Living Areas

Camps
at changing places,
depending on
good hunting grounds

Communities,
set up at former
HBC-& missionary posts
(mostly at coasts and mouths of rivers)

Homes

Materials of nature:
-> Tents (animal skins; later: canvas)
-> Iglus
-> Qarmaqs (sod houses)

-> Wooden houses
(prefabricated in the South);

-> Cabins, tents (on the land
or even next to houses)

-> Iglus
(temporarily during the hunt)

Clothing

Clothes made of skin or fur

Mostly modern ready made clothes,
but also traditional boots (Kamiit),
mittens and clothes
(especially in wintertime)

Nutrition

Protein, “healthy“ fat,

less carbohydrates
(for example berries)

Food from supermarket (like in South);
additionally “native food“
(meat, fish)

Food Supply

Hunting and fishing only by
-> Arrow & bow
-> Harpoon, fishing spear
-> Traps

Additional acquisition of food
& materials (for example fur, ivory),
hunt as traditional activity

-> Firearms

-> Modern fishing rods & hooks, nets, traps

Handicraft
(Products)

General basis for existence
Construction of tents
Building of iglus
Construction of sleds etc.

Tools:

-> Tools from stone

-> Knifes and ulus
(made of incidentally found metal)

Additional subsistence
maintenance of equipment,
Preservation & cultivation of tradition,
Realization of artistic skills

Industrial tools:

-> Axes, hammers, chisels etc.

-> Electric tools etc.

Transportation

-> Dogs as carriers

-> Dogsleds (Qamutiit)

-> Skin boats (kayak, umiaq)

-> Snowmobile (rarely dogs)
& sleds,

-> ATVs

-> Vans, trucks
(only inside of settlements),

-> Motorboats,
canoes (with outboard motors);

-> Supply vessels, aircrafts

Energy
(Light, Warmth,
Cooking)
& Water

-> Stone lamp with seal oil
(Light, warmth, preparation of food);
shrub fire place

-> Water from river, ice, snow

-> Electricity
(municipal generators
and even private generators in cabins)

-> Oil, gasoline

-> Naphthalene stoves (on the land)

-> Water supply from reservoir
& sewage disposal
by municipal tank truck

Communication

Only personally or by stone marks

Phone, fax, e-mail, radio

Social Life

-> Tent: (extended) family

-> Camp: Family group with camp leader

Different areas of tent:
Man: hunting gear etc.
Woman: utensils for cooking, sewing etc.

Leisure Activies:
depending on hunting conditions

-> Games (mostly contests)

-> Story telling

-> Visiting (always welcome)

Religion:

-> Shamanism; many taboos

Justice Systems:

-> Traditional laws
(oral Aradition; partially influenced by shamanism)

-> Modern house: families smaller,
but still bigger than in industrialized Western countries

Husband & wife earning money
(if possible)

Ample leisure time
(unemployment, part-time employment)

-> TV in every house (all day running)

-> Traditional story telling in radio

-> Visiting like in the old times

-> Missionary work done by anglicans, roman-catholic church etc.

-> Modern rules of law
(laws partially not understood)

Means of Subsistence

Only by hunting and fishing

-> Wages (fulltime or part-time job); social welfare

-> Self-employed work
(hunting, art work; tourism)

-> Production plants rare

-> Administration, transportation, logistics, construction work,
few mines (nickel, lead, gold, diamonds)

-> High rate of unemployment
(lack of competence and jobs)

Property

-> Land: common property
Camp: occupied by family groups
(often named after camp leader);

-> Property: only personal goods (hunting weapons, boat, sled, dogs; pots, lamps, sewing material)

-> Land more and more as private property ("claim");
as well cabin, car, ATV
and often houses

Education

Learning from parents:

-> Observation and imitation

Institutionalized by public services:

-> Day care

-> Kindergarten

-> School systems:
Elementary School
(at home community)
High School
(often at home community)
College
(only in bigger communities)
Residential schools
(regional or in South)
Arctic College
(with upgrading for those who dropped out of school)
Universities (only in the South)

Health / Medicine

-> Natural remedies by experience

-> Modern medical system
(health centers)

Causes of Death

-> Accidents

-> Infectious diseases

-> Food poisoning

-> Freezing

-> Starvation

Unknown:
-> Diabetes mellitus and
-> Diseases of heart & circulation

-> Accidents & suicide no. 1

Increase of

-> Diabetes mellitus and

-> Coronary and vascular diseases

-> Alcoholism

-> Drug addiction

-> Nicotine abuse