Eskimo icon should be renamed to Inuit

[maqloner]

The word Eskimo is an offensive term that has been used historically to describe the Inuit throughout their homeland, Inuit Nunangat, in the arctic regions of Alaska, Greenland and Canada, as well as the Yupik of Alaska and northeastern Russia, and the Inupiat of Alaska.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo#Usage

[highnrgappalachian]

No. And posting a wikipedia article does not qualify as a reputable source of anything. Begone.

[R2robot]

No. And posting a wikipedia article does not qualify as a reputable source of anything. Begone.

You don't understand how wikipedia works. Follow the footnotes for the sources.

In Canada and Greenland, and to a certain extent in Alaska, the term Eskimo is predominantly seen as offensive and has been widely replaced by the term Inuit[[26]][[37]][[38]][[44]]...

4 of them on that part of the sentence that provide a background on the statement being made:

• https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit_or_eskimo.php
• https://books.google.com/books?id=3UHTsUmt1PEC
• https://web.archive.org/web/20120318173645/http://www.ostgroenland-hilfe.de/en/projekt.html
• https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Inuit

OP's request is valid and should be considered.

[Zaphodious]

This is not entirely correct. Many in the Alaskan Yupik etc communities do not class themselves as "Innuit", they use the word "Eskimo" and say that Innuits are natives further to the North.

[aloisdg]

The wikipedia page shared above supports @Zaphodious commment:

This has resulted in a trend whereby some Canadians and Americans believe that they should use Inuit even for Yupik who are non-Inuit.[47]

[R2robot]

The wikipedia page shared above supports @Zaphodious commment:

This has resulted in a trend whereby some Canadians and Americans believe that they should use Inuit even for Yupik who are non-Inuit.[47]

From that same source...

The change reflects the pushback against the word Eskimo in Alaska in recent years — plus the fact that the term doesn't encompass all the many different groups of indigenous people here. Especially among younger Alaska Natives, people have been shifting away from the term.

"When we were labeled Eskimos, that labeled us as less than human to white Americans," said Ronald H. Brower Sr., an instructor at the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He refers to himself as an Inuk — which most people call Inupiaq — and grew up in Barrow. "It is my hope that this change will bring a more positive relationship between the U.S. government and the aboriginal people in the U.S., especially with Inuk and Athabascans."

So the original point was to remove the term 'eskimo' which was the right thing.

Now if you feel that each individual ethnic group from the region should have their own copy of the icon/name combo, that's a different issue/request.

This thread should probably be locked.

[aloisdg]

Now if you feel that each individual ethnic group from the region should have their own copy of the icon/name combo, that's a different issue/request.

That could be nice if there is a need for it.

As far as this issue goes I would still go for inuit instead of eskimo (and so the PR stands: https://github.com/game-icons/icons/pull/894), but I think it is important to acknowledge that inuit is not a one-size-fits-all. Btw ethnologists still use on eskimo:

Eskimo-Aleut

Many individuals who would have historically been referred to as "Eskimo" find that term offensive, and/or forced upon them in a colonial way; "Inuit" is now a common autonym for a large sub-group of these people.[17][18][19][20] The word "Inuit" (varying forms Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Inughuit, etc.), however, is an ancient self-referential to a group of peoples which includes at most the Iñupiat of northern Alaska, the four broad groups of Inuit in Canada, and the Greenlandic Inuit. This usage has long been employed to the exclusion of other, closely related groups (e.g. Yupik, Aleut).[21][22][23][24] Therefore, the Aleut (Unangan) and Yupik peoples (Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, Central Yup'ik, Siberian Yupik), who live in Alaska and Siberia, at least at an individual and local level, generally do not self-identify as "Inuit".[21]

Eskimo has a mainly pejorative exonym should be removed as far as I my own understanding goes. Could we keep inuit as a "better" solution, but maybe tag it with Aleut and Yupik for inclusion?

Note that I have no expertise whatsoever in ethnology and is not related in any way with people from those ethnics. My opinions are just those of a random dev with Wikipedia.

[aloisdg]

@Delapouite There is a call for locking this thread.