Aging and life course development in an Inuit community

Interviews conducted with 38 Inuit in the community of Holman, in the North west Territory of Canada, on definitions of life stages and life course tra nsitions suggest that younger Inuit continue to define life stages and perc eive the structure of the life course in a manner consistent with that of t heir elders. In particular, Inuit perceive that entrance into new life stag es, and thus the markers of one's age, are based largely upon the natural p rocesses of growth and senescence and upon one's social maturity, culminati ng in the development of ihuma, knowledge or wisdom, which defines adulthoo d and the development of which continues into Elderhood. This paper suggest s that despite economic, political, and technological changes to Inuit soci ety, there remains a great deal of cultural continuity on an ideological le vel.