This bibliography builds upon The Health of the Eskimos: A Bibliography 1857-1967, compiled by Robert Fortuine, M.D., and published in 1968 by the Stefansson Collection of the Dartmouth College Libraries. It brought together published (and to a limited extent unpublished) texts relating to the health of the Inuit of Canada, Greenland, and Alaska and of the Aleuts of Alaska. The book, now out of print, is available in most larger libraries.
The bibliography includes information on the Canadian Inuit of the Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, Nouveau Quebec, and Labrador. In Alaska the work encompasses the Inupiat of the northern and northwestern parts of the state, the Central Yup'ik of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Bristol Bay, the Siberian Yup'ik of St. Lawrence Island, the Alutiiq-speaking people of Kodiak Island and the North Pacific Rim, and finally, the Aleuts of the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. "Inuit" is obviously too imprecise a term to be applied correctly to all these diverse groups, yet no more suitable word suggests itself. And, indeed, all the groups listed have ethnic, biological, cultural, and linguistic traits in common. They also share a common northern environment and many similar health problems. In 1977 the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, held in Barrow, Alaska, officially adopted "Inuit" as a general designation for Eskimos, whatever the local name.
This bibliography is designed to be an easily accessible and useful reference not only for physicians, biomedical researchers, anthropologists, and historians, but also for the Inuit themselves, who in recent years rightfully are assuming, both in Canada and Alaska, a major and ever-increasing role in the management and staffing of their own health programs. It is to these Inuit that our effort is dedicated.
Notes
SMM Nov 2004
Published originally by Arctic Medical Research, Vol. 52, Suppl. 8, 1993.