Eskimo or Inuit: What ethnonym do museums use in displaying art and material culture?

Eskimo or Inuit: What ethnonym do museums use in displaying art and material culture?

Ashley Phifer

The ethnonyms Eskimo and Inuit are often times misunderstood and misrepresented. This misrepresentation also occurs in museum settings which raise issues dealing with repatriation, NAGPRA and ethnic labeling. Literary review on the ethnonyms Eskimo and Inuit was performed. Ten museums in the southern peninsula of Michigan were surveyed in terms of display labels and classification of Eskimo and Inuit art and material culture housed in their respective museum collections. Survey results showed that a majority of positively responding institutions classify art and material culture of Arctic indigenous people using the term Inuit. Further results showed that many reporting museums do not have collections policies that allow the museum to decipher between Eskimo and Inuit. This research is intended to shed light on an unrecognized issue in museums in the United States that can have cultural, societal, representational, and even legal issues.

Keywords: museum, Eskimo, Inuit, label, ethnonym, plate

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