Sharing and the ideology of subsistence in a Greenlandic sealing community

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Nuttall, Mark
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1991
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; greenlandic; inuit; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400012602; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400012602

Abstract Seal hunting remains of vital importance to Inuit culture, but the value of seal meat extends beyond nutritional and dietary requirements. This article focuses on the contemporary ideology of subsistence in a Greenlandic scaling community, with particular reference to the sharing of seal meat. Seal hunting is not cash-oriented and therefore seal meat is not regarded as a commodity. When it is shared or given away as a gift it expresses the relationships people share with each other. Sharing cements bonds of kinship and close social association and remains a distinctive statement of community.