The Inuit take an enlightened approach to duelling, apparently:

here

Inuit song duels and laughter

The Inuit hunter-gatherers of Siberia, Alaska, Baffinland and Greenland use singing, laughing and playing as a form of maintaining community relationships and dispute management. Most adult and children's games result in laughter at strategic times during the play and almost always at the end. Laughter can be used to express appreciation and fun, but it can also be used to express disapproval of inappropriate behaviour or to ridicule, and finally to exclude. Laughter and play are tools used to balance social relationships within a close-knit community that cannot afford to lose a member to violence because of the harsh environment that surrounds them (Beaudry 1988: 280; Boulding 1998: 8; Miller 2004:1).

The Inuit traditionally arrange song duels to settle their disputes non-violently, as do many other cultural groups with oral traditions such as Celtic and Viking. A song is a learning tool, a form of entertainment, a means of creative and spiritual expression and influence and a form of public ridicule. Rachel Qitsualik (Nunatsiaq 2003: 3) says "Due to its social and psychological power, song can easily be welded by one human being as a weapon against another".

"The idea was very simple: each contestant would have a turn at inventing a song (perhaps the Inuit equivalent of an evening at the improv) with lyrics that would humble, belittle, satirise, denigrate, revile, and generally humiliate the opponent" (Qitsualik 2003: 5). The two opponents were surrounded by a circle of community members in a common area who would formally judge the winner by the degree of laughter.

Sources:

Beaudry, N. 1988. Singing, Laughing and Playing: Three Examples from the Inuit, Dene and Yupik Traditions. Canadian Journal of Native Studies: 276-290.

Boulding, E. 1998. Peace culture: the problem of managing human difference. Cross Currents. Winter: 8.

Miller, J. R. 2004. Inuit: social organisation. Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopaedia 2004:1.

Qitsualik, R. 2003. Song (Parts 1, 2, 3). Nunatsiaq News. Iqaluit:1- 9.

Reference for Songs and Dispute Management:

Compiled by the Indigenous Facilitation and Mediation Project, Native Title Research Unit, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 2004. Songs and Dispute Management. (Unpublished).