleroom,heatedbya soapstonelamp The dwelling

housedasingle family offromfiveto tenindividuals Sealskin

tents wereusedinthesummerbecause ofdripsintothestone

house and because thetents were easy to movefromone

set-tlementtoanother.Onhuntsin winter, themenbuiltsnow

houses.Beginninginthe 1950sthestonehouseswerefirst

re-placed by wooden houses covered with sod andturfand then

by all-wood houses raisedonpolestoavoidpermafrost

prob-lems Thestonehouses hadbelongedtotheuser,the wood

housesnowbelongto thepersonwhobuys the wood

Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities The Inughuit are still hunters, although some work for the government or

in stores, the hospital, the school, and so on Unlike West Greenlanderswho rely onfishing, the Inughuit hunt seal and walrus,which are available all year Contrary to popularbelief,

theydo not killbabyseals.Migratingbelugaand narwhals are also hunted inthe winter sun season and the skin eaten raw

asasource of vitamin C Migrating birds, and especially the plentiful small auks, are also hunted An Inughuitdelicacy, kivioq,is made by stuffing small auks in a sealskin with blub-ber and left to sit for sixmonths When the skin iscutopen, thefeathers are removed and the tender auk meat is eaten; it tastes much like mature cheese Other game include arctic fox, polar bear (now under a governmentquota),hare, ptar-migans,reindeer, and musk-ox Thedog is ofvital importance

as thepower for the sleds used inhunting.Adogteam con-sists ofeight to ten male and femaledogshitched to the sled

in a fan shapewith each dog on its own harness line The Inughuit hunters are among the best dog sledders in the world Kayaks and motor boats are both used for hunting today

Division of Labor Men hunt and women treat skins, sew clothing, and care for the household As both men's and women's work is necessary for survival, the sexes are accorded equal status

Land Tenure No individual or group owns land or hunt-ing grounds All are free to hunt or build a dwelling where theywant

Kinship The Inughuithave the traditionalbilateral Inuitkinship

sys-tem and terminology There are no clans or exogamous groups.Traditionally, cousin marriage was not allowed, al-though cousinmarriages have occurred since the 1940s with thedoubling of thepopulation

Marriage and Family Marriage Therewas noformal wedding ceremony Cou-plessimplyinformedtheirneighbors that they were married,

althoughit wasusual to ask for the parents' consent.Couples

whoacted as if they were married were treated as such A skilledperson was preferred as a marriage partner, although romantic love was a consideration as well Monogamy was the rule, with the few polygynous marriages lasting only a few years Numerous deathsowing to accidents and illness meant thatmany men and women married more than once A girl whohad already shown her ability to have children was a de-sirablepartner Newlyweds would first settle with the parental family that had room and then establish their own home Di-vorce was notcommon, and trial marriages were used to en-courage marital stability Childlessness was reason for divorce

Domestic Unit Smallextended families were common A young couple would follow their parents, and the parents, whenold, would follow their children; thus, it was important

to have children Boys, seen as future providers, were

pre-ferred,although female infanticide for that reason alone was not practiced Infanticide, once used in times of starvation,

Inujihuit 161

has now been abandoned with the availability of food in

stores

Inheritance Intraditionaltimes, the fewpersonal

posses-sions ofthe deceased wereplacedon thegrave Danish law is

nowfollowed

Socialization Children learned therequisite skillsby

imi-tating their parents or other relatives of the samesex

Chil-dren were treated as adults with parents either suggesting a

betterway to dosomethingorallowingthe children to learn

from their mistakes Because Inughuit are now Danish

citi-zens,schoolismandatoryand istaughtin eitherWest

Green-landic or Danish

Sociopolitical Organization

SocialOrganization Thefamily was the basic social unit,

with no tribalstructureorleadership.Especially skilled

hunt-ersmighthave a say inmatters, but no one was obligated to

follow their suggestions Although they lived over a broad

area, frequent traveling made for frequent contact and all

Inughuitwerewell informed abouthappeningsin thesociety

PoliticalOrganization The Inughuit are Danish citizens

andgoverned by Danish law

SocialControland Conflict Public opinion and ridicule

were used both to prevent and to end conflicts Problems

were oftensettled by outside parties in order to avoid

escala-tion into anopen conflict.Onlyrarely would hunters join

to-gether to kill a troublesome person who tyrannized people

Neighborswould intervene in family fights only if it seemed a

matter of life or death

Religion and Expressive Culture

ReligiousBeliefs The Inughuit, like other Inuit groups,

believed in the Motherof the Sea(Nerrivik) and the Moon

Man She controlled the sea mammals and hemade sure that

tabooswere followed If someone violated a taboo, the Moon

Man wouldappear in a dream or in the guise of a polar bear to

remind the wrongdoer The central belief in pre-Christian

Inughuitreligion was thateverythinginnature was alive and

had a soul(inua).Incorrect human behavior could offend the

soulsand leadto calamities such as a poor hunt or starvation

Protection from suchdisasters was provided by wearing

amu-lets orreciting spells in the proper tone,althoughspells could

lose their power ifused too often Amulets and spells were

also used to bring good luck TheInughuitbelieved that

hu-mans had three parts-the immortalsoul,thename, and the

body In 1903, Majaq, thehunter, told Rasmussen (1908):

"Thehuman soul is what makes youbeautiful, what makes

you into a humanbeing.The soul alonemakes you will,act,

beenterprising It is the soul that gives you drive in your life

Therefore, thebodymust collapse when the soul leaves it."

An individual's personal name had its own force and was

ta-booed after the person died in order to save itspower until it

could be given to a newborn of the same sex The qualities of

thedeceased name's owner were believed to follow the name

to the next bearer Thus, infants were often named for

de-ceased friends and relatives of their parents Those who

shared the name ofsomeone who died had to change the

name until it was put into use again

Religious Practitioners Anymember ofthe society could

beashaman(angakkoq),although thespiritswouldnotwork throughjust anyone Specialqualitieswere needed, and the best hunters were often shamans, with their power measured

by the number and power of the helping spirits they con-trolled

Medicine Traditionally, some illnesses were attributedto

a loss of the human soul, with recovery contingent on the shaman traveling to the spirit world and bringing back the lost soul.Other maladies such asbroken bones and cuts were treatedby experienced adults.Personswith serioushandicaps

had muchdifficulty surviving Since 1928,however, a physi-cianhasserved Inughuit communities

Death and Afterlife After adeath,the settlement was ta-booed for fivedays, with no activities save food preparation permitted TheInughuit did not fear death, for it was seenas

astagebetweenlife in this world and life in the next Thenext worldwasmuch like this one, except that it was free of ill nesses,unsuccessful hunts,andotherproblems There were twopleasant afterworlds, one in the sea and one in the sky Thenotionofhellwasintroducedbythe Christian mission-aries As all evil wasthought to stay in the corpse, anyone whotouched it was restricted from some activities for a year The taskofremoving thebodyusuallyfell to arelative who carried it through a hole or side window so that the soul would not beable to find its way back Thecorpse was then covered by stones and personal objects set on the grave Graverobbing was forbidden, although objects could be sub-stitutedfor valuable hunting tools so they could be used The soul ofthe deceasedremainednear thegrave to make sure all rules were followed and tofrighten any violators

Bibliography

Gilberg, Rolf (1976) The Polar Eskimo Population, Thule District, North Greenland Appendix: Polar Eskimo Bibliogra-phy Meddelelser omGronland, 203(3):1-87 Copenhagen, Denmark

Gilberg,Rolf (1984) "Polar Eskimo." InHandbookof North American Indians Vol 5, Arctic, edited by David Damas, 577-594 Washington,D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Herbert, Wally (1981) Hunters of the Polar North: The Eski-mos Time-Life Books: Peoples of the Wild Amsterdam: Elsevier

Holtved,Erik (1967) ContributionstoPolar Eskimo Ethnog-raphy Meddelelser om Gronland, 182(2):1-180 Copen-hagen, Denmark

Rasmussen, Knud (1908) People of the Polar North: A Re-cord, edited by G Herring London: K Paul, Trench, Triibner

ROLF GILBERG

late 1800swhile other Irish Travelers moved south.Contact between the Ohio Travelers and the Travelersinthesouthern United States isminimal

Demography Population figuresonIrish Travelersinthe United Statesareunavailable The U.S Census doesnot

rec-ognizeIrish Travelersas a uniqueethnicgroup.Theamount

ofitinerancyand the level ofsecrecyof thegroupmake

enu-meration verydifficult According to myresearch and Irish Travelers'estimates,theGeorgiaTravelers'camp ismadeup

of about eight hundred families, the Mississippi Travelers, about threehundredfamilies, and theTexasTravelers, under fifty families ThebirthrateamongIrish Travelersis

surpris-inglylowfora very strictRomanCatholicgroup,withan av-erage oftwo tothree childrenperfamily

The Iowa (Pahodja) lived throughout much of the present

state ofIowaandinadjoiningparts ofMinnesota and

Mis-souriandwereculturallyrelatedtotheneighboringOto and

Missouri.Theynowliveprincipallyonthe IowaIndian

Reser-vation (which straddles the Kansas-Nebraskastateboundary

alongtheMissouriRiver) andin afederaltrust area incentral

Oklahoma.They speakaChiwereSiouanlanguage and

num-beredaboutonethousandinthe mid-1980s

Bibliography Gussow, Zachary (1974).Sac, Fox,andIowaIndians Vol 1

NewYork: Garland Publishing.

Skinner,Alanson (1926) 'Ethnology of thelowayIndians."

Bulletinofthe Public Museumofthe CityofMilwaukee

5:181-354

Irish Travelers

ETHNONYMS: Irish Gypsies, Travelers

Orientation

Identification Irish Travelersare asmall,itinerantethnic

group inthe UnitedStates Distinct from present-day Irish

Travellers in the Republic ofIreland, Irish Travelers inthe

United States earn their living as itinerant workers, spray

painting, asphalting, orlaying linoleum Irish Travelers are

identified bynon-TravelersasGypsiesbecauseof their

itiner-ant life-styles, but Travelersconsider theterm a derogatory

one.Nevertheless, Irish Travelers will oftenintroduce

them-selves tonon-TravelersasIrish Gypsiesbecause of the

con-tinuing useof the labelby non-Travelers

Location Irish Travelers divide themselves into three

groupsbasedonhistoricalresidence:GeorgiaTravelers,

Mis-sissippiTravelers, andTexasTravelers Thereisalsoa group

called Ohio Travelers that migratedto the Midwest inthe

linguisticAffiliation Irish Travelersinthe United States speakEnglish andan argotthey call Cant Cantis a

combina-tionofShelta, derived from IrishGaelic,Romanes (the

lan-guageof RomanyGypsies), and English Travelersusetheir Cant among themselves in the presence of non-Travelers Irish TravellersresidinginIreland also speakasimilar Cant, butinthe United States theCant,over generations,has de-velopedinto moreofapidgin English.YoungerTravelersare

not asfluentas previous generations andoftenknow onlya

fewphrases orwords

History and Cultural Relations According tooralhistory, IrishTravelers believe thateight families emigratedseparately from IrelandorEnglandtothe United States in the mid-1800s Traveler families spread throughout theurbanareasof the Northeast,practicing

itin-erant occupationssuch astinsmithing andpeddlingvarious

goods,butgradually entered the mule trading business.Many Irishitinerants inIrelandwerehorseandmuletraders,sothe

occupation was not new tothoseinthe UnitedStates Irish Travelers increased their numbers by marrying other Irish

itinerants in the mule business, and more rarely, Romany

Gypsies they encountered in their travels Before the Civil War, Irish Travelersbegan tradinginthe southernstates

be-cause of heavy use ofhorse and mule power on southern farms Irish Travelerswould spendwinters intheSouth,

trad-inghorses andmules,andreturn totheNorth forthewarmer

months.Astheneed forhorse and mulepowerdecreasedin

the North but continuedinthe South, IrishTravelers began

to set uptheirhome basesinNashville,Tennessee,and later Atlanta,Georgia, wherethe Irish Travelers beganusingthe label "Georgia Travelers." Once inGeorgia, Irish Travelers beganto migrate tootherareasof the South.Agroupof fami-liesmovedto Mississippiforeconomic reasonsandwerethen called"MississippiTravelers." Thetwo groups,Georgia Trav-elers and Mississippi Travelers, consisted of families who workeddifferent stockcenters. Communicationand interac-tionbetween thetwo groups wasandisstillconstant. Athird

group,TexasTravelers, hassinceemerged andiscomposed of bothGeorgiaTraveler and Mississippi Travelerfamilies who became interested in asphalting Moving to Texas allowed themtoconductbusinessinthegrowingurbanareasaffected

by the oil boom of the 1970s

162 Inuit

Inuit See Eskimo

Iowa

Irish Travelers 163

Settlements Prior to the 1930s, Irish Travelers moved throughout the

Northeast and Southinhorse-drawn barrel-shapedwagons

like those usedby Irish TinkersinIreland With the increased

useof automobilesbythegeneral population,Irish Travelers

began usingtrucks after 1927 and campinginlarge tents with

wooden floors Gradually tents were replaced withsmall

trail-ers,and since the 1960s, Irish Travelers have purchased large

mobile homes The size of the mobile homes has made it

diffi-cult topullthe homesonaregular basis, leading Irish

Travel-ers to setupwhat they call camps or villages Some of the

more affluent Georgia Travelers have been building large

homes worth over $200,000 in their villages, but this is

unique tothe Georgia Travelers and cause of much suspicion

by non-Travelers concerning the source of the money

Missis-sippi,Georgia,and Texas Travelers have theirownvillagesin

theSouth, although theyremain itinerant interms

ofoccupa-tion.Families will travelthroughoutthe year for work and

re-turnperiodicallytotheirvillages

Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities Irish Travelers

began their itinerant occupations in the mid-1800s,

tin-smithing or trading horses and mules By the mid-1920s,

some Irish Travelers began peddling linoleum and spray

painting,while others continued to work with livestock

Dur-ingWorld War II, a number of Irish Traveler families who

ownedstablesprovidedtheU.S.governmentwith mules for

thewar Most Irish Travelers werespraypainting and

ped-dling linoleum by the 1960s and continue the occupations

today Many elderly Travelers receive SocialSecuritybenefits

and also financial support from family members Travelersare

very proud ofthe fact that they do not take part in the welfare

system inthe United States

Division of Labor Irish Traveler womenarenotexpected

towork outside the home Throughout their historyinthe

United States, thewomenhavepeddledvarious itemssuchas

Irish lace and handbags Only recently have younger,

unmar-ried women entered the labor force with non-Travelers

Owing totheirlow educational level,lack ofskills, and the

suspicionsheldbynon-Travelers, Irish Travelerwomen must

oftentake factory jobs,butareexpected bythe Traveler

com-munity to quit their jobs once they are married Traveler

women are responsiblefor all aspects of the home and the

children, including managing the money earnedbytheir

hus-bands Most transactionsare incash,from paying for dinner

to purchasing a new truck Trading and bartering are still

used by Travelersinbusiness dealings IrishTravelermen are

expected towork until their health becomesaproblem

Eld-erly womenare notexpectedtopeddlegoods,butare

respon-sible for helpingraise the grandchildren Many elderly women

remain in thevillages throughoutthe year and do not travel

with their married childrenas wasthe practice inthe past

Kinship Irish Travelerdescent and inheritanceisbilateral, although

thechildren,as isthegeneral custom inthe United States,

take the father's lastname.Travelersrecognize each otheras

close relatives comparedtooutsiders.Kinshipresponsibilities

within the group,however, are usuallylimitedtoimmediate

family members and first and secondcousins.Working part-nerships forIrish Traveler men are varied and may include fa-thers and sons, brothers, orfathers-in-law and sons-in-law Cousinsbecome partnersonly whenamoreimmediatefamily

relationisabsent Beause of theresidential pattern of each groupof Irish Travelers, whenever apartyor ceremony involv-ingaTraveler occurs, the entire village is invited

Marriage and Family

Marriage Irish Travelers are endogamous There are more females than males within the Traveler communities,so com-petition for marriage partners is strong Marriages arestill

ar-rangedby the mothers, sometimes at birth, although these early agreements are often broken The youngcouple may have a say in finalizing the match, and rarely do the mothers arrange amarriage without prior approval from thecouple

Traveler men are usually over twenty-one years of age when they marry, but their brides may be as young as twelve with the average being between fifteen and eighteen An exchange

of money, up to$200,000 incash for the young man, is not uncommon among the more affluent Traveler families Amongthe less affluent Georgia Travelers, the number of women marrying outside the group has been steadily increas-ing Without a large dowry to offer a boy'sfamily, these girls mustchoose betweenthe possibility of remaining unmarried for life or marrying outside the group Mississippi, Georgia, andTexasTravelers do marryacrossgroups, but thegrowing population of each group contributes to a reduction in the ex-change Marriage between second cousins is allowed by Irish Travelers and is within the law of most southern states Local officials have adapted to the cultural practices of the Irish Travelers by waiving the requirement for a court order from juvenile court for a marriage involving someone under fifteen Weddings are usually held after Christmas because of the likelihood of a large number of Travelers being in thevillages for the holidays The holidays provide the Travelers with a chance to arrange marriages and then to organize the cere-mony before the familiesreturn to the road

Domestic Unit Residential units are usually composed of nuclear family members.Grandparents,evenwhen widowed, may maintain their own residence unless disabled The grandparent whose health is poor will live with a daughter and herfamily.The unmarried childrencontinue tolive with their parents until marrying

Socialization Traveler children from age five are socialized

totheirfuture roles in the community The young girls learn

to take care of younger siblings or cousins, clean the home, and manage money The youngboys begin helpingtheir

fa-thers in their occupations at an early age, often travelingwith the oldermenforlong periods oftime

Sociopolitical Organization Social andPolitical Organization Irish Travelers inthe United States are not politically active on their ownbehalf

Althoughthey have beenvictimsofdiscrimination and preju-dice since their early itinerant days, Irish Travelers react to outsiders by withdrawing into the group and reinforcing the boundary rules.Forexample, Irish Travelersnowenroll their

164 Irish Travelers

childreninschool foralongerperiod oftimethan earlier

gen-erationsdid,but because of their increasedcontactwith

non-Travelers,Travelersaremarryingeach otheratyoungerages

Social Control Irish Travelers have very strictboundary

rules against outsiders Close social contacts with

non-Travelers areprohibitedunless the non-Traveleris areligious

personsuchas apriestornun.IfaTraveleris evensuspected

ofbefriendinganon-Traveler for anyreasonother than

busi-ness,theTraveler andthe family may be ostracizedbythe

en-tirevillage for ashortor even permanentperiod The chance

ofbeingostracized has proven tobe a very successful method

of social control Theprejudiceanddiscrimination Travelers

feelfrom non-Travelers only reinforce the need for

accept-ancebyfellow Travelers

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs andPractices Irish Travelers are

Ro-man Catholic and continue to raise their childrenin the

Catholic church Butbecauseof the lack of formal

instruc-tion, mostTravelers have integrated into their observances a

number of theirownreligious practices Some, suchas

nove-nas orpraying for several days for a special intention, are

older Catholic practices that are not widely encouraged by

the church, because of thetendency of the practitioners to

show signsof superstitionrather than affirm their faith.

Trav-eler women's religiousness is strong, whereas themenpartici

pate inthe sequence ofsacramentsbut do not regularly

at-tend church.AllTravelers arebaptized as infants, receive first

communion aroundeight years of age, and are confirmed

be-tweenthirteen andeighteen The women continue to attend

mass, receive communion, and often go to confession

throughout their lives Most menattend mass only on

holi-days and forspecial events.Theolder Traveler women attend

massdaily for"extragraces" orspecial intentions There are

four major concerns for which Travelers, especially women,

pray, inorder of importance: that their daughters marry; that

their daughters, once married, become pregnant; that their

husbands or sons quitdrinking;and that anyhealthproblems

inthe family are overcome Because ofthe amount of time

Traveler menare ontheroad andthe fatalities that have

oc-curred from automobile accidents, Traveler women worry

about the level of socialdrinkingpracticed by the men

Pres-surefrom thewomenhasresultedinIrish Traveler men

"tak-ing thepledge." Theyask a local priest to witness in front of

the church altar theirtakingthepledgeorpromising to quit

drinking for aspecific amountof time This is done inside the

churchwith noother witnesses

Death and Afterlife IrishTravelersbelieve, as the Roman

Catholic church teaches, that thereis anafterlife Travelers

do notbelieve anything that diverges from the mainstream

Catholic way of thinking.Inthepast, Travelerfunerals were

held once a year to enableasmany Travelersaspossible to

at-tend The distance Travelersmusttravel fromtheirvillagesto

obtain work has made it difficult forsomefamilies to attend

allthe activitiesheld byotherTravelers Because of the

diffi-cultyinincluding all Travelersinthe funeralplans and the

in-crease infuneral costs, funeralsare nowbeing held withinsix

months of the person's death Irish Travelers continue to

bury their dead in cemeteries used by their ancestors,

al-thoughrecently, Travelers have beguntoburytheir relatives

inlocalcemeteries

Bibliography

Andereck,MaryE (1988) "IrishTravelersin aCatholic Ele-mentary School." Ph.D diss., TexasA&M University, Col-lege Station

Harper,JaredV (1969) "Irish TravelerCant: AnHistorical, Structural,andSociolinguisticStudy of an Argot."M.A the-sis, University of Georgia,Athens

Harper,JaredV (1971) "'Gypsy' Researchinthe South." In The Not So SolidSouth,editedbyJ.KennethMorland, 16-24

Athens, Ga.: Southern Anthropological Society

Harper, JaredV (1977) "The Irish Travelers ofGeorgia."

Ph.D.diss., University of Georgia, Athens

MARY E ANDERECK

Iroquois

ETHNONYMS: Five Nations

Nations, League of the Iroquois, Six

Orientation Identification The League ofthe Iroquois was originally a

confederacy of five North American Indian tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined the League in 1722 after migrat-ing north from the region of the Roanoke River in response to hostilities withWhite colonists In the 1980s members of the six Iroquoian tribes lived in Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and NewYork, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, andOklahomain the United States

Location On the eve of European contact the Iroquois territory extended from Lake Champlain and Lake George west to theGenesee RiverandLake Ontario and from the St Lawrence River south to the Susquehanna River Within these boundaries each of the original five tribes occupied a north-south oblong stripof territory; from east to west, they were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca The regionwasprimarily lake and hillcountry dissectedby

numerous rivers Deciduous forests of birch, beech, maple, and elm dominated the region, giving way tofir andspruce forests in the north and in the higher elevations of the Adi-rondack Mountains Inaboriginal times fish and animal spe-cies were diverse and abundant

Demography In1600the population of the Five Nations

isestimated to have been aboutfifty-fivehundred andthat of the Tuscarora about five thousand By 1904 thesixIroquois tribes numbered at least sixteen thousand, notincluding