Pacific Eskimo - Sociopolitical Organization



Aboriginally, none of three Pacific Eskimo groupings formed a cohesive group. Rather, the local village was the basic sociopolitical entity. There was a class structure of nobles, Commoners, and slaves, and the village leadership was inherited by men of the noble class. Some chiefs evidently ruled more than one village. In 1980, the Pacific Eskimo lived in fifteen villages, five towns, and cities in Alaska. Incorporation as business entities has involved the village corporations in new forms of social and political relationships with one another and with American Indian groups, the state government, the federal government, and various business interests.


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