Dana Bohan

A Struggle to Sustain The Kalallit’s Struggle to Sustain an Ancient Whaling Culture in the Heart of Arctic Greenland Throughout this poster it is important to maintain the understanding of Whales as animals necessary for human sustainability. Americans rely on cows and chicken and a variety of other animal produce on a daily basis. The Kalallit’s dependence on whale is physically no different, yet their dependence is greater for the cultural importance the whales hold within their arctic community.

Is Whaling Ever Right?

Necessities of Culture and Sustainability

Cultural relativism asks that anthropologists base their studies of each cultural practice on its own individual merit, outside of western ideas. Yet how is this same relative concept applied to practices with real global effects on world ecosystems? This poster will discuss these questions in relation to the practice of whaling by the Kalallit, the community of Arctic Inuit people of Greenland. We will look at the cultural and physical significance of the whale in Kalallit culture and how limitations set forth by the International Whaling Committee (IWC) and anti-whaling groups is invading the cultural practices of these arctic people.

The Kalallit focus their hunt on the Minke and Fin whales. While there are ten varieties of whale in proximity to Greenland, many are protected by international law . While some hunts are conducted by smaller groups, often many members of a community join together in a collective hunt. In a typical hunt more than thirty boats, or sixty hunters, may participate in the pursuit of just one Minke whale (Caulfield 104). This meat is then divided equally amongst each involved in a blind process meant to ensure equal distribution. Individuals involved then divvy their allotted meat among their family or sell either to the kalaaliaraq, the processing plant, or by individual sales. Whale meat is primarily used for nutritional purposes. It is used in a variety of traditional Greenlandic dishes, including Suasset, a hearty soup made with Whale and Barley. The sharing of food is very important part of daily life in Greenland. Gifts of meat or fish, called pajugat, are distributed by hunters as a thank you to those who have helped them. Hunters also give gifts of piniutoqanngitsut to those who are unable to hunt for themselves. Regardless of economic standing, all members of the Kalallit community share these gifts equally (Caulfied 71). This exchange is vital to the collective unity of the community. As whaling is limited, these practices decrease. Not only does the limitation whaling hinder the food available to the Kalallit but the cultural exchanges which are vital to community stability. The limitations of the IWC have put great strains on this practice. The allowed Minke whale is much smaller than whales more commonly used in the Greenlandic historic. This strains not only the amount of food available for families but the amount of remaining meat which hunters can sell. While the only source of income for many, the IWC has turned down requests for an increase in the annual quota of whales allotted to Greenland in both 2007 and 2008; Greenland had not demonstrated a real need for the meat

What is this to us? The case of the Kalallit is extremely relevant to the study of Anthropology. Not only does it present a traditional cultural practice being limited by western ideas, the case of the Kalallit touches on an overarching conflict between culture, sustainability, and the environment. The conflict between the Kalallit and the International Whaling Committee (IWC) is one that can be related to many other conflicts between culture and sustainability. All global communities have varying opinions on the environment and how humans should interact with the natural world. This conflict between society and sustainability is increasingly pertinent to today’s world where modern thought and ancient practices collide. The study of the Kalallit whaling practices also relates to existing conflicts between cultural practice and modern law. While Greenland recognizes the large cultural and physical significance of whaling within its country, it is under the regulation of the IWC because of actions of the Danish Government, the former ruling power of Greenland. Modern Danish laws were imposed upon the largely Inuit population of Greenland, leaving the Kalallit people marginalized without local or national ability to withdraw from the international body to which their later independent country was involuntarily subjected. In one signature whale ecosystems were placed over human necessity.

Speaking for the Whales

Nothing New The Kalallit have been whaling for over 4,000 years. Up until the 1700’s, the Kalallit would board their handmade animal skin boats to hunt for bowhead and humpback whales. As Danish colonization began to take hold in Greenland, Inuit began to create new wooden boats as well as metal tipped harpoons for more efficient hunting. Despite these slight advances, however, the Greenlandic whale supply began to be drained by the Industrial Whaling practices of Europe. The Kalallit, relying heavily on whale meat for both physical and cultural needs, struggled to maintain. Today, the Kalallit relies on small scale community hunts and collective hunting for whale products. The quota of whales set forth by the IWC, however, has limited the amount of available whale meat, forcing many hunters to sell their meat at local markets and distribute their already small quantities to more members of the community to ensure their cultural and physical sustainability. It is important to note that the sale of whale meat is still a part of Kalallit culture and subsistence whaling. The sale of whale products to kin or others is not a form of western capitalist enhancement, but merely a way of acquiring sufficient wealth to obtain other necessities as they must rely on other materials which were previously unnecessary when more whale was available. The Greenlandic people do not rely on one form of technology for their hunt. Modern technology is often applied in the use of harpoons and outboard motors (Caulfield 145). While merely an advancement in technology, the use of these weapons has weakened the image of the Kalallit for the lack of authenticity outsiders observe. References Anderson, David G. 2000 Review: Inuit, Whaling, and Sustainability. American Ethnologist 4(27): 999-1000.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/

Black, Richard. 2008. Greenland Seeks Whaling Breakaway, BBC News Website, September 12. Retrieved: 2.20.09 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7611617.stm Borré, Kristen 1991 Seal Blood, Inuit Blood, and Diet: A Biocultural Model of Physiology and Cultural Identity. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 5(1):48-62. www.Jstor.org Caulfield, Richard A. 1997. Greenlanders, Whales, and Whaling: Sustainability and Self-Determination in the Arctic: University Press of New England. Clarke, Sarah. 2007 IWC Votes Against Greenland Indigenous Whaling. ABC news, June 27.Retrieved: 2.20.09 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/27/2287381.htm

D’Amato, Anthony.1991. Whales: Their Emerging Right to Life. American Journal of International Law, Vol. 85. Retrieved: 3. 22.09 Nuttall, Mark 2000 Review: Inuit, Whaling, and Sustainability. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 6(2):364-365. Homepage of the International Whaling Committee http://www.iwcoffice.org/index.htm World Council of Whalers: The United Voice of Whaling Peoples’ http://www.worldwhalers.com/whaling_around_the_world/greenland.htm http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200806/r264612_1104992.jpg http://forces.si.edu/arctic/04_00_02.html http://www.scienceclarified.com/everyday/images/scet_03_img0259.jpg

It is the view of many that the whaling population is one which affects the entire global ecosystem and is therefore under international law. Many anti-whaling groups also disprove of whaling for humanitarian reasons. Some would argue that the Inuit do have other resources to support their sustainability and therefore the whales should not be hunted. “The Inuit’s claims are at the expense of an overlooked voice— the anguished cry—of the sentient inhabitants of the deep (D’ Amato 59).” While culturally insensitive, many would place the sustainability of the whale population above the survival of the cultural practices. The limitations set Forth on whaling, however, are also causing increase strains on other ecosystems. Outside of the whaling industry, Greenland amounts the majority of its GNP to fishing and hunting. With limitations on whaling, many Kalallit have been forced to turn to Other areas of economic opportunity. In 1995, nearly 80% of Greenland’s income was the result of the fishing and selling of cold water shrimp. The average yearly catch of 80,000 tons of shrimp is maximizing the sustainable level of shrimp stocks in Greenlandic waters (Caulfield 43). The limitations being set forth by the IWC are therefore both interfering with the cultural rights of the Kalallit but the Greenlandic ecosystems which its policies are meant to maintain.

In the End… The cultural right of the Kalallit to whale is being invaded by international limitations on whaling practices. The Kalallit have been whaling for over four thousand years and rely on this practice for sustainability. While international protection of the environment is necessary to a degree, it is imperative that the cultural rights of communities also be respected. The IWC has overstepped the cultural rights of the Kalallit and ought to go to further lengths to respect the large Inuit population of Greenland. While I respect the wishes of the IWC to manage whale populations, there are cultural boundaries which ought to be upheld.