Never In Anger

This post is about a book called Never In Anger by Jean L. Briggs. It is an ethnography about Jean's 17 month stay with a group of Eskimos called the Utkuhikhalingmiut (Utku). She spent time with several of the families in the group but focused on a single family that she became an adopted daughter of. She began her quest to discover more abou the Utku's pagan past, but her study revealed something altogether different. She learned a lot about family life, skills in the Artic, and how the Utku act socially and treat family members.


This ethnography was very different than other similar cultural studies that I've read. In a study of the Yanomamo of Brazil by Napoleon Chagnon, Chagnon does participate in trade with the Yanomamo for modern goods, but lives for the most part outside of Yanomamo society. Briggs's unique status as a member of the family strongly changes the atmosphere of Utku family life. She repeatedly states how, because she is an inept Eskimo, she burdens her family. Although her position in society removes some of the ability to collect a pure idea of Utku life, I believe is does offer a vastly different, important insight into Utku psychology and is an enjoyable look at the human experience from a new perspective.