Illuweet (Teasing Cousin) Songs as an Expression of King Island Inupiaq Identity

• Main Author: Kingston, Deanna M.
• Other Authors: Gross, Joan, Oregon State University. Graduate School
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Folk songs; Inupiaq; Inupiat
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/b5644w547

This thesis describes how illuweet or teasing cousin songs are an expression of King Island Inupiaq identity. It is based upon ten months of intermittent participation observation and fieldwork. In the summer of 1991, my uncle, Alex Allughuk Muktoyuk, began teaching Inupiaq songs and dances to a group of displaced Inupiat living in Tacoma, Washington. Of the eleven songs that he taught this group, six had occurred between illuweet or teasing cousins. However, a review of the literature on Inupiaq songs rarely mentioned these kinds of songs. By reviewing the literature on ethnic identity, Inupiaq family relations and Inupiaq song and humor, it is concluded that my uncle taught these six songs as a way to express his King Island Inupiaq identity and of proving his connection to the community from which he has been separated for approximately 30 years.