Seamstresses played an integral part in the success of northern hunting and gathering lifestyles by providing functional clothing. Traditional clothing provided more than protection from the harsh arctic environment. It also communicated group identity, gender, age, and status. Changing lifestyles and the availability of new materials altered the procedures used to create traditional clothing styles. The purpose of this paper is to identify environmental, cultural, religious, and political factors influencing temporal variations in skin clothing production techniques used by seamstresses in highly traditional societies. Data was collected using participant-observation and attribute analysis in Qaanaaq, Greenland Cultural, economic, religious, environmental, and political factors influencing changes in style features, construction techniques, and materials used in traditional ensembles are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Baizerman, S. (1987). Textiles, traditions and tourist art: Hispanic weaving in northern New Mexico. Unpublished dissertation. UMI Dissertation Information Services, 8726028.
2.
Bass, B., & Eicher, J. (1980). Analysis of historic and contemporary dress: An African example. Home Economics Research Journal, 8, 318-326.
3.
Birket-Smith, K. (1924). Ethnography of the Egedesminde District, with aspects of the general culture of West Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland, 66, 1-476.
4.
Boas, F. (1901-1907). The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 15, 1-570.
5.
Burgess, R. (1984). In the field: An introduction to field research . London: George Allen & Unwin .
6.
Cordwell, J., & Schwartz, R. (1979). From the fabrics of culture: The anthropology of clothing and adornment. The Hague: Mouton.
7.
Cranz, D. (1767). The history of Greenland: Containing a description of the country, and its inhabitants; and particularly, a relation of the mission carried on for above these thirty years by the Unitas Fratrium, at New Herrnhuth and Lichtenfels, in that country. 2 Vols. London: Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel Among the Heathen.
8.
Daly, M. (1984). Use of the ethnographic approach as interpretive science within the field of Home Economics. Textiles and clothing as an example . Home Economics Research Journal, 12, 354-362.
9.
Ekblaw, W. (1927-1928). The material response of the Polar Eskimo to their far arctic environment. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 18, 1-24.
10.
Erekosima, T., & Eicher, J. (1981). Kalabari cut-thread and pulled-thread cloth. African Arts, 14, 48-51, 87.
11.
Ewers, J. (1961). Symposium on the concept of ethnohistory. Ethnohistory, 8, 262-270.
12.
Fenton, W. (1966). Field work, museum studies, and ethnohistorical research. Ethnohistory,13, 71-85.
13.
Fitzhugh, W. (1984). Paleo-Eskimo cultures of Greenland. In D. Damas (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Arctic (pp. 528-539). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
14.
Franklin, B., & Osborne, H. (Eds.). (1971). Research methods: Issues and insights. Belmont, CA: Wads-worth .
15.
Gilberg, R. (1983). INUHUIT/Polar-Esldmo: A Greenland minority. In R. Gilberg (Ed.), Arctic culture: The Greenland Eskimo-reader (pp. 65-73). Copenhagen, Denmark: National Museum.
16.
Glazer, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine.
17.
Hamilton, J. (1987). Dress as a cultural sub-system: A unifying metatheory for clothing and textiles. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 6(1), 1-7.
18.
Hamilton, J., & Hamilton, J. (1989). Dress as a reflection and sustainer of social reality: A cross-cultural perspective. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 7(2), 16-22.
19.
Hatt, G. (1914). Arktiske skinddragter i Eurasien og Amerika: An etnografisk studie. Copenhagen, Denmark: J. H. Schultz. (Translation, Arctic Anthropology, 1969, 5(2), 3-132)
20.
Holtved, E. (1967). Contributions to Polar Eskimo ethnography. Meddelelser om Gronland, 182(2), 1-180.
21.
Kaalund, B. (1979). The art of Greenland: Sculpture, crafts, painting . Translation by K. Tindall. Berkeley: University of California Press.
22.
Kaiser, S. (1990). The social psychology of clothing: Symbolic appearances in context (2nd ed.). New York : Macmillan.
23.
Knuth, E. (1981). Greenland news from between 81° and 83° north . Folk,23, 91-111.
24.
Kroeber, A. (1900). The Eskimo of Smith Sound. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 12(21), 265-327.
25.
Laursen, D. (1972). The place names of North Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland, 180(2), 1-443.
26.
Littrell, M. (1980). Home Economists as cross-cultural researchers: A field study of Ghanian clothing selection. Home Economics Research Journal, 8, 307-317.
27.
McCracken, G. (1988). The long interview: Qualitative research methods . Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
28.
McGhee, R. (1979). The Paleoeskimo occupations of Port Refuge, High Arctic Canada. National Museum of Man, Mercury Series (Archeological Survey Paper 92). Ottawa, Ontario: National Museum of Man.
29.
McKinnon, A. (1992). Metis dress in the Red River settlement, 1820-1870 . Unpublished master's thesis, University of Alberta, Edmonton.
30.
Oakes, J. (1987). Factors influencing skin boot production in Arctic Bay, N.W.T. Master's thesis (1985), University of Manitoba. Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury Series (Canadian Ethnology Service No. 107). Ottawa, Ontario: National Museums of Canada.
31.
Oakes, J. (1991a). Environmental factors influencing bird-skin clothing production. Journal of Arctic and Alpine Research, 23(1), 71-79.
32.
Oakes, J. (1991b). Factors influencing Copper and Caribou Inuit skin clothing. Doctoral dissertation (1988), University of Manitoba. Canadian Museum of Civilization Mercury Series (Canadian Ethnology Service No. 118). Ottawa, Ontario: National Museums of Canada.
33.
Oakes, J. (1991c). Utilization of eider down by Ungava Inuit on the Belcher Islands. Canadian Home Economics Journal, 41(2), 84-89.
34.
Oakes, J. (1992). Eider skin garments used by Ungava Inuit from the Belcher Islands, Northwest Territories: Construction and context. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 10(2), 1-10.
35.
Oldendow, K. (1936). Gronland: Folk og land i vore dage. Copenhagen, Denmark: Forlaget Fremad.
36.
Pannabecker, R. (1986). Ribbonwork of the Great Lakes Indians: The material of acculturation. Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 961A-962A.
37.
Pannabecker, R. (1988). The cultural authentication of ribbon: Use and test of a concept. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal , 7(1), 55-56.
38.
Pannabecker, R. (1990). Linking anthropology and history in textiles and clothing research: The ethnohistorical method. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 8(3), 14-18.
39.
Paoletti, J. (1982). Content analysis: Its application to the study of the history of costume. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 1, 14-17.
40.
Pelto, P., & Pelto, G. (1981). Anthropological research: The structure of inquiry . Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
41.
Petersen, R. (1962). The last Eskimo migration into Greenland. Folk,4, 95-110.
42.
Prince, N. (1992). Carrier and Coast Salish dress: An analysis of Hudson's Bay Company clothing influence in 1830-1850. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Alberta.
43.
Rasmussen, K. (1908). The people of the Polar North: A record. G. Herring (Ed.). London: K. Paul, Trench Trubner. (Original work published by Nye Mennesker, Gyldendal, Copenhagen , 1905)
44.
Rasmussen, K. (1921). Thule distriktet. Meddelelser om Gronland, 60, 517-567.
45.
Roach, M., & Musa, K. (1980). New perspectives on the history of western dress . New York: NutriGuides.
46.
Rosing, J. (1986). The sky hangs low. Translated by N. Groves. Moonbeam, Ontario: Penumbra Press. (Original edition in Danish, Himlen er Lav. Aarhus: Warmianum, 1979)
47.
Ross, J. (1819). A voyage of discovery, made under the orders of the admiralty, in His Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander, for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and inquiring into the probability of a north-west passage. London: J. Murray.
48.
Schneider, J. (1987). The anthropology of cloth. Annual Review of Anthropology, 16, 409-448.
49.
Steensby, H. (1910). Contributions to the ethnology and anthropogeography of the Polar Eskimos. Meddelelser om Gronland, 34(7), 253-405.
50.
Thompson, J. (1972). Preliminary study of traditional Kutchin clothing in museums. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
