Reference Library
click on one of the continents below to view their reference material and books on whaling
Asia - North America - North Atlantic - General
North America Library
See also the Review section where "See Review" is indicated.
Faith, Food and Family in a Yupik Whaling Community.
Jolles, Carol Zane, with Elinor Mikaghaq Oozeva 2002. 364 pp., illus., maps. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
ISBN 0-295-98189-X (cloth) $50; ISBN 0-295-98188-1 (paper) $24.95.
This book describes the enduring beliefs and values that contribute to this Alaskan Yupik whaling community's survival and adaptability over the centuries. The author documents the life and livelihood of this modern community of marine mammal hunters and explores the ways in which religion is woven into the lives of community members, paying particular attention to the roles of women. Her account conveys a powerful sense of the lasting bonds between those who live in Gambell, their spiritual world, both past and present, and their devotion to a subsistence way of life.
For more information on the U of Washington Press website:
http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/JOLFAC.html
Indigenous Ways to the Present: Native Whaling in the Western Arctic.
McCartney, Allen P. (editor) 2003. iv + 432 pp., photos, figures, tables. Canadian Circumpolar Institute Press, Edmonton (ISBN 1-896445-25-X) $30, and University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City (ISBN 0-87480-814-6).
A volume of essays that trace Native bowhead whaling practices in Alaska and Chukotka over the past 2000 years. The book also discusses the influence of changing environmental conditions, including major climatic changes, on whaling in the Western Arctic.
Small-scale whaling in North America.
Milton M.R. Freeman. 2001 pp. 169-194 in J.R. McGoodwin, Understanding the Cultures of Fishing Communities: A Key to Fisheries Management and Food Security.
FAO Technical Paper 401. FAO, Rome. ISBN 92-5-104606-9
Ancient Land: Sacred Whale
.Lowenstein, Tom 1999. xxiv + 166 pp. Hawill Press, London, UK. ISBN 1-80046-575-7. US$14
Hunting the Largest Animals: Native Whaling in the Western Arctic and Subarctic.
McCartney, Allen P. (editor) 1995. xi + 345 pp. photos, maps, tables.
This collection offers a perspective on Alaskan and Western Canadian Arctic coastal societies that have depended on hunting large and small whale species for centuries. Relying on these important resources not only for food and fuel, but also as an integrating feature of their social organization and economic and belief systems, these societies continue their customary whaling practices and identify as whaling peoples today. Archaeological and ethnohistoric reports of aboriginal whaling in Alaska, with reports on contemporary Alaskan bowhead whaling villages and hunts, a panel presentation by Alaskan bowhead whaling captains, and an essay "Whaling: a ritual of life". Canadian Circumpolar Institute, Edmonton. ISBN 0-919058-95-7. C$20 in Canada and US$20 overseas.
A Whale Hunt (Two Years on the Olympic Peninsula with the Makah and their Canoe).
Sullivan, Robert 2000. 235 pp. Scribener, New York, London & Toronto. ISBN 0-684-86433-9. US$25
Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, A Sacred Tradition.
Hess, Bill 1999. vii + 266 pp, photos. Sasquatch Books, Seattle. ISBN 1-57061-163-7. US$60
Recovering Rights: Bowhead Whales and Inuvialuit Subsistence in the Western Canadian Arctic
Freeman, Milton, Eleanor Wein and Darren Keith. 1992
xv + 155 pp, photos, map, tables. Canadian Circumpolar Institute, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2E1, Canada. ISBN 0-919058-79-5. C$10 in Canada, US$10 overseas.
Hunting bowhead whales was a very significant ancestral activity for Inuit living in the Canadian Western Arctic. However, successive social dislocations, beginning with high mortality resulting from diseases introduced by commercial whalers early in the 20th century, led to a seventy-year interruption in bowhead whaling in this region of the western Canadian Arctic. This book describes events leading to the successful resumption of bowhead whaling in this region in 1991, preparations for and conduct of the 1991 hunt, and the social response and cultural importance of this historic event.
Inuit, Whaling, and Sustainability (See Review )
Freeman, Milton, Lyudmila Bogoslovskaya, Richard Caulfield, Ingmar Egede, Igor Krupnik and Marc Stevenson. 1998
Contents: Foreword by Aqqaluk Lynge, President, Inuit Circumpolar Conference / Introduction: A Book on Inuit Whaling? / The Importance of Inuit Whaling Today / Whaling by Inuit: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow / Human Rights and the International Whaling Commission / A Review of Whaling Management Regimes / Challenges to the Sustainable Use of Whales by Inuit / Securing the Future of Inuit Whaling / Epilogue: Inuit and Whales. 208 pp, photos, map, table, glossary, index. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, London, and New Delhi. ISBN 0-7619-9062-3 (hardcover), 0-7619-9063-1 (paperback). $52 hardcover, $24.95 paperback.
A Window on Whaling in British Columbia
Goddard, Joan. 1997
114 pp., photos, maps, glossary, index. Jonah Publications, 3974 Lexington Avenue, Victoria B.C. V8N 3Z6. ISBN 1-895332-14-1. Can$16.95, US$12.95.
Inuit, whalers, and cultural persistence: structure in Cumberland Sound and Central Inuit social organization
Stevenson, Marc G. 1997
400 pp. Oxford University Press, Toronto, New York. ISBN 0-19-541217-6. Can$24.95 (paperback).