Acculturation of ethnic play and games of the Inuqujuak-Inuit

　　　　　　　　　Tsuneo SOGAWA (Waseda University)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Abstract

　　　The paper aims to discuss the ethnic play and games of Inuit of Inuqujuak village, Quebec,
Canada, from the view point of acculturation.
　　　The date is mainly the oral information given by Inuit informants when the anthropological
field work was done by the author in December 1995.
　　　Followings were obtained,
1. 　12 out of the 30 items (boxing, archery, wrestling, rope skipping with a float, vertical
jumping in a Igulu, keep away games, jumping high kick, finger pulling, ear pulling, mouth
pulling, arm pulling and neck pulling) disappeared from 1960s to 1980s.
2. 　Most of Ihe disappeared items related strongly to the hunting which was a main traditional
economics of Inuit, so the disappearance seems to have followed the economic change.
3. 　In those days when the Inuit traditional life operated, homes and regional play meetings
worked as a transmit medium of play and games among generations. As the permanent residing
proceeded, however, they worked no more effectively, and TV took the place partly instead.
　　　The alternative transmit mediums were not created yet in Inuqujuak when the author did his
field work.