UAF Department of Anthropology
Student Research Abstract
Nuniwarmiut Land Use, Settlement History and Socio-Territorial Organization, 1880-1960.
The identification of traditional, local-level, socio-territorial groups among the Central Yup’ik Eskimos of southwest Alaska is an important problem. Anthropological studies on this subject have typically addressed regional confederations of Eskimo groups and from very restricted temporal perspectives. Since data limitations hinder the delineation of discrete, local socio-territorial groups over time, no such description has yet been presented for the Central Yup’ik as a whole or for any of its constituent members.
This study will use an array of complementary data sets about the Nuniwarmiut (the most divergent of all Central Yup’ik populations) to produce a reliable account identifying the names, numbers and geographical boundaries of local groups on Nunivak Island from 1880 to 1960. Direct individual and family links to named sites will be revealed and the occupational histories of winter villages across the island detailed. The primary objective is to determine whether—as reported in the literature—the Nuniwarmiut were historically comprised of a single territorial group. But the study will also clarify the position of the Nuniwarmiut relative to traditional patterns of intergroup relations, and the extent to which the Nuniwarmiut were actually integrated with other Central Yup’ik peoples.