{{Short description|Traditional dwelling type of the Arctic}} [[File:Alaskan Inuit winter home 1900.jpg|thumb|260px|Qargi in the village of Stebbins, Alaska 1900]] [[File:PointHopeHousesUSGSric00682.jpg|thumb|270px|Semi-underground men's community house ('''''Qargi''''') with bowhead whale bones, Tikiġaġmiut, Point Hope, Alaska, 1885]] '''Qargi''' ({{IPA|ik|qɑɻɣi|lang}}), '''Qasgi''' or '''Qasgiq''' (by the Yup'iks), '''Qaygiq''' (by the Cup'iks), '''Kashim''' (by the Russians), '''Kariyit''',<ref>[http://ir.minpaku.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10502/3250/1/KH_027_1_004.pdf James M. Savelle (2002), The Umialiit-Kariyit Whaling Complex and Prehistoric Thule Eskimo Social Relations in the Eastern Canadian Arctic] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302002845/http://ir.minpaku.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10502/3250/1/KH_027_1_004.pdf |date=March 2, 2014 }}, Bulletin of National Museum of Ethnology 27(1): 159–188 (2002)</ref> a traditional large semi-subterranean men's community house' (or "communal men's house, men's house, ceremonial house, council house, dance house, communal gathering place") of the Yup'ik and Inuit, also Deg Hit'an Athabaskans<ref>{{cite book|last=Fair|first=Susan W.|authorlink=Susan W. Fair|title=Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2cTWpk0e12cC&pg=PA160|year=2006|publisher=University of Alaska Press|isbn=978-1-889963-79-2|page=160}}</ref> (at Anvik, Alaska), was used for public and ceremonial occasions and as a men's residence. The Qargi was the place where men built their boats, repaired their equipment, took sweat baths, educated young boys, and hosted community dances. Here people learned their oral history, songs and chants. Young boys and men learned to make tools and weapons while they listened to the traditions of their forefathers.<ref name="refChanpiat">Edna Ahgeak MacLean, [http://www.alaskool.org/native_ed/articles/emaclean-cc.pdf Culture and Change for Iñupiat and Yupiks of Alaska]</ref>
The qargi was almost always a separate building because the dwellings were not large enough to hold very many men.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burch|first=Ernest S.|title=Social Life in Northwest Alaska: The Structure of Iñupiaq Eskimo Nations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfQzWXTtifsC&pg=PA110|year=2006|publisher=University of Alaska Press|isbn=978-1-889963-92-1|page=110}}</ref> The qargi was a combination courthouse, church, workshop, dance hall, and received center, two or three times the size of a typical house.<ref name="refFarcountry">{{cite book|author=John Taliaferro|title=In a Far Country|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JvZX98XCp8C&pg=PT35|year=2007|publisher=PublicAffairs|isbn=978-0-7867-4123-6|page=35}}</ref> It was the place where the storytelling, dancing, singing, and games (high-kick games<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=284 |title=Arctic Studies |access-date=2012-08-02 |archive-date=2012-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401212843/http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=284 |url-status=dead }}</ref>) that so enriched Yupik and Inuit life took place.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burch|first=Ernest S.|title=Alliance and Conflict: The World System of the In?piaq Eskimos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wt-FXgSxRCYC&pg=PT92|year=2005|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-6238-8|page=92}}</ref> The qargi was a communal building in which women were usually not permitted.<ref name="refFarcountry"/>
Prior to the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 1890s, every Inupiaq settlement had one or more of these ceremonial houses.<ref>[http://www.taostradingpost.com/native_american/inupiaq2.html St Lawrence Island Native American history Navajo rugs] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805051119/http://www.taostradingpost.com/native_american/inupiaq2.html |date=August 5, 2012 }}</ref>
== Naming == {| class="wikitable" !Language !singular !dual !plural |- |Naukan Yupik |Qaygi | | |- |Central Alaskan Yup'ik |Qasgi / Qasgiq<ref>[http://www.yupikscience.org/2qasgi/ Qasgimi : In the Qasgi]</ref> | |Qasgit |- |Chevak Cup’ik |Qaygiq | |Qaygit |- |Nunivak Cup'ig |Kiiyar<ref>[http://www.nunivakisland.org/dictionary/index.html Nuniwarmiut Piciryarata Tamaryalkuti, Nunivak Island Cup'ig Language Preliminary Dictionary] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805092338/http://www.nunivakisland.org/dictionary/index.html |date=August 5, 2012 }}</ref> | | |- |Inupiaq (Alaskan Inuit) |Qargi |Qargik |Qargich / Qargit |- |Inupiaq (Little Diomede)<ref name="refJolles">Carol Zane Jolles (2006), [http://www.sentimentaltoday.net/UnivPresses/0803226063.University.of.Nebraska.Press.Circumpolar.Lives.and.Livelihood.A.Comparative.Ethnoarchaeology.of.Gender.and.Subsistence.Mar.2006.pdf Iñupiaq Maritime Hunters: Summer SubsistenceWork in Diomede, in Circumpolar Lives and Livelihood, A Comparative Ethnoarchaeology of Gender and Subsistence]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, edited by Robert Jarvenpa and Hetty Jo Brombach, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 2006</ref> |Qaġsriq |Qaġsrik |Qaġsrit |- |Inupiaq (King Island)<ref>[http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/curriculum/Masters_Projects/Yaayuk/Chap2.html Future King Island Speakers]</ref> |Qagzriq |Qagzrik |Qagzrit |- |Inuvialuk (Western Canadian Inuit) |Qadjgiq | | |- |Inuktitut (Eastern Canadian Inuit) |Qaggiq ᖃᒡᒋᖅ | | |- |Kalaallisut (West Greenland Inuit) |Qassi | | |}
== School == In many Iñupiat communities the qargi was the first institution to vanish as churches and schools became the dominant forces of change. At present, Iñupiat elders have no responsibility for the formal education of young Iñupiat.<ref name="refRavital">MacLean, Edna Ahgeak (1986). [http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED268812&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED268812 The Revitalization of the Qargi, the Traditional Community House, as an Educational Unit of the Inupiat Community]</ref>
Before 1950, formal education for students in Chevak, Alaska took place in the qaygiq,<ref>Pingayak, John; [http://chevakschool.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=48 Qaygiq (Men’s House)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725162037/http://chevakschool.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=48 |date=2011-07-25 }}</ref> and in the homes of the people. The information taught to students in the qaygiq included history, values, rules, regulations, and survival methods.<ref>[http://www.alaskool.org/native_ed/curriculum/cupik_guidebook/guidebook_cupik.htm Alaskool: Guidebook for Integrating Cup'ik Culture and Curriculum]</ref>
==See also== * Bladder Festival
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *[https://2totravel.blogspot.com/2010/08/alaska-native-heritage-center.html Alaska Native Heritage Center] *http://vilda.alaska.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/cdmg21/id/844/rec/3
{{Huts}} {{Native american styles}} {{Architecture in the United States}}
Category:Yupik culture Category:House types Category:Inuit culture Category:Buildings and structures in North America Category:Traditional Native American dwellings Category:Semi-subterranean structures