Subtlety up north

Architectural Review, The, July, 2003 by Andrew Polaszek

ESKIMO ARCHITECTURE: DWELLING AND STRUCTURE IN THE EARLY HISTORIC PERIOD

Molly Lee and Gregory Reinhardt. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. 2003. $45 ([pounds sterling]30)

The Eskimo realm comprises an area mostly north of 60 degrees latitude, from the extreme east of Siberia through coastal Alaska, the Mackenzie Delta to Baffin Island and coastal Greenland, south to the north Labrador coast and northern Quebec. The area has annual temperatures averaging -30 deg C to 10 deg C, and 70-100 winter days during which sunshine is absent. During this period, however, the brilliance of the moon and stars, and the reflected light of the sun from below the horizon confer twilight, not darkness, to the region. In addition to these hardships, the Eskimo diet is severely restricted, consisting almost entirely of animal protein and fat. Their buildings respond to all of these conditions.

Early in the book, the authors justify their use of the currently politically incorrect term 'Eskimo', emphasizing that 'Inuit' (the politically acceptable term) describes only a sub-group of Canadian Eskimos, and is irrelevant for most Siberian, Alaskan and Greenland Eskimos.

Aesthetic considerations have hardly been at the forefront of Eskimo dwelling construction (and the authors' employment of the term 'architecture' has to be questioned), but buildings described have both charm and fascination for anyone with an interest in ecological anthropology, tribal sociology, ethnology and human geography. A systematic and historical analysis of Eskimo dwellings in Greenland, the Central Arctic, Bering Strait and south-west Alaska/Siberia dispels the classical image of the igloo, the house comprised of blocks of snow, as the sole type of Eskimo dwelling. While the igloo remains important, it is the alternation of summer and winter housing, or at least summer/winter entrances to houses that characterizes Eskimo buildings.

This thoroughly researched, and well-illustrated, book includes many excellent and intriguing archival photographs. Straddling with a good measure of success the gap between specialization and popularization, and being very decently priced, it could for some lead to a healthy, wider fascination with Eskimos and their climatically appropriate ways of building.