The Iñupiat (plural) or Iñupiaq (singular) (from iñuk 'person' - and -piaq 'real', i.e., 'real people') are the Inuit people of Alaska's Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs and the Bering Straits region. Barrow, the northernmost city in the United States, is in the Inupiat region. Their language is known as Iñupiaq. There is one Inupiat culture-oriented institute of higher education, Ilisagvik College.
Inupiat people continue to rely heavil...
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The Iñupiat (plural) or Iñupiaq (singular) (from iñuk 'person' - and -piaq 'real', i.e., 'real people') are the Inuit people of Alaska's Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs and the Bering Straits region. Barrow, the northernmost city in the United States, is in the Inupiat region. Their language is known as Iñupiaq. There is one Inupiat culture-oriented institute of higher education, Ilisagvik College.
Inupiat people continue to rely heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing, including whaling. The capture of a whale benefits each member of a community, as the animal is butchered and its meat and blubber allocated according to a traditional formula. Even city-dwelling relatives thousands of miles away are entitled to a share of each whale killed by the hunters of their ancestral village. Maktak, which is the skin and blubber of Bowhead and other whales, is rich in vitamins A and C and contributes to good health in a population with limited access to fruits and vegetables.
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