The Art of Inupiaq Whaling: Elders' Interpretations of International Polar Year Ethnological Collections

In the northern Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean, a 2,000-year tradition of Alaska Native bowhead whaling continues to the present day as a focus of both subsistence and cultural identity. In cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution, Inupiaq Eskimo elders are interpreting the cultural and spiritual dimensions of whaling artifacts collected during the late nineteenth century, including material gathered by the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska (1881-1883). These artistic objects-hunting and boat equipment, regalia for whaling ceremonies, and charms owned by whale boat captains (umialgich)-were acquired during decades of rapid cultural change brought about by interaction with New England whalers, traders, and Presbyterian missionaries. Nonetheless, the social values and spiritual concepts that they express have survived and are carried forward in contemporary whaling. Current research and exhibitions benefit from both Inupiaq expertise and a rich ethnohistorical literature from Barrow and other northern communities.