Architecture of Privacy in Greenlandic Inuit Winter Houses in the Sixteenth Century

This paper examines how privacy was constructed in Greenlandic Inuit winter houses in the post-medieval period. Built partially into the ground, these dwellings featured solid internal walls that created fixed spatial divisions between family units or domestic activities. In addition to the solid walls, two further architecural elements - the soapstone lamp and the gutskin window - played a key role in shaping how private space was experienced. The lamp's warm, uneven glow illuminated certain areas while leaving others in shadow, enabling some activities to remain concealed. Gutskin windows, meanwhile, filtered daylight and obscured direct views into the interior, softening the boudnary between inside and outside. Drawing on archaeological evidence and later historical descriptions, I argue that the interplay of fixed architectural divisions, controlled and diffused light, and selective visual access fostered a distinctive, culturally embedded form of privacy. This was not an absolute separation but a negotiated experience shaped by material design, sensory modulation, and shared social understandings. Situating this Arctic case within broader early modern perspectives on domestic space offers an expanded framework for understanding how architecture and material culture mediate the boundaries between the public and private life.