Siku and the Qalupalik
Siku and the Qalupalik By Yu May [Author’s note: Some western anthropologists have made visits to the various inuit and yupik peoples of northern Canada, Alaska, and Russia. The term “eskimo” was once commonly used to describe these groups as a whole, but has since become outdated. Because some western anthropologists have claimed that the inuit people have a cultural dislike for displays of anger, and have written charming accounts of inuit parents showing remarkable patience toward their young children, this has led to the creation of an internet myth that inuit parents never spank their children, and use storytelling as their sole means of discipline and punishment. The easiest explanation for the rise of this myth is that it serves as a sort of “noble savage” archetype, which can easily be disproved by reading first-hand accounts from inuits, who have both a term for corporal punishment, and have openly discussed corporal punishment as a traditional form of punishment for chi...