Suchergebnisse

Since their formation in 1971 through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) have operated largely under a mission to build economic revenue for distribution to their shareholders, who are generally Alaska Native tribal members. While larger ANCs have formed foundations that provide scholarships to shareholders, ANCs generally do not have missions or entities associated with developing community infrastructure or promoting social programs in Alaska Native Villages, which are the communities of federally recognized Alaskan tribes. Until recently, the infrastructural and institutional needs of Alaska Native Villages have largely been met through State of Alaska funding, with support for housing, health, and roads from the federal government. In the current era of low oil prices, however, the State of Alaska has little funding to support villages with basic needs, let alone forthcoming and growing needs such as climate change adaptation. This article considers whether and how ANCs could fill infrastructural and institutional funding gaps for villages and provides examples of Native Corporations that take on this role in the many other American states. Further, this article offers ideas for how ANCs can better support villages and Alaska Native culture while providing for corporate revenues.

Alaska Native aboriginal rights to land and associated resources were never dealt with in a comprehensive fashion until 1971, when Congress passed the Alaska Native Lands Claims Settlement Act (ANILCA). Although general principles of federal Indian law provided strong support for the proposition that Alaska's Native people held aboriginal title to much of the new state, the Alaska Statehood Act itself carefully disclaimed any effect on aboriginal title. This approach was in keeping with the Congress's past dealings with Alaska Native property rights. This article outlines the history of Alaska Native aboriginal rights through the Statehood Act along with their post-statehood treatment in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The article closes with a look at the unsatisfactory treatment of two important aboriginal rights—access to fish and game and tribal sovereignty—and suggests that Congress should legislate affirmative protections in both areas.

For me, reading this volume is like coming home. As an Alutiiq/Sugpiaq (Alaska Native) researcher who recently relocated to Brisbane, Australia, it is a joy and an honor to review, The Alaska Native reader: History, culture, politics, edited by Maria Shaa Tláa Williams. This volume stands as a celebration of Alaska Native scholarship in its historical, linguistic, political, artistic, spiritual, scientific, and even culinary forms (see p. 360 for Daisy Demientieff's Best-Ever Moose Stew Recipe)! It is a treasure because it seeks to impact readers in a felt way – appealing to all of the places where knowledge lives including the mind, heart, belly, and soul. Each chapter prompted a different response ranging from pure joy to deep sadness, from rage to pride, from a sense of solidarity with other Alaska Natives to appreciation for my own particular culture, and from curiosity about what others are working toward to awe at what already has been achieved.

For me, reading this volume is like coming home. As an Alutiiq/Sugpiaq (Alaska Native) researcher who recently relocated to Brisbane, Australia, it is a joy and an honor to review, The Alaska Native reader: History, culture, politics, edited by Maria Shaa Tláa Williams. This volume stands as a celebration of Alaska Native scholarship in its historical, linguistic, political, artistic, spiritual, scientific, and even culinary forms (see p. 360 for Daisy Demientieff's Best-Ever Moose Stew Recipe)! It is a treasure because it seeks to impact readers in a felt way – appealing to all of the places where knowledge lives including the mind, heart, belly, and soul. Each chapter prompted a different response ranging from pure joy to deep sadness, from rage to pride, from a sense of solidarity with other Alaska Natives to appreciation for my own particular culture, and from curiosity about what others are working toward to awe at what already has been achieved.

Studies on Alaska Natives in higher education draw attention to the need for indigenous-centered analyses that subvert potential erasures of their presence. This essay outlines a "tribalography of presence," an applied theoretical framework that interweaves indigenous knowledge with ethnography, historiography, and cultural theory, and privileges indigenous worldviews, acknowledges a diverse range of inter- and intratribal alliances and differentiations, and advocates for empowerment and healing. Its implications are discussed in part through a brief description and analysis of the "Alaska Native Scholars Project," a work in progress that documents a lineage of Alaska Natives who have earned research doctoral degrees.