Most of us in Canada and Greenland prefer to be called Inuit(plural, inuk singular), though there's a thing where older generations care less and actually prefer Eskimo. Also, those located more in the western parts of Inuit lands and sea seem to prefer Eskimo more than those in the east...but the term was first really used heavily in the east so I think Western Arctic people just care less because they don't see as much connection to it and something derogatory.
People definitely try to false flag as inuit, though given we are such a small group its not as common as say, coming across people who think their great great great grandma was a Cherokee princess or whatever. I think if we were bigger, we'd get more pretenders.
Also, I definitely think you're kinda right with your first point... generally, in my anecdotal experience, the people I know focusing on cultural appropriation stuff in its narrow sense are those using it as a tool to set themselves apart from the colonizers while having living conditions and lifestyles more similar to colonizers than the average inuk.
The location thing is really interesting! Thanks for sharing. Also I find it a bit similar in a way where in different countries, there are different words for Roma that may be translated to 'Gypsy' in English but have WAY worse connotations (like 'slave' or 'dirty'). I don't know if there are cases like that for Inuit people.
No problem, happy to provide some insight and I am happy to hear more about your situation given there is a similarity in how mediatized and well known both our groups are such that people who will never meet us generally have some sort of idea in their heads when they hear of us.
Also you can just call us inuit, as it already means people! inuk means person, inuit means people. some areas can say inuuk and it would mean 'two people'.
Ooh thank you for letting me know! That makes sense. It’s kind of opposite with Roma, people will say “the Romani” but Romani is just an adjective so it makes no sense lol
'Romani' basically translates to Roma, as an adjective. Romani fashion, Romani people, etc. Also can be used to be the noun for the Romani language, Roma is both a subgroup of Romani people, can refer to a group of Roma, OR can also be used to mean a singular female Romani woman. Rom is a singular Romani man. Many of our words mean multiple things lol. But the best way to describe us is Romani people, the Roma, or Romani Gypsies :)
Most of us in Canada and Greenland prefer to be called Inuit(plural, inuk singular), though there's a thing where older generations care less and actually prefer Eskimo. Also, those located more in the western parts of Inuit lands and sea seem to prefer Eskimo more than those in the east...but the term was first really used heavily in the east so I think Western Arctic people just care less because they don't see as much connection to it and something derogatory.
People definitely try to false flag as inuit, though given we are such a small group its not as common as say, coming across people who think their great great great grandma was a Cherokee princess or whatever. I think if we were bigger, we'd get more pretenders.
Also, I definitely think you're kinda right with your first point... generally, in my anecdotal experience, the people I know focusing on cultural appropriation stuff in its narrow sense are those using it as a tool to set themselves apart from the colonizers while having living conditions and lifestyles more similar to colonizers than the average inuk.
The location thing is really interesting! Thanks for sharing. Also I find it a bit similar in a way where in different countries, there are different words for Roma that may be translated to 'Gypsy' in English but have WAY worse connotations (like 'slave' or 'dirty'). I don't know if there are cases like that for Inuit people.
Thank you for answering my questions!!
No problem, happy to provide some insight and I am happy to hear more about your situation given there is a similarity in how mediatized and well known both our groups are such that people who will never meet us generally have some sort of idea in their heads when they hear of us.
Also you can just call us inuit, as it already means people! inuk means person, inuit means people. some areas can say inuuk and it would mean 'two people'.
Ooh thank you for letting me know! That makes sense. It’s kind of opposite with Roma, people will say “the Romani” but Romani is just an adjective so it makes no sense lol
yeah, I figured it would be something like that tbh.
what does roma/romani mean as a word then?
'Romani' basically translates to Roma, as an adjective. Romani fashion, Romani people, etc. Also can be used to be the noun for the Romani language, Roma is both a subgroup of Romani people, can refer to a group of Roma, OR can also be used to mean a singular female Romani woman. Rom is a singular Romani man. Many of our words mean multiple things lol. But the best way to describe us is Romani people, the Roma, or Romani Gypsies :)
Thanks for all that insight, the language seems very cool!