Archive Inuit Documentary: Eskimo Hunters (Northwestern Alaska)

This is a 1949 documentary entitled Eskimo Hunters (Northwester Alaska).

In Canada and Greenland, the term “Eskimo” has fallen out of favor as pejorative and has been widely replaced by the term “Inuit”, “Alaska Natives”, or terms specific to a particular tribe.

Under U.S. and Alaskan law, however, as well as the linguistic and cultural traditions of Alaska, “Alaska Natives” refers to all indigenous peoples of Alaska; this includes not only groups such as the Aleut, who share a recent ancestor with the Inuit and Yupik groups, but also the largely unrelated[8] indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Dene.

Even though the film and the nomenclature may be dated, this black and white documentary provides a remarkable insight into the traditional Inuit way of life as well as a valuable record of years gone by.

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