The Real People of the Place We Hunt Snowy Owls

The tiny borough of Barrow, or Ukpeagvik (Where We Hunt Snowy Owls), is the big city to many Inupiat (Real People) in the North Slope of Alaska. Over 60% of the 4,500 people in Barrow are Inupiat and are primarily employed by the City of Barrow and oil field-related enterprises.

In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was signed into law. This, in effect, took the land away from individual people and turned it over to village corporations. A complex web of corporations and limited liability companies was created to provide native shareholders with a means to obtain regular jobs and income. As with other native groups, the opportunities provided haven't taken away the urge, or sometimes the need, to live off the land.

A history of alcohol abuse dating back to Russian explorers led many areas to ban alcohol completely. Some believe a specific gene, prevalent in Native Americans, leads to excessive alcohol consumption. This led to a total ban on alcohol many North Slope areas, including a luggage search of contraband, leaving Barrow one of the few locations willing to make it available, albeit difficultly.

Barrow has no bars, but there is one building, the Barrow Distribution Centre, where alcohol can be obtained. The process is to obtain a permit, order alcohol from Fairbanks, and pay to have it flown in. Yes, there are limits on the amount one can purchase each month. Looking back at history, when whole villages were literally wiped out because of alcoholism, the public vote to limit access makes sense.

The Inupiat still rely heavily on subsistence living, which includes hunting everything from whales and polar bears to caribou and salmon, and making use of every part of the kill. Laws are in place to ensure only natives are allowed to own controlled raw materials such as polar bear skins. These heavily monitored materials can be sold to non-natives if they've been crafted by native Alaskans.

Outsiders will find the Inupiat to be cautious but warm and very friendly. They have their share of problems, including a high rate of alcoholism and suicide, which top the list of issues that touch nearly every family. However, even with these issues, there are still smiles and kind words for everyone.

An Inupiat family is rarely small. It's not that they have so many children, it's that family members include people who are related by the most miniscule of connections or related only because they consider you a family member. Family gatherings easily fill a room at Christmas, and every Inupiat woman I've ever met is a Mom to everyone.

Don't bother looking for igloos in Barrow; the Inupiat of this area never really had the icehouse as we think of it. Long ago people of the Northern Slope created homes by digging a hole and lining it with rocks. Half out of the ground, the walls were constructed of whalebones or driftwood, since no trees grow in this arid location. Skins covered the whalebones and a small hole in the top allowed smoke to escape. The Inupiat no longer live in this style of home, they live in commercially built homes with all of the amenities of any home in the outside, or lower-48.

Even with a huge financial settlement, being shareholders in corporations and the advent of Internet access, the Inupiat people have not lost their charm or a healthy respect family and history.

Tautugniaqmigikpin!

Learn more about this author, Sandra L. Martin.
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