a. Atigi (Parkas)

–Sarah Diver

The Importance of Animal Skins in Inupiaq Daily Life

 

Because hunting is so essential to the Inupiaq way of life, Inupiaq communities have gained an enormous amount of ecologically rich knowledge, which continues to be passed down to younger generations today.[1] All Inupiaq clothing was initially made from animal skins; however, even after the introduction of other materials from Europe and beyond, the importance of skin and fur remains central to Inupiaq self-presentation in the form of clothing.[2] Perhaps the most essential type of Inupiaq clothing, parkas are long jackets that can be pulled over the head to keep the body warm and are worn by many indigenous groups throughout the arctic region. The deep connection to fur clothing begins early as Inupiaq babies are swaddled in fur pouches, called amauti, and subsequently, young Inupiaq children are exposed to the tactile sensations, smells, and tastes of animal skins at an early age.[3] Furthermore, because Inupiaq hunters and seamstresses are so highly sensitive to the unique properties of each mammalian skin, a combination of animal furs allows the wearer to keep warm and dry throughout the year.[4]

Clothing for many circumpolar peoples usually serves two functions: protection of the body from the elements and personal expression of social identity and status.[5] The aesthetics and construction of skin- and fur-based clothing reflect an Inupiaq system of communication between the wearer and both human and non-human persons.[6] J.C.H. King writes:

“The use of parts of skins, such as the ears on children’s hoods, and white caribou belly fur over the human chest and heart, shows a sympathetic understanding of the animal. Further clothing reflects a value system which underlies society, and communicates local and distant identities. In the Arctic the high quality of a hunter’s clothing will help him hunt effectively, and the fineness of the stitching will express the achievements of the seamstress, whether or not the available skins are of a quality which matches that of the stitches.”[7]

 

As King suggests, clothing communicates certain ideas about the wearer to others. The superiority of an article of clothing’s construction as well as the quality of its composite furs speak to the adeptness of the wearer, the adeptness of the seamstress, and the partnership between a man and a woman socially requisite to produce such an item. Even more broadly, the strength of the hunter-seamstress (and the husband-wife) partnership, echoed in the quality of the garment, reflects on the efficacy of the community to afford the time, animals, and energy to produce such a fine outfit. Likewise, the presentation and treatment of animal fur communicates a respect for the inua of the non-human persons used to make the garment by keeping the distinguishing features of the animal’s bodies intact.[8]

 

Changing Parka Designs and Technologies

Beyond the symbolic usage of furs in Inupiaq clothing, employing different animal skins and furs serves a highly practical role as well. The two primary issues Inupiaq people faced throughout the year, especially during winter months, are the cold and the wind.[9] Land mammal furs generally have two layers: an outer layer of long hairs and a softer inner layer of short hairs.[10] Most hairs are hollow on a microscopic level, and therefore, can trap heat – thereby, insulating the body of the wearer.[11] Polar bears and caribou are highly sought after fur-bearing animals because their fur is highly insulating.[12] To allow moisture to escape a heated body, most arctic clothing systems utilize an air capture principle, as opposed to direct insulation which is seen in milder climates like Europe.[13] The parka shape allows for optimal ventilation of body moisture while retaining body heat; this is achieved through the design elements of the removable hood and loose fit (figures 1-3).[14] During the winter, two parkas were normally worn at once: an inner parka with the fur turned toward the body to insulate and ventilate, and an outer parka with the fur turned outward allowing for two layers of air to circulate between the layers to heat the body.[15]

            While trade between Europeans and the Inupiaq had been happening for many years, the integration of European tools and techniques – like sewing machines, scissors, and cotton-based threads – did not reach widespread circulation until mid-19^th century.[16] The exchange of styles and techniques amidst different circumpolar indigenous groups, however, had been essential to the technological development of clothing for centuries.[17] Because arctic clothing was technically superior to most European-made clothing, the continued practice of parka construction continued well after the arrival of Europeans into the present.[18] In fact, Inupiaq parkas were so effective at protecting and insulating the wearer, that many women from the community were hired as seamstresses for Euro-American explorers and sailors in the 19^th century with the growing development of a wage economy.[19] Furthermore, quite incidentally, European ideals of femininity associated with sewing and clothing manufacture coincided with Inupiaq ideals of femininity, which allowed for a promulgation of creativity in parka making during the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.[20] The cotton fabrics, like calico, which Europeans introduced to Northwest Alaska were exceptionally popular and used for a variety of purposes; most notably, for bright cotton parka covers (atikluk) made to keep the outer layer of a caribou skin parka dry.[21] Cotton and other clothing-related items, like thread, were the most popular trade item between Inupiaq and European traders by the end of the 19^th century.[22]

 

Generally, parkas were distinguished by sex; where men’s parkas were cut straight across the hip (Figure 1 and 2), and women’s parkas were cut in a U-shape along the front and back.[23] However, both sexes seemed to share the same pattern as a traditional women’s parka by the late 19^th century (Figure 3).[24] All parkas from the 19^th century usually had a white caribou or fox skin trim, called a qupak, along the edge and sometimes the seams of the garment.[25] Around the 1870s and 1880s, the qupak generally was a simple sun-bleached strip of white hide with red yarn pierced sequentially through the middle to create a basic geometric patterning (Figure 3).[26] With the introduction of reindeer herding in 1892, women were further resigned to indoor work, and the development of more and more elaborate geometric qupak was integrated into parka design (Figures 1 and 2).[27] Each geometric qupak identified the seamstress and region where the garment was made, and its appearance on the seams of clothing highlighted the skilled pattern-making of the seamstress.[28] Though the last Messenger Feast (before its later revitalization) was held in 1914-1915, a celebration of material culture and the competitive spirit of the Messenger Feast could perhaps be seen as being transferred to the parka-making competitions and pageants of the early 20^th century.[29]^,[30] Another distinguishing feature of Inupiaq parkas are the hood roots, which are triangular shaped pieces of fur hung at the front of the neck below the place where the hood connects beneath the chin (Figure 1).[31] Hood roots are thought to resemble walrus tusks, and are believed to connect the wearer to the spirit of the animal.[32]

Overall, because the parka materially reflects the essential activities of hunting, trading, and handiwork, the parka is a poignant expression of the primary aspects of Inupiaq society, deeply connected to their valuation of animal life in the arctic. The importance of animal relationships as well as the respect for inua extended to both men and women, as men had to maintain best practices while hunting and women similarly could only sew furs within the proper season.[33] Furthermore, the clothing a woman made was considered critical to the success of her husband’s hunt, and clothes were freshly mended and cleaned before every major hunting endeavor.[34] Each parka is a unique and individualized article of clothing connecting the seamstress to her hunter and the hunter to his prey in a cyclic and poetic integration of process, life ways, and social relations.

 

The Preeminence of Parkas in the Avery Property Drawings

 

Given that parkas are so essential to Inupiaq self-presentation, it is easy to see why the artists of the drawings in question gave particular attention to the details of each person’s dress. Specifically, layering ink, pigment, graphite, and pen, the artists of these drawings carefully emphasized specific coloring and texture of different parkas likely to indicate the different types of fur present in each parka. The qupak designating the hem of each parka has been outlined in red pen, and similarly, the hood roots are outlined by ink and colored washes (see all drawings, particularly Drawings B and H). It would have been important to demarcate the quality and construction of each individual’s parka because it would have reflected well on the hunters depicted, and subsequently, the seamstresses and the community at large. The drawings may possibly denote certain individuals whose hunting skills allowed them to wear a parka of a specific animal.

 

 

 

 

 

[1] King, J.C.H. “Introduction.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 13. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid,12.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Buijs, Cunera. “Ecology and the Principles of Polar Clothing.” Chap. 1 In Braving the Cold: Continuity and Change in Arctic Clothing, edited by Buijs and Jarich Oosten Cunera, 13. Leiden, The Netherlands: CNWS Publications, 1997.

[6] King, J.C.H. “Introduction.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 12. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[7] Ibid, 12.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Buijs, Cunera. “Ecology and the Principles of Polar Clothing.” Chap. 1 In Braving the Cold: Continuity and Change in Arctic Clothing, edited by Buijs and Jarich Oosten Cunera, 13. Leiden, The Netherlands: CNWS Publications, 1997.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Ibid, 16-17.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid, 14.

[16] Martin, Cyd. “Caribou, Reindeer and Rickrack: Some Factors Inlfuencing Cultural Change in Northern Alaska, 1880-1940.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 122. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[17] Ibid.

[18] King, J.C.H. “Introduction.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 14. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[19] Martin, Cyd. “Caribou, Reindeer and Rickrack: Some Factors Inlfuencing Cultural Change in Northern Alaska, 1880-1940.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 122. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[20] Ibid,126.

[21] Ibid, 123.

[22] Ray, Dorothy Jean. “Bering Strait Culture, 1867-98.” Chap. 18 In The Eskimos of Bering Strait, 1650-1898, 224. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1975.

[23] Martin, Cyd. “Caribou, Reindeer and Rickrack: Some Factors Inlfuencing Cultural Change in Northern Alaska, 1880-1940.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 122. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid, 123-124.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Ibid, 124.

[28] Ibid, 126.

[29] Ikuta, Hiroko. “Inupiaq Pride: Kivgiq (Messenger Feast) on the Alaskan North Slope.” érudit 31, no. 1-2 (2007): 348.

[30] Martin, Cyd. “Caribou, Reindeer and Rickrack: Some Factors Inlfuencing Cultural Change in Northern Alaska, 1880-1940.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 126. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[31] Ibid, 122.

[32] Ibid.

[33] Martin, Cyd. “Caribou, Reindeer and Rickrack: Some Factors Inlfuencing Cultural Change in Northern Alaska, 1880-1940.” In Arctic Clothing of North America – Alaska, Canada, Greenland, edited by J.C.H. King, Birgit Pauksztat, and Robert Storrie, 123. Montreal and Kingston: Mc-Gill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

[34] Ibid.