Alaska Natives at the Time of the Invasions: A Cultural Profile Project

Draft 3

Do not quote or copy without permission from Mike Gaffney or from Ray Barnhardt at the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Click on Table of Contents to read/browse Alaska Natives at the Time of the Invasions: A Cultural Profile Project

Mike Gaffney

Table of Contents

Teacher’s Manual Preview

Mike Gaffney’s Note to Teachers. Alaska Natives at the Time of the Invasions: A Cultural Profile Project proceeds on the assumption that some teachers will not be familiar with all of the topics covered in the textbook. They think their students should know this material, but they do not feel prepared to teach it. We who helped design and organize the Alaska Native Studies degree program at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks some years ago were also the program’s first instructors. So we know exactly how you feel. I would have given the proverbial arm and a leg to have an instructor’s manual for several of the texts I used.

Therefore an instructor’s manual is being prepared to accompany this textbook. For each chapter of the textbook, the Manual offers an instructional guide by providing additional context and teaching suggestions on various topics. In the meantime, here is an introductory statement on the two purposes and six assumptions which determined the design and content of the textbook.

As for other course materials, you will need the 1982 edition of Native Peoples and Languages of Alaska, a wall map published by the Alaska Native Language Center (ANLC) at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. The textbook will include a foldout smaller version. But the wall map should be prominently displayed in your classroom so it can be quickly referred to.

WHAT THE PROJECT ASKS STUDENTS TO DO.

Guided by a detailed outline of elements commonly associated with the social and cultural organization of subsistence-based societies, students will research what traditional life was like for an Alaska Native group selected by you and your class. It certainly could be a group from your region of Alaska. This research is called cultural profiling.

Wrapped around the cultural profile assignment are readings having the purpose of forcing students to think seriously about the concepts and methods used in studying Native history. This includes understanding how knowledge of Native history informs current Native affairs and important Alaska civics questions of our time. The text offers, for example, extended discussion of federal Indian law and the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

Depending on your class situation and personal preference, you can have students do written reports, class presentations, or both. For your information and convenience, an outline of the cultural profile elements is found at the end of this Introduction. You may wish to take a look at it before proceeding.

PURPOSES:

1. To excite students about Alaska Native history – both oral and written – by having them do actual research on what Native life was like in traditional times before the Russian and American invasions changed that life forever. A corollary to this purpose is learning how to use the basic tools of social science inquiry, especially materials and methods used in historical studies.
2. To have students acquire a body of interdisciplinary knowledge that will act as a platform for confidently pursuing similar studies at the next academic level, perhaps with the career goal of seeking leadership roles in the civic affairs of their communities.

ASSUMPTIONS AND PROJECT DESIGN:

Assumption 1. Class size will range from small numbers in rural secondary schools to much larger numbers in urban schools. Moreover, the amount of time allocated to the Project will vary – One term? Two terms? Part of a larger history/civics unit?

Therefore, the Cultural Profile Project must be versatile. Teachers must be able to “slice and dice” it to fit various class sizes and time constraints.

For example, the Cultural Profile is divided into five sections and each section is made up of specific elements to be researched and described. An instructor can assign any number of students to each section and to different elements within that section. If you have five students, you can assign a section to each. If you have larger classes, you can form student research teams for each section.

Instructors can also adjust the nature and depth of the student research effort. For example, will information come only from secondary sources? This is perhaps the easiest and quickest way to complete the project. Or will students examine primary written and oral sources? Will students seek out local Native elders for their historical knowledge? Or if time allows, will it be a student research project built on all three sources of information?

The comparative approach: the ultimate Cultural Profile assignment. Finally there is the ultimate assignment wherein students do comparative cultural profiling. For example, one half of the class forms a team to profile a Native group from their region while the other half forms a team to profile a Native group from a different region.

The purpose is to compare two Native groups who adapted to very different ecological zones, hence had different social organizations and produced different cultural products. Chapter Four, “Ecological Zones and Environmental Adaptation,” discusses significant differences between Native societies south of the Alaska Range (e.g., Tlingit) and Native societies north of the range (e.g., Gwich’in Athabaskan).

If, for example, your school is located north of the Alaska Range, I suggest you select for comparison a Native group south of the range in order to achieve the sharpest contrast. Of course, the reverse is true as well. When differences are well defined, cultural pluralism and the process of environmental adaptation become more evident.

Assumption 2. Student reading levels will vary, with some students reading below grade level.

Therefore, this textbook does two things to smooth out the student reading experience.

First, plain language is the rule. But sometimes there is no way around professional lexicon. So words likely to be unfamiliar to students are placed in italics and a short definition is given at the end of the paragraph. The purpose is to keep reading disruptions to a minimum by saving students from having to often consult a dictionary, or from simply slogging on and missing important points of the discussion. The definitions are in brackets and of a different font.

Secondly, I have opted for a more personalized writing style than commonly found in standard texts. Here is the reason why:

Mary Stuart is a retired San Francisco Bay Area high school English Literature teacher. She is also a longtime personal friend. Mary had always taught in schools with socially and ethnically diverse student bodies, including many students for whom English was their second language. Compared to academic texts, she found that the style and organization of literature invoked a quite different reaction from students. If students developed an interest in a work of literature, they would find ways to read and understand the material. But the perceived impenetrable mysteries of many academic texts was another matter.

So one of the questions Mary pursued was: Can high school students, particularly those reading below grade level, be directly taught to unravel “the mysteries” of these texts? Her interest in student academic literacy coincided with the efforts of several young teachers who had come together to form the Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) project. Even after retiring she still worked with the SLI project. *

For those of us who write academic texts, she suggests we develop a personalized style to the extent possible. Don’t be afraid to personalize the language of the text by using “we,” “you,” and “us” rather than the usual impersonal and formalistic approach of academic writing. Write your textbook as if you are looking over the shoulder of an individual student and pointing to places on the page that hold key ideas and information. Always be ready to interject an example the student will understand, even if it is metaphorical or analogous.

To imagine “looking over the shoulder of an individual student” is sound advice and I have tried to follow it. Basketball, getting a driver’s license, and the internal combustion engine are but several metaphorical and analogous examples. Students will also find references to Albert Einstein, the Sistine Chapel, World War II, the Gaelic language, Australian Aborigines, and Julius Caesar. Indeed, students will find “for example” many times as they progress through the book.

Assumption 3. It is reported that President Lyndon Johnson once told a group of young and aspiring politicians that “what you don’t say, you don’t have to explain.” That may be a practical maxim for politicians, but it cannot be applied to textbooks. The working assumption here is that the opposite is true – you have to say it and then you have to explain it.

Therefore, In addition to metaphorical and analogous examples, I try to explain complex topics from more than one perspective. To do this requires an interdisciplinary approach. Although this is a history project, other disciplines are called upon to assist our understanding – anthropology, sociology, political science, literature, economics, and federal Indian law.

Comparative analysis is part of our interdisciplinary approach. It is used whenever possible. The comparative approach highlights aspects of culture and history often overlooked when studying just one social group. This is why I say the ultimate Cultural Profile Project is a comparison of two different Alaska Native groups. An example found in this textbook is a comparative analysis addressing the question: Why were the Tlingits more successful than the Aleuts in resisting Russian control? I even use Michelangelo’s ceiling painting at the Sistine Chapel as a comparative referent in the Native artistic expression section of Chapter Fourteen.

Please note that the Cultural Profile Project is not intended to be just another facts-based descriptive history course. Quite the contrary. It is intended to be a full service educational enterprise. It confronts students with material which hopefully inspires different and creative ways of thinking about the study of Native history and how the past shapes current Native perspectives and affairs. Students are even encouraged to argue with the book.

Assumption 4. All Alaska schools have sufficient access to primary and secondary source material on Native cultures and histories of their region. Most likely much of this material is already available at the school or within the school’s community. Certainly the standard anthropological and historical works on your region should be at hand.

Therefore, other than the rather lengthy bibliography at the end of the text and some suggestions to students within the text, little else on sources of information is discussed. It’s very likely that regional Native organizations can provide better, more up-to-date material than I can here. This is especially so as time moves beyond the publication date of this book.

Native organizations are also a repository for local oral historical material collected at elders conferences held over the past several decades. And there are internet sites such as Alaskool, the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, and Project Jukebox at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks library’s oral history program.

If at all possible, get students actively involved in collecting local Native oral histories. Of course the objective of this exercise is to gather historical information. But the very process of engaging elders on historical questions is educationally beneficial in itself. At least this was our experience in Native Studies with our elder-in-residence program at the University of Alaska- Fairbanks.

Two points on requesting instruction from elders. First, be careful who you choose because some will be more knowledgeable and better at working with youth than others. Secondly, avoid overloading elders. Perhaps set up several sessions during the term rather than continuously calling upon them as students move through the Cultural Profile assignment.

Assumption 5. Students have taken or will be taking courses in American history and civics. It is also assumed that textbooks for these courses will only roughly cover the historical experience of Native Americans. It is further assumed that what is covered will not focus on the historical development of Lower-48 Indian tribal rights under American law and the later application of these rights to Alaska Natives.

Therefore, this textbook emphasizes how the study of Alaska Native societies in traditional times is connected to the study of federal Indian law and such concepts as inherent tribal sovereignty and aboriginal title. Chapter Five reviews the origins of federal Indian law and its fundamental principles. And Chapter Six covers key provisions of ANCSA and its historical context. These chapters provide students with baseline knowledge necessary for understanding discussions linking elements of their cultural profile assignment to present day Native civic affairs.

Assumption 6. An assumption about an assumption. It is assumed that some will make the assumption that the Cultural Profile Project is meant only for Native students.

Therefore, a clear statement is needed here to put this assumption to rest. Without question, the Cultural Profile Project focuses on Native histories, cultures, and civic affairs. But why wouldn’t non-Native students find this subject-matter valuable? How can one be truly informed on Alaska history and civics generally without knowledge of Native life, both before the invasions and in response to the invasions and their aftermath? Natives make up 16% of the Alaska population. Through ANCSA corporations and other Native organizations like the Alaska Federation of Natives, they exercise considerable influence within the Alaskan political economy.

At the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, it wasn’t long before non-Native students comprised 50% of the enrollment in many Native Studies courses, sometimes even a higher percentage. And a fair number of these students elected to minor in Native Studies. Why? For two reasons. First, intellectual curiosity was certainly a motivating factor. But they also realized that if they planned a professional career in Alaska, most likely they would be interacting frequently with Natives. It only made good sense to know as much as possible about the Alaska Native experience.

A Final word. What you have read here is only the introductory statement to the teacher’s manual. The manual’s actual chapters will coincide with the book’s chapters. Within each chapter of the text, there will be markers alerting you to a section of the manual providing instructional suggestions and, if required, more information and context on the topic at hand. Hopefully this will make toggling between the text and the manual much easier.
_______________________________
* For more on SLI, see: Schoenback, Ruth et al. , Reading for Understanding: A Guide to
Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms, Jossy-Bass: San Francisco, 1999.

The Cultural Profile Project

1. Ecological Zone

Climate – arctic, sub-arctic, maritime, rainy, windy, seasonal temperatures

Topography – physical features of the land – its rivers, mountains, valleys, and sea ice where appropriate

Flora – plant life, including trees

Fauna – land animals, sea mammals, water fowl, fish

Environmental Adaptation
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

2. Settlements and Land use

Demographics – Size & distribution of population (settlement patterns)
community security

Land use – Lands and waters – location, use, and boundaries
[Think about “aboriginal title,” ANCSA, and maps]

3. Social Organization

Social Relations – main social institutions, family structure, kinship system, education, social stratification, speech community, regional association/alliances with other tribes

Economics – primary and secondary subsistence resources, Commerce (trade routes, relations, and networks)

Governance – group decision-making, leadership, law and order

4. “Worldview” deserves special consideration

Spirituality – religious thought and practice, shamanism

Core values – cultural identity, historical legacy

5. Cultural products

Technology – hunting/fishing gear, tools, weaponry, housing, transportation

Applied Science – specialized knowledge of the ecological zone developed to maintain and improve the group’s quality of life

Artistic Expression – design, decoration, materials, artistic purposes