Indigenous Ways to the Present: Native Whaling in the Western Arctic

The traditional pursuit of whales by Eskimo hunters remains an area in which humans articulate directly with natural processes. This volume traces regional Native whaling practices from approximately 2,000 years to the present. Contributions center on three themes: variations in whaling, Yupik and Inupiat whaling traditions over time, and interactions with changing environmental conditions that include major climatic episodes as well as shorter fluctuations. Western Arctic Native whaling has never been a uniform practice. By calling attention to local, flexible adaptations, this volume distinguishes between common approaches and how societies lived in real time and space.