ABSTRACT
Ammassalik Eskimos are an Eskimo group who inhabit and recognize as their home territory that long stretch of the east Greenland coast extending from the 65th to the 68th degree of latitude. The Ammassalik look to the sea, for from the sea come their food, their clothes, their shelter, and their main means of intercommunication. The strong sense of individualism that characterizes the technology and economics of the Ammassalik is markedly present in their social structure. With such a loose social structure the economic activities which stress the all-round ability of each man to get a living and the self-sufficiency of the conjugal pair harmonize completely. The Ammassalik ideal man is one who is outstanding in skill, in strength, in power, a man who expresses his personality fully and without being deterred by economic, social, or supernatural sanctions. The Ammassalik have achieved a society that is highly individualistic.
