GOODNESS, IT’S BEAUTIFUL: A look at beauty amongst the Canadian Inuit

Nelson GraburnPamela Stern

Department of AnthropologyUniversity of California, Berkeley

“Piujuk. Piujuaaluk if its really beautiful!” Siasi

Takirk (29 July 1998)

Introduction:

With the above statement we are immediately plunged

into the maelstrom of cross-cultural understandings typical

of important, value laden semantic constructs such as our

present topic ‘Beauty’. The above phrase, uttered with great

gusto, body movement and an all-facial smile, was the

response of a bilingual Canadian Inuit woman to the question

put by the senior authour “What’s the best way to translate

the qallunatitut [English] word ‘beauty’ into inuttitut [the

language of the Inuit]?” Her answer was both helpful, in

confirming what we already knew, and frustrating in

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emphasizing the very broad semantic range connoted by both

the European (English and French) concept and the

overlapping and but distinctly different inuttitut set of

connotations. The word Siasi immediately chose, piujuk, is

one of the commonest in the inuttitut language and is usually

translated is “it/that which is good.” However, a morphemic

analysis of this word1 (or phrase) yields pi- (some)thing +

-u- is/exists + -juk it/the one who/which. The base

morpheme pi- has indefinite but crucially positive

connotations and is also the root of verbal phrases such as

pi-vuk he (she or it) does, pivalliajuk he/it does more and

more, i.e. develops, and pi-ruma-vunga I want (it or to

do). It can also form the base of more abstract concepts

such as pi-un-iq goodness and pi-u-siq a custom or way of doing

things.

This essay not only examines the problems associated

with the cross-cultural translation of abstract concepts

(c.f. Bloch 1977 on ‘time’), but also on manner in which the

concepts Inuit gloss as beauty are used and applied to

people, things, and practices. Our analysis has both a

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temporal and a spatial dimension. While our own field

experiences with the Inuit extend back nearly forty years,

the existence of earlier ethnographic reports permits us to

consider the changes which have occurred in Inuit society

over the last 120 years. This temporal range is critical,

for although contact-induced cultural changes started in

some areas of the Arctic more than 100 years ago, the

cultural differences between the Inuit of the 1950s and the

1990s is far greater than those between Inuit groups 3,000

miles apart. Most of our analysis will focus on the

ethnographically well-known “contact-traditional” (Helm and

Damas 1963), monolingual inuttitut-speaking people, with

additional information from more recent, often bilingual,

Inuit. Particularly important in the recent years is the

extension of the Inuit language to cover the commercial arts

(Graburn 1993).

Our personal experiences limit our analysis

geographically. While we have carried out intensive

ethnographic fieldwork in many Inuit communities in the

Canadian North, Alaska, Greenland, we have chosen to confine

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our discussion to the Inuit (the inuttitut-speaking) groups we

know best: those of the Canadian Arctic with some reference

to the closely related Iñupiat of north Alaska. The Inuit

are probably the most thoroughly described and written about

native people in the world (Guemple 1986: 18), yet almost

nothing has been written about their indigenous concepts of

beauty. We can only speculate why this is the case.

Nonetheless, the Inuit did and continue to have a well-

articulated understanding of beauty. Our examination

includes a review of the linguistic and semantic dimensions

of beauty, beauty as a domain of “traditional” Inuit

culture, and beauty in the modern era. The extension of the

idea of beauty to the commercial arts, paralleling

comparable and widespread applications in the Western world,

will be treated within the context of recent socio-cultural

changes.

Semantic Fields

In wrestling with the formulation of this essay we were

forced to face up to the vast range of connotations of

beauty in our own language and culture in order to find a

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point of comparison with what might be the closest related

set in inuttitut. A quick review of the literature on beauty

in many European languages (and in Japanese) yields a strong

set of associated meanings which appear to have been fairly

stable over the last few hundred years. A partial list

includes goodness, truth, health and well-being, art,

decoration, ornament, male and female sexual allure,

illusion and shallowness, youth, intelligence, refinement,

gardens, and flowers. Our own ethnographic data and those

published by others indicate that the only the Inuit concept

of goodness (piujuk) corresponds strongly with Indo-European

connotations of beauty. Some other meanings, including

truth, health, decoration, sexual allure, and shallowness

are present, but have weaker linguistic and ethnographic

correspondence. Finally some, such as youth, intelligence,

refinement, gardens, and flowers are hardly at all related

to Inuit expressions of beauty.

As an experimental cross-check of the relationship of

the Inuit domains to those of French (and hence English) we

looked up the back translations of each of the inuttitut

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adjectives, adverbs and connotations that we had identified

as related to the Indo-European concept of beauty in Lucien

Schneider’s authoritative dictionaries (1966, 1970). These

fell into two categories. One related to truth (rightness

[i.e. correctness]) and moral goodness: properly, lovely,

glorious, and splendid. The second was more visual: elegant,

decorative, nice, magnificent, splendid [again], beautiful,

and handsome.

The Language of Beauty

Inuttitut contains several words and phrases which are

used to express both beauty and the pleasure created by

something beautiful. For example,

tau’tuapik [look at that little --!] an exclamation when you

see something that’s beautiful, pretty, pleasing - as a

baby, smiling child (with connotations of ‘how cute’), from

tautu- look at. Piujuk = it is good, the commonest form, with

many possible extensions.

takuminaktuk = its beautiful, attractive – literally ‘it

makes one want to look at it’ (of art) [from the morpheme

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taku- = see, and the post-base mina = want to + verb of

senses]

takuapik = [see the little!] as tautuapik above.

iniqunaktuk = beautiful or pretty to see or hear (cf.

Takuminaktuk), hence the expression

iniqu(apik) = how beautiful! (cf. Tautuapik, takuapik)

tusangnirktuk = beautiful to hear [tusa- = hear]

pivianaktuk = beautiful i.e. moral or good worker.

In addition to root-morphemes, there are many lexical

suffixes which gloss equally well with English-French

expressions of beauty. By far the most important is -tsia(k)

(superlative cases: -tsia-vak-, -tsia-paluk), as used in. anguti-

tsiak meaning a beautiful, good, man, i.e. good worker,

generous, kind, arngna-tsiak meaning a beautiful, good woman,

more emphasis on (sexual) beauty, qimmi-tsiak meaning good-

looking dog, one that pulls well, or had good puppies, and

Nuna-tsiak meaning beautiful land (the name chosen recently

for Baffin Island), one that is good to inhabit, has plenty

of game, not too steep. In general -tsia- means anything that

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is the way it ought to be - good weather, bountiful land,

attractive woman, happy child.

The same morpheme is used in verbal forms too, where it

means doing/being something well, thoroughly, appropriately,

correctly, therefore, beautifully. For example, illu-liuk-puk

means he builds a house (igloo), while illu-liu-tsiak-puk would

translate as he builds a house well, superbly, beautifully.

This concerns the actual construction, not the ‘beauty’ of

the igloo; that would be: illu-tsia-liuk-puk = he builds a

beautiful igloo.]

There are also specialized meanings, paralleling those

in Indo-European usage:

Ataata-tsia or anaana-tsia literally beautiful-father -mother,

i.e. grand-father and grand-

1 The structure of all inuttitut words, except for some exclamations andconjunctions is: 1 base morpheme + 0-600 post-base morphemes + 1 case/person suffix + 1-3 enclitics (cf. Lowe 1983 e.g. taku + guma galua lauk + punga + lunit tauk guk, see wish to very much did I even also it is said “It’s said also that even I wanted very much to see”

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mother just as in just the same way as it is applied to the

French kin terms belle-mere and beau-fils. The fictive kin term

ati-tsia, literally “beautiful name,” is very positive term of

address or reference, used by two people who share the same

namesake (and hence soul).

One other post-base has more limited connotations

parallel to “beauty.” This is

kit- which like –apik- means small, tiny. The expression,

kitapik, a double diminutive,, is used about something small,

cute, precious such as a baby or a doll. Beauty is also

equated with smallness in the phrase sila-kit-tuk meaning

beautiful weather. It is equally important to point out that

the converse, the suffix –aluk, generally translated as

large, may have negative connotations for people, as in

arngnaluk (= that big, overbearing, woman) or qallunaraluk (=

that big i.e. notorious, potentially harmful, whiteman).

This morpheme is seen below in the name of the feared and

ridiculed previous inhabitants, the Tunialuk, as well as in

some of the traditional terms from the game-controlling

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fear-inspiring old woman (Sedna) at the bottom of the sea,

i.e. takanapsaluk or arnakapfaluk.

Beauty in Contact-Traditional Inuit Society

The strongest evidence of Inuit concepts of beauty

come from the period just prior to the establishment of

permanent communities and the imposition of formal education

in the Canadian North. This period referred to as the

contact-traditional lasted from late 19th century to the

late 1950s and early 60s. The wealth of excellent

ethnographic reports from this era (c.f. Jenness 1970;

Rasmussen 1929; Rasmussen 1931; Rasmussen 1932; Turner 1889-

90;) provide much information about Inuit intellectual

culture which, in turn, offers a glimpse into Inuit

perceptions of beauty. The contact-traditional period saw

numerous changes in Inuit social life and economic

organization. Most notably, Inuit altered their seasonal

rounds and took up new activities such as fur trapping in

order to gain access to manufactured goods. But, except in

those few areas where commercial whalers employed Inuit,

interactions with missionaries, traders, government

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officials, and other outsiders were irregular and brief.

While we make no claims that Inuit society was either

unaffected or autonomous in the immediate post-contact era,

until the establishment of government towns, interactions

with non-Inuit were not daily affairs. As a result the

shared cultural values and social groups were largely of

Inuit making (Graburn 1969).

Aboriginally Canadian Inuit followed a seasonally

nomadic lifestyle based primarily upon the availability of

game. Social groups were flexible and varied in size

according to the season, the presence of resources, and

personal preferences. Although there were no hard and fast

rules, by and large groups formed along kinship lines with

the extended family (or ilagiit) as the primary economic and

social unit2. The climate was harsh, and life could be, and

often was, extremely difficult. Survival hinged on

delicately balanced relationships characterized, not only by

mandatory sharing, but also by the assumption that every

adult possessed the maturity and wisdom to direct his or her

own affairs without the interference of others. Individuals

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were expected to be industrious and generous, to recognize

the needs of others, and to provide assistance without being

asked (Briggs 1970). Success at hunting, and thus survival,

had a moral basis. It was thought to depend upon the

maintenance of human/human relations and human/animal

relation. Animals were said to present themselves to hunters

whose behavior and appearance pleased them. Thus, Inuit

cosmology prescribed numerous behaviors and taboos which had

to be observed by both sexes (Saladin D’Anglure 1984: 496).

As we shall show, the Inuit notion of beauty was intimately

connected to ideas about proper behavior. It was the

everyday, the ordinary, the correct which was both beautiful

and the source of true beauty. Inuit did, however, recognize

a false or dangerous beauty.

Marriage, Sexual Attraction, and the Moral Basis of Beauty

In traditional and contact-traditional Inuit society

division of labor was by gender. Men were primarily

responsible for hunting and women were primarily responsible

for processing the catch into food, fuel, and clothing. As

2 The nuclear family was the primarily social and economic unit among the Copper Inuit.

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numerous observers have pointed out, both roles were viewed

as essential and of equal importance. Virtually all adults

married, and marriage itself served as a marker of adult

status. Most individuals married several times over the

course of a lifetime as a result of both divorce and the

death of a spouse. Numerous temporary unions were common,

though divorce was rare after the birth of a child

(Rasmussen 1932: 51; Jenness 1970: 160).

But marriage was more than simply a marker of adult

status. It was intimately related to the morality and

cosmology of hunting and, therefore, survival. Work done by

a wife, especially sewing was critical to the human/animal

relationship. The clothing a woman sewed was integral to the

moral relationship between humans and animals. Animals,

pleased by the beautiful artistry of a hunter’s clothing,

permitted themselves to be taken. Thus, “the seamstress

helped reconcile humans and animals not only by indirectly

participating in hunting but also by reinforcing the

transformational relationship between them in the clothing

that she made” (Chaussonnet 1988: 213). According to Guemple

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(1986:14), work was done for the opposite sex and part of an

ongoing relationship. As such a man had to be married in

order to be a successful hunter (Bodenhorn 1990:62). This

view was echoed by Holman elder Sam Oliktoak who described

marriage as necessary in order to have a full life (Stern

and Condon 1995: 203). The inuttitut word nuliituk meaning “a

lonely man” translates literally as “one who is without a

wife,” while the word for spouse, aipa, means “the other

half of a complementary pair.”

What did Inuit look for in a marriage partner? Guemple

(1986) and (Burch and Correll 1971) discount the importance

of sexual attraction as a basis for Inuit marriage.

According to Jenness (1991:352 for example), however, open

displays of affection among married couples, while not

common, did occur, and Spencer (1976: 245-6) reports that

physical attraction was an aspect of romantic attachments.

It appears likely that sexual attraction within marriage was

based not on physical attributes, but was rather part of the

constellation of moral behaviors which ensured the success

of the hunt and the social viability of the group.

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Compatibility and congeniality were important

characteristics in a spouse, but even more important were

adherence to the Inuit values of generosity, hard work, and

cooperation. Beauty (and sexual attraction), it seems,

stemmed directly from good work and a harmonious nature.

Willingness to work, and to work cooperatively,

is dramatized in courting behavior in the

[Belcher] Islands. In the traditional formulation,

a young man expresses an interest in a woman by

giving food he has hunted to her family and by

making himself helpful to his prospective father-

in-law in his work—e.g. repairing a kayak,

building a snow house, acting as a hunting

partner. A young woman of marriageable age gives

every appearance of being too busy working to pay

any attention to an eligible young man. Most of a

young woman’s activities in public consist of work

activities: flensing seals, harnessing dogs,

fetching firewood, etc. She moves tirelessly from

morning to night. At least this the appearance she

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gives. What disturbs this business-as-usual

picture of the everyday-life activities of the

unmarried nubile women is the fact that they work

hardest when eligible males are present in the

household. Indeed, a young woman “courts” by

appearing to be so preoccupied with her work that

she is altogether oblivious to the presence of

potential suitors. Since Inuit are by cultural

prescription an extremely hospitable people and

stand ready on a moment’s notice to entertain any

guest, the courting behavior of unmarried adult

females stands in marked contrast to that of other

adults. While it would be unjustifiable to label

young women’s comportment solely as dramatic

behavior, it is clear that the bustling manner

portrayed in the presence of eligible males

constitutes to some degree an acting out of ritual

in which women’s work itself is being portrayed.

When a young woman fancies some particular suitor,

her work oriented comportment in the home will

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become even more intense; and this will quickly be

supplemented by visits to the suitor’s mother or

married sister’s households, and by offers to help

them with their work (Guemple 1986:15).

While true beauty was a consequence of moral goodness,

the Inuit also recognized a false or dangerous beauty based

solely on physical features. Some individuals might be

physically attractive and especially sexually alluring, but

were thought to be lazy and stingy. This contrasting image

of beauty is illustrated in both ethnographic accounts and

Inuit mythology. The wives of a Copper Inuit man Uloksak

provide one example. Uloksak, a powerful shaman, was one of

the primary figures described by Diamond Jenness (1970; S.

Jenness 1991). He often used his spiritual powers for

economic and sexual gain, demanding and receiving sexual

access to most of the women in his band. In addition, he was

the only man in the group who had three wives. According to

Jenness,

[Uloksak’s] first wife well supported the dignity

of her husband’s position; she was a quiet kind-

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hearted woman of much sense and judgment, and

excellent housewife, and a successful hunter of

both seals and caribou. Uloksak much preferred her

to both his other wives, but she had one failing—

hitherto she had borne him no children. His second

wife was reputed to be one of the best-looking

girls in the country, but there her good qualities

ended; she was bad-tempered and idle and merely a

burden to her husband. He married her, he said

because she was good-looking, and he needed some

one to help in the summer’s packing and in

dressing the meat that he brought in to camp.

Possibly he would have divorced her again had she

proved childless, but she bore him a son, and a

son is the delight of every Eskimo household. He

kept both his wives, therefore, the good one and

the bad, and took a third, …” (1970: 161).

One might be physically beautiful but possess a bad temper

or alternatively, have a rather ordinary appearance which

creates its own beauty through attention to the cultural

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mores of industry, adherence to taboos, pleasant demeanor,

and respectfulness. These, in turn, brought success in

hunting and, often, reproductive success. The concern with

false beauty was quite widespread. Taiara, a elderly man

living in Salluit in 1963, acknowledged that “sometimes an

Inuk looks good on the outside only; inside they may be bad”

(cited in Graburn 1972: 190). And Spencer, writing about the

North Slope Iñupiat, recorded the same dichotomous notion of

beauty.

“Love,” as such, was not idealized but romantic

attachments were formed on the basis of physical

beauty such as large eyes. Regularity of features

was also important. This was true of men also, a

person with some prominent physical feature being

considered ludicrous. Too beautiful a face was

considered a bad risk. Such girls were “stingy”;

“They won’t feed anyone.” But a woman had to be

judged on a series of personal traits, rather than

on beauty alone. She was expected to keep herself

neat and to be industrious. Other physical

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features were not regarded as too significant. The

breasts were not important in sex play, nor were

the buttocks or thighs. An attractive person, man

or woman, ran to average. He should not be “’too

fat, too thin, too tall, too short; you look at

them and see that they look just right. Then you

know that you can marry them” (1976 [1959]: 245-

6).

The concept of false/dangerous beauty also occurs in

the story of the Sea Woman3, which links the notion of

beauty with sexual availability, observance of taboos and

moral codes, and productive work. Sea Woman, who was known

variously as Nuliajuq, Aviliayuk, Arnapkapfaaluk, Anavigak,

Nerrivik, Takanapsaluk and Sedna (Weyer 1932: 349-64) was

one of the primary figures in Inuit cosmology. She

controlled the access to sea mammals and was the arbiter of

human/animal reciprocity, and therefore, the ultimate source

of human life. In one version of the story, Sea Woman

originated as a human girl who was seduced by a fulmar

masquerading as a handsome kayaker. The kayaker symbolized a

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mature, successful hunter; this was what made him appear

handsome.

After having brought the girl offshore onto an ice

floe, Fulmar reveals his true appearance to the

utmost despair of the deceived girl. But with no

choice but to be carried on from the ice floe by

Fulmar, he transports her to his distant

island/country. The following summer her relatives

arrive to fetch her back by umiaq and off they row

in secrecy. When Fulmar discovers the deception he

takes up pursuit and claims his right to the girl

by asking permission to see her hands. On being

denied this favor he raises a storm, which almost

upsets the umiaq (Sonne 1990:9).

Several aspects of the story are important. The fulmar,

a carrion-eating sea bird, often announced the presence of

3 A complete discussion of the temporal and regional variations of the Sea Woman story may be found in Sonne (1990).

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whales, seems to symbolize both the meat-sharing partnership

between hunters and social/economic partnership between

husbands and wives. By taking the girl far away Fulmar

failed to fulfill his economic obligations to his in-laws.

The improper sexual liaison between the bird and the girl

relates to sexual jealousy among men and to the danger

inherent in all emotionally charged relationships.

Especially important is Fulmar’s demand to access to his

wife’s hands. The hands (with which she sews for her

husband) are the moral basis their partnership.

As the tale continues, the family in despair throws the

girl into the sea, but she clings to the sides of the umiaq.

Thus, in order to save themselves they sever her fingers and

their relationship with her. At that moment the storm

subsides. The girl and her fingers sink into the ocean where

they are transformed into Sea Woman and sea mammals,

respectively. As Sea Woman she lives alone at the bottom of

the ocean, seals and other sea mammals (the mainstay of the

traditional Inuit diet and economy) become entangled in her

hair. She can release them to be hunted by combing her hair

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or she can withhold them by letting her appearance go. The

latter occurs in the Shaman’s Journey version of the myth.

Sea Woman responds to human violations of taboos

(particularly post-partum and menstrual taboos) by causing

stormy weather and poor hunting. She also ceases caring for

her appearance—especially her hair—and a visit (a sexual

coupling?) from the shaman is necessary to rectify matters.

Even in details her poor look is modeled on the

appearance of the earthly women during periods of

[post-partum] tabu: Her hair hangs loose; filth

accumulates in her hair and on her body; deprived

of her fingers she is barred from doing any work

whatsoever; her sight is reduced; she is confined

to her ‘birth hut’; she feels utterly miserable.

Accordingly the task of the shaman is to make her

feel better by restoring her appearance on the

model of an earthly woman past her period of taboo

(Sonne 1990:7, italics in original).

Although we know of no ethnographers who have commented

on it, hair, seems to have been a particularly important

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aspect of feminine beauty—one that was related to sewing,

and consequently, sexual desirability. A replica sewing kit

collected by the second author in the Copper Inuit community

of Holman in 1982 contains a comb in addition to a needle,

thimble and ulu. (Photo of sewing kit)

Taboos varied considerably from region to region. All

groups, however, prohibited intercourse during menstruation

and following childbirth or a miscarriage. In some places, a

menstruating or post-partum woman was forbidden to sew or do

other work, and like Sea Woman did not comb her hair or

wash. A resumption of her regular activities was accompanied

by the restoration of her appearance. Thus, physical beauty,

sexual availability, and productive work were clearly

enmeshed.

(insert photos of hair styles)

It was the everyday, the ordinary, which signified

beauty to Inuit. This notion that both beauty and sexual

allure were associated with ordinariness can be found in

songs collected during the Fifth Thule (1921-24) and

Canadian Arctic (1913-18)4 expeditions. In the first song,

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the singer expresses desire for a man with well formed

eyebrows—eyebrows that join together properly (a pubic

metaphor?). In the second song, the singer expresses his

desire for a “real, fully-grown woman.”

q)vun äteyuunaaa His eyebrows

wishing to meet [?]

q)vun äteyukt·uaneya

His eyebrows wishing

to meet properly,

äteyuunaaa äteanaa Wishing to meet,

meet.

onaaa ciaaa His armpit, its male

sexual smell.

q)vun äteyukt·uani His

eyebrows wishing to

meet properly

äteyuanaa äteaa onaaa Wishing to

meet, meet

yaaeyaa

4 The original orthographies are reproduced here.

25

q)vun äteyukt·uaneya His male odor.

q)vun äteyunaa His eyebrows,

wishing to meet, meet

äteyunaa äteaa onaaa His armpits,

their sexual odor.

ciaaa q)vun His

eyebrows.

(following Roberts and Jenness 1925: 468)

h)·q-uvfa qint)rpäk·aluarpit Why, I

wonder do I stand

here and watch

kivamutLe anijra·ama The south every time

I come out

takunahugtuArnago I suppose

because I have such

a desire to see

qo·me·vLe nuliArjuale

Qomek’s big wife

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agt)rshigLra·minaa ArnamigLe It is so

long since I touched

a woman

inrnrjuArmik hiv)rahigtumik A real

fully-grown one, one

with a

short nose,

tamaunA·rpit -- -- -- Won’t you

come here.

h)·q-uvfa nriugalugo Why, I wonder,

I longingly

qinrt)rpäk·aluArpit Keep on

watching

tunumutLe takunahugtuArnago Towards the

land behind—I

suppose because I want to

see

pa·niuship nuliArshuale Paniuse’s big

wife,

27

qinrt)rpäk·aluArpit And I keep

on watching,

agt)rshigLrArminaa ArnamigLe I, who

for long have not

touched a woman

inrnrjuArmik A real, fully-grown

—

tamaunA·rpit -- -- -- Won’t you

come here?

(following Rasmussen 1932: 143-4)

The desirability of ordinariness may, in part, be

connected to Inuit concerns about uncertainty and

unpredictability. While Inuit were socialized to “expect the

unexpected” (Briggs 1991) in people and in things, this was

largely an effort to expand understandings of their normal

or ordinary properties. Those whose actions conformed to the

expected, whose demeanor carried no surprises were most

esteemed. The out-of-the-ordinary, on the other hand, could

be unpredictable, and therefore, dangerous.

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Tattooing on women represented the ordinary; while on

men it was a sign of the extraordinary. Only a man who had

committed murder—whose behavior could be seen as dangerous,

unpredictable—was tattooed. He wore a simple mark on the

bridge of his nose (Graburn 1972: 256b, 287). Tattooing for

women, on the other hand, was much more elaborate in its

ordinariness. Women wore lines on their faces, hands, and

sometimes their arms and breasts. Tattoos were a sign of a

woman’s physical and social maturation, and served as an

announcement that she possessed the expected qualities of a

grown woman. Following her first menstruation, a woman was

redressed in a new parka and tattooed to announce her social

transformation from child to adult.

She should previously have learned the secrets of

tailoring, of cooking and preserving meant, of

lighting and the care of the lamp—of which the

soot and tarry oil served to inscribe the social

and cosmic order indelibly on her face and limbs

(Saladin D’Anglure 1984:496-7).

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We have little information about the significance of

particular tattoo motifs. According to Rasmussen (1929:

148) a “woman who had handsome tattooing always got on well

with Nuliajuk when, after life on earth, she passed her

house on the way to the land of the dead.” Tattooing of

adult women was common across the circumpolar north. One

motif, common in the last two millenia of Eskimo art,

especially the Yup'ik region, was the nucleated circle (one

with dot inside) .

Clothing

Animals were essential to Inuit as food, as fuel, and as

clothing. Therefore, it is not surprising that Inuit

cosmology emphasized the reciprocal nature of the

relationship between humans and animals. Animals were said

to give themselves to hunters who pleased them. The clothing

created by the hunter’s wife formed an essential feature of

the reciprocity. Careless stitchery “would cause animals to

run away” (Fienup-Riordan 1988: 263) while clothing made

with care attracted the animals. The clothing a hunter wore

was his “second skin” (Chaussonnet 1988) meant to

30

demonstrate a connection to the animals. Among some Canadian

Inuit the design of the hunting parka retained

certain features of the caribou, such as the

ears, as a metaphoric and symbolic reference to

the animal. In the Copper [Inuit] parka the

resemblance between hunter and animal was

dramatic and no doubt intentional (Driscoll 1980:

14).

The woman’s parka or amautik contained a large hood, a

long tail, a front apron, as well as the pouch in the back

for an infant. Motherhood was seen (and continues to be

seen) as a essential feature of womanliness, and thus the

amautik was the only appropriate attire for women of

childbearing age. The parka a young girl wore was very

similar to that of young boys. It was modified as she grew

and became more womanly so that by the time she reached

adulthood it was a full amautik ready to receive an infant

(Driscoll 1980: 18).

31

Traditionally, parkas bore patterns of decoration (titak

= mark, pattern) created with fur of various colors. Amautiit

were also decorated with amulets meant to serve both the

mother and the infant. These amulets were often passed down

through generations and older amulets were considered more

powerful (Rasmussen 1931: 268). Contact with outsiders

brought Inuit new and more varied materials with which to

make and decorate clothing. At first, these new materials

were incorporated into traditional clothing styles bearing

new, elaborate decorations. (photo of beaded parkas from

Graburn).

Art and Contemporary Views of Beauty

In recent years duffel (wool) and down-filled materials

have replaced fur as the primary material for parkas.

Nonetheless, stitchery has remained important and it is

common for women of the Western Canadian Arctic to sew fancy

“calico” covers even for store-bought parkas. New parka

covers have become the norm at Christmas and Easter. The

ability and willingness of women to make these parka covers

for their husbands and children remains an important aspect

32

of womanliness that is observed and noted by others in the

community. For example, while Holman women exerted no

pressure on the second author to make parka covers and other

clothing for her family during a year-long stay in the

community, the decision to do so elicited quite a bit of

comment. Both the size and evenness of stitches on skin

clothing and the decorations chosen for parka covers seemed

to have been of particular interest. Many young Inuit women

do, however, feel pressured to sew. They continue to do so

not because of need or interest, but because of a moral

pressure “to provide nice things” for their families (Stern

field notes, 1993).

The continued salience of clothing among recent

generations of Inuit is shown in the following teasing love

song from Ivujivik in Nouveau Quebec:

Ulikataujanga tungujuutautsuni Her jacket, being a kind of blue

Unguasimanijujajangitusi And being all unbuttoned

Kamingitlu qirnitat qarlingitlu qakurktak Her boots are black and

trousers white

33

Saniragu amalukitatalik With little round buttons

For much of this century, the Canadian Inuit have had

access to trade goods and, in recent decades, to images or

experiences of the world outside the Arctic. They quickly

used new materials to make much more elaborate versions of

their traditional clothing, and, to a lesser extent, to

embellish their other material items, such as boats, guns

and gun cases, tents and houses. Since the transition to

wooden houses in the 1960s, and easier access to the modern

world’s output, including snow mobiles, motor boats, cars,

furniture, television and VCRs and ready made clothes, many

Inuit have abandoned most traditional material items.

transferred Many have transferred their aesthetic concerns

onto their modern goods, and Western concepts of beauty have

penetrated as part of popular culture.

Since the 1950s, Inuit aesthetic expressions have found

new outlets in their production of commercial art objects.

In these modern spheres of livelihood in which both men and

women have been very successful, pride and competition have

led to conscious discussion about the aesthetic dimensions

34

of the art forms. Stone and sometimes bone, ivory or antler

sculptures, (known at sananguak, sanasimajuk, or sanaurak

=‘imitation made things’) originated from the small

traditional toys and models, which were sometimes sold to

sailors. Since their ‘discovery’ by the artist James Houston

in 1948 (Graburn 1976; Swinton 1972) they have become

larger, more realistic, better finished as they are exported

to southern Canada and the rest of the world. The same Mr.

Houston first fostered print-making in 1958 and in various

forms, stone cut block, stencil, lithography and copper-

plate engraving, it has taken root in a number of Inuit

villages (Goetz 1976; Roch 1975).

Here as in so many other ways, the Inuit continue to

operate under their own value system, even though it is

sometimes to their financial disadvantage. Men dominate the

aesthetic evaluations of sculptures, in part because they

think they can better handle hard materials such as stone

and ivory, and in part because they think, as hunters, that

they know intimately the living forms of fauna and the land

which they women do not.

35

“The overriding criterion . . . is realism—sulijuk (it is

true), tukilik (there is sense to it, or miksiqaktuk (it

has realistic sense). Carvings are supposed to

represent the things of which they are models, whether

these things themselves are ‘real’ or not. The[y]

examine sculptures not only for technical quality

[mastery of the tools and medium], which is nearly

always uppermost in their mind, but also the sense it

makes for them in terms of their knowledge of the

world.” (Graburn 1976: 52).

While men apply the same criteria to their prints,

derived from freehand drawings, this is the medium in which

women artists excel. It is no accident that prints are

called titirkturait which is derived from the same root is titak =

marks or patterns, for making them is the skill that women

(and not men) have always mastered in designing and making

fur and cloth clothing. Thus women and some unconventional

men excel at imaginitive (takurshungnaituk) two and three

dimensional arts; these more abstract or non-pictorial arts

are often identified by white people as “spiritual” and

36

fetch more money in the marketplace much to the

disgruntlement of proud male artists. Increasingly, however,

younger Inuit artists who have been to art school or who

live outside the Arctic communities, seem to have

appropriated the whole Western art historical model of

“ethnic arts”(Wight 1989)

Conclusions

Beauty, for the Inuit of Arctic Canada and northern

Alaska, lies in the everyday. It is not primarily a visual

or even a sensual phenomenon but it is a measure of

performative and moral competence. Beauty is “rightness” in

appearance, performance, taste, and sensual experience; it

is not marginal or at the extreme end of a continuum; but

lies within the reach of ordinary people in their daily

lives. Beauty, in the sense of good-looking, has even become

implicitly part of Inuit identity. In the Eastern Arctic, a

number of Inuit informants contrasted themselves, with the

previous inhabitants of the land whom they call Tunit or

Tunialuk (see above). According to Sappa (a middle-aged man)

the: "Tunit were definitely not good looking. They were the

37

ugliest, they had large heads." He admitted, however, that

"Some Indian women were good looking” which caused jealousy

among Inuit men. And Taiara (an old man) stated "The Tunit

were very ugly, the Inuit used to say." Putulik, a man in

his forties, contrasted the extraordinariness of the

whiteman's appearance against the ordinariness, and presumed

goodness, of the Inuit, saying, "Maybe the Eskimos think

they are better looking that the whiteman. They like to look

at themselves, don't like to look at the whiteman too much.”

(all cited in Graburn 1972). While goodness and rightness

define the beauty of the ordinary, the extraordinary is

labeled both bad and ugly.

The more aesthetic dimensions of beauty, as expressed

in reactions to miniaturization and cuteness, supplement the

above generalizations. It may be as Lévi-Strauss (1962 )

suggested a universal human proclivity, connected to a human

urge to love and protect the young and to see admirable

qualities in the young of all species; in other words it is

part of the moral construction of the life cycle. But for

the Inuit, ordinary, competent grown adults would also be

38

connected to the Inuit concept of beauty as performative and

aesthetic rightness. This too may be a widespread human

tendency, paralleling Thompson’s (1974) claim that among the

Yoruba, sculptural beauty is predominantly ephebism, that is

the admiration of the full flowering of young adulthood,

another part of the moral and aesthetic construction of the

life cycle. Attributions of beauty are rarely extended to

the elderly among the Inuit, except in terms of their role

performance, but as the young child is socialized s/he is

from the very earliest given of example of grandfather and

grandmother addressed as “beautiful” –tsiak version of father

and mother. While this is not because the senior generation

are an indulgent contrast to the disciplinary parental

generation, as suggested by Radcliffe-Brown’s “principle of

alternating generations” (1930), it does point to the

special positive nature of these seniors, something which is

again widespread in human societies.

If visual and other sensory measures are connotations

or manifestations of the states of “rightness” are

identified as beauty, then we can see that the Inuit

39

traditionally put much emphasis on appearances, both for

aesthetic interest and for other reasons. Beautiful clothing

is indicative of both the “rightness” of the wife’s role as

seamstress and a husband’s as provider, but the

“decorations” of clothing also functioned as important

markers of gender and geography. Similarly, the tattooing of

women at puberty was supposed to emphasize her female

attractiveness, but it also functioned as a socialization

device and as a supernatural protection.

If one is to try to compare Inuit views on beauty and

art with better known Western models, one could find them to

be a less idealistic parallel to the ideas of Plato. For

both systems, beauty is identified with goodness, but for

Plato such ideal goodness was utopian whereas for the Inuit

it was commonplace. In their views of art, the Inuit used

two different level of the Platonic model. Like Plato, women

(and men) doing abstract and imaginitive art knew that they

were imitating something that did not really exist,

something only found at the conceptual level. Yes, men view

their own arts at a non-Platonic level, asserting that they

40

render a model of something real that knew because they have

actually experienced it, but the criticized women for being

unable to render well either real fauna or realistically

‘typical’ and hence beautiful examples of species.

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