“THE GREAT PEOPLE…”
I made a big stink about terms and preferring “Inupiaq”
above everything else. I don’t speak Inupiaq but I know that we refer to
different groups of people with certain words. For example, Naluaqmiu is the Inupiaq word for white
person. Itqialaq is the Inupiaq word
for Indian. I’ve often wondered, what is the direct translation for Inupiaq? I wonder what it means because it can provide
some insight into how we view ourselves as a people and our place in this
world. As it turns it out, it literally means “the Great People.” Really? Not really, I’m just kidding.
But I am on a mission to find out what it means so more on this later.
IGLAAQ - THE TRAVELER
Why did I choose the Inupiaq word “Iglaaq” as my blog title?
It means traveler, newly arrived guest, stranger, etc. I was perusing Inupiaq
words and phrases in search of a clever and interesting title and considered
using “Aigaksiruna – I’m going home.” But for the first part of my blog I
decided to use Iglaaq because that is
how I’ve felt at times, a traveler, stranger. First, a stranger in the outside
world and second, a stranger, a guest, in Kotzebue.
A traveler is a person who travels to foreign, distant
lands. While the traveler is a stranger in foreign lands, that person still has
a base, a home country. At times I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. I wasn’t
raised at home and I didn’t fit into the dominant culture. It is a strange paradox
because although Kotzebue was always home, there were times when I couldn’t
help but feel like a visitor, a guest.
I find that as my identity as an Inupiaq woman gets
stronger, the less I feel like a traveler or stranger.
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