Spencer, Robert F.

ARCTIC

English

University of Calgary Journal Hosting

REVIEWS The book outlines  the ismicity of Alaska and its geologic and tectonic setting. The Good  Friday  earthquake  occurred beneath  a small,  mountainous,  glaciated peninsula  between  College  Fiord and  Unak- wik Inlet,  just  north of Prince  William Sound and within the Coast Range oroge- netic belt. Crustal  adjustments  in geolo- gically recent time have occurred, but it is not clear  whether  these  are  caused principally by the  postglacial  rebound of the earth‘s  crust as a  result of deglaciation or by cumulative  orogenic  movement. The book is valuable  as an object lesson in how  effectively a  large and complex government organization can respond to a crisis. One wonders,  though, how a less prosperous  organization  in  another  country would  react  when  faced  with  asimilar problem. The detail in the book may be useful to  the specialist, but  it  detracts from the value of the book to  the intelligent layman. This reviewer considers the book too  verbose,  the  usual  consequence of multi-authorship, It does illustrate vividly, however, the effects of a disastrous earth- quake  on  the  fabric of a  modern  economy, and does enhance the continuing claim of the U.S.C.G.S. to play a major role in  the expanded program of research into earth- quake prediction which may arise in the U.S.A., partly as a  consequence of the Alaskan earthquake of 1964. Kenneth Whitham THE ESKIMO OF NORTH ALASKA. BY NORMAN A. CHANCE. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston,  Inc., 1967. 6 x 9 inches, 107 pages, $7.95. This  little book  is one of a series of “case studies.” The series is edited by Professors George and Louise  Spindler of Stanford  Uni- versity, and now comprises  analyses of over twenty-five cultures from all parts of the world.  Each  analysis  runs to about 100 printed  pages  and is designed  mainly  to  pre- sent  to  students at the  undergraduate level some awareness of the variety of human socio-cultural systems, both  as  they exist to- day and in an ethnographic context. The general series has  proved  most useful in classroom situations, successfully introduc- ing  a sense of human society and  culture in action.  Chance’s  description is the only  one in the series so far which treats of arctic peoples. Others cover  native  peoples  in Africa,  Australia, the  South Seas, and  parts of North America other than the Arctic. Nor have the editors in the series ignored the concept of folk or  peasant  society;  they have included descriptions of “little com- munities” in  areas  such as Mexico,  Greece, Turkey, and the U.S.S.R., among others. With  the exception of some of the  more remote and relatively  isolated  ethnic  groups in New Guinea,  and  perhaps  in sections of South America and Southeast Asia, there remain few truly aboriginal native worlds. Virtually all living human groups  have  been touched in some measure by Western cul- ture. But it would be quite erroneous to suggest that because  a  people  begins to share in the technology of the West or even to become  ideologically  changed, its ties with its own  past and  traditions  are severed. The Eskimo of north Alaska  offers a case in  point. The machine  age  (with its material  involve- ments), the school, the Christian churches, the enterprises of modern social welfare, not to mention the development of a money economy, might suggest that the past has gone. But this is not the case. Dr. Chance makes it eminently  clear, by describing the bridge  between  past and present, that older modes do persist, even if informally, and that they still influence  the  behaviour  of  the Eskimos of the  Point  Barrow  area. It is this feature  which makes  his study so worth reading. The question  which  emerges is: How  have the  modern  peoples of north Alaska manag- ed to find a link between their own abo- riginal institutions, structural as well as  ideo- logical, and  patterns of Euro-American  cul- ture,  thus  discovering, in  a sense, the best of both worlds? By a careful analysis of the modern  scene,  which  discovers  the  roots of the  Eskimo’s present-day activities in his sense of the  aboriginal  past,  Chance is able to define how native  organization  and character  can  accommodate ideas  which come to it from  the  outside. What is remark- able, comparing the Eskimo with a great many  other  ethnic  groups  around  the  world, is the stability of his native institutions. Not that some signs of disorganization are not present, but constructive  building and  plan- ning  have  enabled  the Eskimo to bypass the REVIEWS 1 43 day when his whole  socio-cultural  structure might have tumbled. There is a bit of an alcohol  problem,  there is the loss  of some of the  strong,  supporting ties of the  past, and there are those areas which Chance desig- nates as reflecting a quest for identity and the  problem of identity-change. In the  last- mentioned case, for example, some tension arises when many of the  native  residents of an area assume Western dress, when they adopt technological habits associated with Westernized and thus new types of work, or when language begins to  change. All of these features, and more, combine to call forth  in individuals the fundamental ques- tion of what precisely they are  in face of the modern  world. Yet, as Chance so aptly indicates, this is not a reflection of an  abject compliance,  nor is it yet  a  renunciation.  But  the  manner  in which  older  patterns weave themselves into the  contemporary scene is rather more interesting than  the  fact  that Eskimos take on  Euro-American ways and ostensibly fit  into  the  notions of “progress”  which characterize the Western  ethos. If language is changing, it is still  in language  that iden- tity with the  past is maintained. To be sure, the school imposes a  knowledge of English; but even so, the self-identification of the group as Eskimo-rather than as European “comes  out  in Chance’s discussion of the mode of modern life. I t  is true that many of the  older  formal  patterns of societal organization are gone. Yet there are still present those basic  ultural  orientations which  have made  the Eskimo race so proud. The continuing economic dependence on hunting means that  the  group  maintains  a sense of self-reliance. And out of this, too, comes the interesting and continuing bal- ance between  afatalistic submission to nature  and  a sense which  permits some degree of control over nature. The older religious institutions  may  be  gone, but  there yet  remains a view of man  and his place  in nature which is clearly  not  derived  from  a Western  ethic. A point on which all observers of the Eskimo agree is that the Eskimo’s culture places stress on  individual  freedom of choice. Here again, as Chance quotes from one of his informants:  “Nobody  ever  tells an Eskimo what to do.” The suggestion is of the  strength of native  tradition. In the  same quotation, it is noted that “some  people are smarter  than others and  can give good advice;  they are  the leaders.” This indicates that  patterns of leadership are today, as they were  in  the  past,  essentially  ephemeral, and that  he continuing  emphasis is on the integrity of the person. There is also the stress, reflective of the native pattern, on kinship  relations and  the  kindred grouping “organizations which permitted an ade- quate  adjustment to economic pressures in a  hostile  nvironment.  Finally, the  pat- terns of co-operation and competition  con- tinue to be expressed in aboriginal rather than  in Westernized ways. Thus,  it is true  that  many of the  formal- ized aspects of the  older  institutional ife are gone. Shamanism, wife exchange, and the men’s assembly  house (karigi) have  dis- appeared along with countless features of organization. Yet the basic orientation of the  older  culture  remains, and  it would  be most incorrect  to minimize  the  stirring sense of freedom that is achieved by magic or simply  by self-assertiveness and socially- recognized  worth. It is almost  as  though the system had not changed; overt  elements have  fallen by  the way, but  he covert features are still  strongly  present. As Chance concludes: “What is needed  today is a program which will enable individuals a t  all levels of the  community to  participate  in the development of their own resources.” In other  words,  the  culture is still adequate to meet  the  challenge of today. In  summary, Dr. Chance has succeeded in bringing together data which present a sympathetic  and  appropriate  picture of the contemporary north Alaskan Eskimo. His is a work which may be read with profit not  only  by  the  arctic  ethnographer, or indeed by the scientist whose work in the Arctic  often causes him  to lose sight of the human factor, but by anyone who is interested in  the way of life of an intrepid people then and now. Robert F. Sfiencer 

The Eskimo of North Alaska, by Norman A. Chance

Robert F. Spencer

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The Eskimo of North Alaska, by Norman A. Chance

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