Clothing as expression of identity
In most societies, clothing is used to distinguish between members of different groups, and between different members of the same group. In the latter case, the distinction usually concerns age group, gender, and sometimes status (for example, that of married woman, or successful hunter). Other aspects of clothing can express ethnicity, season of the year, age, social standing, religion, occupation, and important events in a life cycle.

A significant event in a child's life is his or her Confirmation into the Lutheran church. This signals the transition from childhood to adulthood. Ane Sanimuinak (photo on the right) with her daughter (on the right) photographed after the confirmation service in the church at Ammassalik. Ane is wearing a home-made cottom amaat based on a typical East Greenland design, decorated with threaded beads. (Photos: Cunera Buijs, July 2001).

Formerly, as now, all these aspects might be easy to comprehend from the clothing worn within a particular society. However, this is not the case in most of the cultures found within the Arctic region. Thus wealth and poverty are barely expressed in clothing, and a person's age cannot be seen from garments alone, since girls and boys usually wear the same clothes as their parents. Most of the cultures within the Arctic region were egalitarian, since there was no permanent leadership - no kings, headmen, or chieftains. There was no clear hierarchical structure, and there was little specialisation. Within each group, everyone performed the same tasks, and there were hardly any real specialists. The only division of labour was based on gender and age, the clearest role-division being that between men and women.

This is not to say that all members of the society lived on an equal footing. Differences between the sexes, and between the old and the young, between hunters and non-hunters, certainly influenced one's social position. For example, in East Greenland a great hunter - piniartorsuaq - enjoyed great respect, and high social status. Nonetheless, this gave him no absolute authority or leadership.

Vithus Kajamat repeatedly tells the story of his successful, and rather dangerous hunting of a polar bear he caught. (Photo: Gert Nooter, 1968, no. 68-2-18-22.)

This may be the reason why there was very little expression of hierarchical position in clothing, and few garments for special occasions. Wealth was revealed only in the new clothes that a prosperous family could more often afford, in comparison with poor families possessing fewer seal skins.

Every woman made the clothing needed for her own use, and that of her family. Because of this a collective approach developed, together with a common 'language' of clothing. Designs were passed on from mother to daughter, and were often connected with particular families. Within this clothing tradition there was room for individual variety, and the degree of innovation differed from region to region.

At present one of the main functions of polar clothing appears to be the expression of identity. Indigenous cultures are undergoing radical change as the result of contact with 'western' culture. A new political organisation, as well as new technology, is being introduced. The Greenland hjemmestyre - self-government - provides a clear example of this. There are political parties, including a government party and an opposition. The Greenland government takes its own decisions on a great number of matters connected with social and economic life.

On official occasions the men wear a white anorak, even in the Greenland Parliament. A cotton anorak is light, supple, and very suited for indoor use, while the shape is based on that of the traditional hunter's clothes. This garment thus emphasises the men's identity as Greenlanders. The anorak shows clearly the difference between Greenlanders and non-Greenlanders - mostly Danes. In this way clothes can play an important role in the political battle for Greenland's political and economic rights, and in the development and maintenance of a separate identity. This also shows that polar clothing is more than just a protection against the cold.

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