"Eskimo" has a complicated history, and given how the people it's been applied to have been subject to like 4 different nations' colonial rule (Russia, the United States, Canada, and Denmark are the ones I know about), you're going to get some different answers depending on who you ask. Insisting that the word Eskimo be treated as a slur in every context leads to policing Indigenous folks and how we talk about ourselves and our cultural identities, so do understand that there is nuance that comes not just with the time period, but with where and among whom the word is used. The best way I've heard it explained is that you wouldn't tell a guy from the Philipines not to call himself Filipino, even though it's an exonym and a product of imperialism. The word eskimo has a complicated history and has been weaponized against vulnerable peoples, and so it's understandable if you don't feel comfortable with it, but understand in turn that Indigenous peoples are not required to alter the language we use for ourselves to conform to your idea of respectability.

A kuspuk (also spelled qaspeq) is a smock-like garment resulting from Euro-American style dresses and shirts being introduced to Inupiaq and Yup'ik peoples. Missionaries insisted on us dressing more modestly indoors (because traditionally indoor clothes didn't cover much and there really wasn't a nudity taboo), and we made alterations to the patterns to suit our needs. They were made bigger and looser to be worn over skin clothes, similar to a gut parka, and to be quicker and easier to make. Hoods and large front pockets were also added. They have become regalia but are also open to outsiders. It is not cultural appropriation to wear or draw kuspuks as someone who isn't eskimo. Everyone is welcome to it and it is understood as appreciation.

The literal translation with all the connotations and implications is something like "person of (defined specifically by) not knowing" or more simply "person who doesn't know", basically used to mean white people or cultural outsiders in general. It's no more insulting than "newbie".

I can certainly try. The Inuit are a culturally diverse and geographically scattered group, King Islanders/Ukivokmiut/Uguivoqmiut were especially unique in our architecture and diet. I can try to share what I've picked up on, but I can't guarantee I'll really get the nuance down, as it might not be something I've grown up with and might even be from the other side of the North American continent

The ancestors of the Canadian Inuit and Greenlanders split from the ancestors of the Inupiat about 1000 years ago and we've developed seperately, in culture, technology, what have you. My family never refered to us as Inuit, choosing Native, Inupiat, or Eskimo instead. I don't refer to myself, or even really consider myself, as Inuk even tho on a technicality I am.

I don't mind the idea of nalauģmiut drawing traditional tattoos. Like using the word eskimo, I think prioritizing the idea that it should never be done can ultimately do as much harm to the quieter communities involved (the Inuit and Inupiat are not the only peoples with women's face tattoos and non-natives rarely try to educate themselves on our cultures or look into white-passing folks' cultural backgrounds) as good. That said, people tend to put in as little research as possible, leading to the cultural practices portrayed being bastardized for the sake of neat fan art. There are other visual aspects to the culture that are entirely for aesthetics, and insisting on tattoos you don't know the rules for or significance of is pretty gross.

No, they're Yup'ik and have just as much a right to these discussions.

They/them

Not against any specific kinds of people, just in forms of interaction. Please don't reblog my posts about eskimo stuff to blogs with a lot of z*tara content. Don't drag me into fandom discourse (if I want to talk about it, I will on my own terms). Don't ask me my opinion on or tell me about your ships unprompted. Do not ask me for my opinion and tell me i'm wrong for having an opinion (yes, this has happened to me already). Do not suggest I'm some kind of bigot for not wanting characters written to resemble people of my culture to be proselytized to (this has also already happened to me). Understand that I'm a disabled adult with bills, a job, and other responsibilities. I will not always have time or energy to respond right away. If you have a question and are unsure if it crosses a line, you can ask me. Private messages are open and asks on the topic will be answered privately

No.

I love when ppl use dnd game mechanics to explain avatar because Sokka is so clearly the guy who wanted to play call of cthulhu instead but got outvoted. This guy wants to use mechanical repair and opperate heavy machinery rolls and spend luck so bad

Zuko goes to a Water Tribe tattoo artist. He asks for a thirteen but they draw a thirty-one.

Took me some digging, but here you go ^-^

"She" by Green Day is a Mai song

Raw meat and fish is referred to as quaq, and is also frozen. Note that like most dry foods in traditional Inupiaq cuisine, it's served sliced in thin strips and eaten as finger food; it's not, like, cubes or slabs. It's also traditionally dipped in misiģaaq (seal oil).

As for kissing, i mean that the gesture we have that has the same significance and meaning as a kiss is not necessarily contact with lips. While the term eskimo kiss is sometimes used to refer to a bastardization where people rub their noses against each other or another's face, an actual eskimo kiss involves breathing in air around another person, especially air they could have exhaled. The idea is to inhale their essence, like to have a little bit of their soul in yours. Sometimes this involves the kisser's lips brushing against the face of the kissee, especially when done as gently and relaxed as possible, but that's not the objective. The point is the breath, not the lips. While it is technically a different gesture than kissing, it has the same significance and meaning and also involves intimacy between the faces, i consider it just a cultural variation of the same thing

God, ear pull champ Tenzin is such an inspired concept. He'd even meditate while beating everyone at the ear pull. That man was born to kick ass at ear pull

I myself have never gotten to compete due to lack of transportation and being my parents' main source of childcare later not having enough vacation days at work or energy outside of work to dedicate to athletic competition. It's that whole "culture behind a paywall" concept i've brought up before. That said i do have headcanons!

Korra strikes me as someone really into the one foot high kick and partly because it makes for a dramatic pose for the camera.

Bato loves the one hand reach and always does a flip on the blanket toss

Eska is undefeated in the salmon fillet and seal skinning speed competitions

Jinora's into the regalia competitions. She got second place once dispite her youth and has been riding that high for years

Kuruk will jump at the chance to compete in the arm pull. Why? Three words: maximum flirting potential.

Okay i think thats all my drafts post-ursa thirst draft. I might actually be able to get to asks that have been piling up since january or even earlier than that now

Signs of respect are a little different in Inupiaq culture because you don't really see such strict heirarchies of people and places. Bowing to those born into a higher rank is not just a show of respect but also one of submission to the believed inherent superiority of their bloodline. We didn't have that concept (in fact, a leader who expected people to bow would probably be considered a tyrant). Similarly, the ways people show respect towards holy places is based on the belief that holiness is more concentrated in these places. The "holy" in Inupiaq culture is all around us; the very air we breathe is made of souls and we only live another day because the entire world around us permits it.

What this means is the way you show respect is more habitual than gestural. It's things like not looking people in the eye or turning your body to face them (boundary crossing, you traditionally only do these things if you're about to throw a punch or have sexual interest in the person), or taking the seat closest to the entrance when hosting company (it's gonna be the coldest spot so making your guest sit there is a dick move). Not interrupting someone (pauses don't mean someone is done, no matter how long) and not being too terribly loud among people you see day to day (we're a quiet people who can enjoy each other's silence) are also good ways to show respect.

I think there was more i intended to add onto this but it's been months. I'm always happy to chat if you have further questions

[I am SOOO sorry this took so long! Tumblr kept not saving my progress when i tapped "save draft" so i had to rewrite a few of these passages a few different times]

Don't worry about asking, friend, i get cultural questions all the time and i'm happy to share.

Note: my knowledge is almost entirely based on coastal tundra peoples with access to marine mammals. That's not to say it's impossible for people to live farther inland, just that it's not my area of expertise.

Clothing

Just about everything you wear is going to come off of a dead animal. This doesn't necessarily need to be the case if your fictional culture has a means of raising hardy livestock for fiber and a history of woven textiles, but even then skin clothes are warm and generally quite hard-wearing and are a good fit for living in these circumstances.

This amount of fur means lice are a perpetual problem. If you want to make that an immersive part of the game, you can work in a mechanic for checking scalps and clothing and bedding for lice.

Bird skins can also be used for clothing and waterfowl specifically has the benefit of water resistance. Fish skin can also be used for similar properties. Animal intestines can be made into a waterproof material if sewn with sinew and soaked before finishing.

On that note i'd recommend making a list of available animals and what qualities and textures their skins and furs have. Even if you don't intend on being incredibly descriptive with clothing, it's something better to have and not need than need and not have. And if you do anything else creative in a similar setting you have your nifty little source to consult.

When it comes to the actual construction of the clothes, you want a loose fit. Trapped air ia a great insulator and you want clothes to be easy to move in. Another benefit for loose-fitting upper body garments in cold weather is you can pull your arms in and keep them by your much warmer core. Not only will this option keep you comfortable, it can also prevent muscle injury or getting frostbite

Mittens can be worn on a string yoke. This doesn't have to be exclusive to children either. Wind can pick up out of nowhere and lost mittens means fingers exposed to arctic cold which can mean gangreen and amputations down the line.

Swimming or running to deliver a message may involve stripping nude, even in cold. Clothes soaked in water or sweat are deadly in the cold.

Clothes may be stored in bags outside when not in use. The low temperatures can kill bugs and bacteria. On a similar note, boots and coats are best to be hung to dry as soon as one is indoors for the day. This may mean it's normal for people to be topless indoors.

Boots should never have holes or tears. Frostbite and resulting gangreen is already bad enough but you especially do not want it on your feet

Shelter

You're going to want dwellings to have as few rooms and windows as possible and small doors. The fewer walls you have, the easier it is for heat to circulate throughout the whole dwelling. You'll probably want one room separating the door and where you sleep. Remember: trapped air is a great insulator.

The culture I've reconnected with is semi-nomadic so the permanent houses are not always occupied and a village can seem abandoned when it's just on its "off season". You can take that or leave it depending on what you're going for.

Even if the dwelling is not a tent, you're probably still going to have poles serving as a supporting frame.

Sod houses are common due to the availability of sod (the grass and the dirt its roots are tangled in). Tents made of warm, waterproof skins (like walrus skin) are also an option.

An easy way to insulate such a dwelling is to build a wall of packed snow around and fill the gaps with loose, airy snow. This traps air the same way down feathers do.

Non-Food Resource Gathering

While I imagine you meant obtaining resources outside of hunting, in a tundra or tundra-like setting, a lot of your resources are going to come from dead animals. Your garments and shelters and bedding are likely to be made of animal skins, with hollow and/or fluffy fur for warmth, or smoked intestine or fish skin, sewn with tiny stitches and soaked to keep everything flush, for waterproof boots and overlayers. Antlers and tusks are good carving materials for things like spoons and closures and slabs for armor and handles and also talismans and smoking pipes and beads and art. Baleen is good for art too, as well as boot soles and smaller sleds and beautiful baskets. Sinew and rawhide are good for thread, ties, and rope. Bones have a near infinite amount of uses from tiny wing bones to make sewing needles to huge whale bones used to build houses.

For the purposes of working this into a roleplaying game, i'd second the recommendation of keeping a list of animals in your universe and their properties, as well as the things that can be gathered from or made of them. A sort of crafting recipe guide would allow all kinds of quests and sidequests.

There are, of course, non-animal resources to gather for non-eating purposes. Soapstone is the traditional material for oil lamps. Grasses can be woven into baskets for any number of purposes, including supports to give the uppers of one's boots more structure. Wood, in the form of slices of tree trunks, can be hollowed out into bowls and small tubs and buckets or, as logs or slats, can make up flooring. Sturdy branches can be used for frames in houses, boats, and drums, and tree resin makes both good glue and antibiotic salve for closed wounds. Sod, also called turf, makes a good building material and moss is exellent insulation in boots. You can make a list of these too, if it helps.

If your fictional culture has a strong tradition of metallurgy, then they'd also mine for metal that can be used for knives. If not, slate is another option that requires significantly less fire. You could even have both and make the metal a status symbol.

Fun Details to Represent

There are so many lovely little things that show up in arctic cultures

First, a gift economy. Where a cash economy relies on a fairly individualistic culture where you work for someone else to earn capital and exchange that capital for goods and services, a more collectivist and interdependent culture natural to the harsh conditions of the tundra tends to result in a gift economy. The currency in a gift economy, to perhaps oversimplify, is favors. Someone does you a good turn, you remember that, and when you're in a position to help, you return the favor. Usually this means basic material things like hospitality and food, but the "gifts" exchanged can also be luck! King Islander boys would often wish hunters setting out at dawn good luck, with a slab of driftwood as a token of that luck, and if the hunters were successful, they'd give the boys who wished them luck a share of their catch. I believe it was Frank Ellana who remenised that this was what the world was like before money.

Another thing that would be nice to include is parenting practices considered fairly gentle to a Euro-American perspective. Physical punishments are traditionally treated as abuse and scolding a child is not only seen as wrong but something an adult ought to be ashamed of. Discipline is instead a series of moral lessons, teaching children why what they did was wrong and using stories as examples of the consequences. Given the amount of stories about the dangers of abusing a spouse or child, i'd say a lot of these lessons were proactive and preventative. Knowing someone will be hurt by it is considered enough of a deterrence to stop bad behaviors. Traditional potty training, for example, is also gentler in comparison; starting at a younger age (about six months) with more emphasis on praise and encouragment than routine. The goal here is to teach the baby to signal when they need to go so they can be taken out of mama's atigi and relieve themself in a hygenic manner instead of holding it until they get permission. Even our take on kissing is based on inhaling instead of pecking with the lips. This kind of gentleness is usually overlooked to instead focus on the badass hunter image or overall "cuteness" so it would be nice for it to be referenced.

Oral histories would be pretty neat too. I think the idea of learning to be a historian of oral histories is an interesting one and i think it has a lot of potential plot hooks for an rpg.

That's all i have for now. Sorry for the delayed response time. Happy gaming, and i'm always up for further discussion if you would like ^-^

Inupiaq Books

This post was inspired by learning about and daydreaming about visiting Birchbark Books, a Native-owned bookstore in Minneapolis, so there will be some links to buy the books they have on this list.

Starting Things Off with Two Inupiaq Poets

Joan Naviyuk Kane, whose available collections include:

Hyperboreal

Black Milk Carbon

The Cormorant Hunter's Wife

She also wrote Dark Traffic, but this site doesn't seem to carry any copies

Dg Nanouk Okpik, whose available collections include

Blood Snow

Corpse Whale

Fictionalized Accounts of Historical Events

A Line of Driftwood: the Ada Blackjack Story by Diane Glancy, also available at Birchwood Books, is a fictionalized account of Ada Blackjack's experience surviving the explorers she was working with on Wrangel Island, based on historical records and Blackjack's own diary.

Goodbye, My Island by Rie Muñoz is a historical fiction aimed at younger readers with little knowledge of the Inupiat about a little girl living on King Island. Reads a lot like an American Girl book in case anyone wants to relive that nostalgia

Blessing's Bead by Debby Dahl Edwardson is a Young Adult historical fiction novel about hardships faced by two generations of girls in the same family, 70 years apart. One reviewer pointed out that the second part of the book, set in the 1980s, is written in Village English, so that might be a new experience for some of you

Photography

Menadelook: and Inupiaq Teacher's Photographs of Alaska Village Life, 1907-1932 edited by Eileen Norbert is, exactly as the title suggests, a collection of documentary photographs depicting village life in early 20th century Alaska.

Nuvuk, the Northernmost: Altered Land, Altered Lives in Barrow, Alaska by David James Inulak Lume is another collection of documentary photographs published in 2013, with a focus on the wildlife and negative effects of climate change

Guidebooks (i only found one specifically Inupiaq)

Plants That We Eat/Nauriat Niģiñaqtuat: from the Traditional Wisdom of Iñupiat Elders of Northwest Alaska by Anore Jones is a guide to Alaskan vegetation that in Inupiat have subsisted on for generations upon generations with info on how to identify them and how they were traditionally used.

Anthropology

Kuuvangmiut Subsistence: Traditional Eskimo Life in the Latter Twentieth Century by Douglas B. Anderson et al details traditional lifestyles and subsistance customs of the Kobuk River Inupiat

Life at the Swift Water Place: Northwest Alaska at the Threshold of European Contact by Douglas D. Anderson and Wanni W. Anderson: a multidisciplinary study of a specific Kobuk River group, the Amilgaqtau Yaagmiut, at the very beginning of European and Asian trade.

Upside Down: Seasons Among the Nunamiut by Margaret B. Blackman is a collection of essays reflecting on almost 20 years of anthropological fieldwork focused on the Nunamiut of Anuktuvuk Pass: the traditional culture and the adaption to new technology.

Nonfiction

Firecracker Boys: H-Bombs, Inupiat Eskimos, and the Roots of the Environmental Movement by Dan O'Neill is about Project Chariot. In an attempt to find peaceful uses of wartime technology, Edward Teller planned to drop six nukes on the Inupiaq village of Point Hope, officially to build a harbor but it can't be ignored that the US government wanted to know the effects radiation had on humans and animals. The scope is wider than the Inupiat people involved and their resistance to the project, but as it is no small part of this lesser discussed moment of history, it only feels right to include this

Fifty Miles From Tomorrow: a Memoir of Alaska and the Real People by William L. Iģģiaģruk Hensley is an autobiography following the author's tradition upbringing, pursuit of an education, and his part in the Alaska Native Settlement Claims Act, where he and other Alaska Native activists had to teach themselves United States Law to best lobby the government for land and financial compensation as reparations for colonization.

Sadie Bower Neakok: An Iñupiaq Woman by Margaret B. Blackman is a biography of the titular Sadie Bower Neakok, a beloved public figure of Utqiagvik, former Barrow. Neakok grew up one of ten children of an Inupiaq woman named Asianggataq, and the first white settler to live in Utqiagvik/Barrow, Charles Bower. She used the out-of-state college education she received to aid her community as a teacher, a wellfare worker, and advocate who won the right for Native languages to be used in court when defendants couldn't speak English, and more.

Folktales and Oral Histories

Folktales of the Riverine and Costal Iñupiat/Unipchallu Uqaqtuallu Kuungmiuñļu Taģiuģmiuñļu edited by Wanni W. Anderson and Ruth Tatqaviñ Sampson, transcribed by Angeline Ipiiļik Newlin and translated by Michael Qakiq Atorak is a collection of eleven Inupiaq folktales in English and the original Inupiaq.

The Dall Sheep Dinner Guest: Iñupiaq Narratives of Northwest Alaska by Wanni W. Anderson is a collection of Kobuk River Inupiaq folktales and oral histories collected from Inupiat storytellers and accompanied by Anderson's own essays explaining cultural context. Unlike the other two collections of traditional stories mentioned on this list, this one is only written in English.

Ugiuvangmiut Quliapyuit/King Island Tales: Eskimo Historu and Legends from Bering Strait compiled and edited by Lawrence D. Kaplan, collected by Gertrude Analoak, Margaret Seeganna, and Mary Alexander, and translated and transcribed by Gertrude Analoak and Margaret Seeganna is another collection of folktales and oral history. Focusing on the Ugiuvangmiut, this one also contains introductions to provide cultural context and stories written in both english and the original Inupiaq.

The Winter Walk by Loretta Outwater Cox is an oral history about a pregnant widow journeying home with her two children having to survive the harsh winter the entire way. This is often recommended with a similar book detailing Athabascan survival called Two Old Women.

Dictionaries and Language Books

Iñupiat Eskimo Dictionary by Donald H. Webster and Wilfred Zibell, with illustrations by Thelma A. Webster, is an older Inupiaq to English dictionary. It predates the standardization of Inupiaq spelling, uses some outdated and even offensive language that was considered correct at the time of its publication, and the free pdf provided by UAF seems to be missing some pages. In spite of this it is still a useful resource. The words are organized by subject matter rather than alphabetically, each entry indicating if it's specific to any one dialect, and the illustrations are quite charming.

Let's Learn Eskimo by Donald H. Webster with illustrations by Thelma A. Webster makes a great companion to the Iñupiat Eskimo Dictionary, going over grammar and sentence structure rather than translations. The tables of pronouns are especially helpful in my opinion.

Ilisaqativut.org also has some helpful tools and materials and recommendations for learning the Inupiat language with links to buy physical books, download free pdfs, and look through searchable online versions

Putrid takes are unfortunately a dime a dozen in this fandom. Sorry you had to experience one but i'm glad one of mine could work as a palette cleanser

I don't have the energy to plan a whole Kuspuk Week Prompts list so anyone who wants to draw Avatar characters in kuspuks can consider Feb 29-Mar 6 an "oops all free days" kinda thing. Let inspiration take over or whatever and most importantly have fun

Remember kids: always credit examples of Indigenous craftsmanship to the best of your abilities! Not only should you always credit people who make the things you show people on the internet, but Indigenous cultures are always going to be presented by colonialist powers as less civilized, less human, less noteworthy, and crediting artisans, as subtle and neutral an action it may seem, does a fair bit to discredit that biased presentation.

Mundane AU Katara wearing a beaded hair barrette she got from a seller at an AFN convention. You agree