The Sami, the indigenous people of Norway, are a Caucasian race, shorter and stockier than their Nordic neighbors. Historically, the Norwegian government followed a policy of enforced acculturation towards Norway’s indigenous people. The Sami language was prohibited in schools and the Sami were prevented from owning land. Until the 1960s, Sami children attended boarding schools whose sole purpose was to properly assimilate the children into the dominant culture. Sami children were systematically stripped of their culture and made to feel ashamed of their way of life, an experience similar to that of Alaska Native children from rural villages.
During the 1960s, Norwegian attitudes towards the Sami began to change. By the 1980s, Norway had reversed its policy. The Norwegian government recognized the value of Sami culture and began working to undo the damage. In 1988, the constitution of Norway was amended as follows: “It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture, and way of life.” This gave the Sami language and culture the legal protection of law. Parents in Sami areas could choose to have their children educated in “Sami-medium rather than in Norwegian-medium classes” (Corson 1995). Norway also established a Sami Parliament which has delegated legal authority from the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) over Sami matters. Norwegian law officially recognizes Sami cultural sovereignty — the right of the Sami to maintain their language, culture, and way of life.
The original inhabitants of New Zealand, the Maori, are a Polynesian people who make up 15 percent of the population of the nation. New Zealand followed a policy of enforced acculturation towards the Maori. In 1905 the speaking of Maori was banned in New Zealand schools. By the mid 1980s, New Zealand led the world with the highest incarceration rate for indigenous males. In the early 1990s, a New Zealand university professor spoke at the Alaskan Bilingual/Multicultural Conference.
“Don’t do what we did,” he advised the Alaskans attending his presentation. “Young Maori males who lose their language and culture do not morph into dark-skinned Anglos.”
The professor said these young men became “acultural,” tended to migrate to the cities, and form gangs. In response to the cultural breakdown, growing criminality, and increased Maori political pressure, the New Zealand government reversed its policy. Maori Elders developed the Te Kohanga Reo, language nest preschools where nothing but Maori is spoken. The national government of New Zealand subsequently sponsored the establishment of 500 Te Kohanga Reo language nests.
These are but two examples of societies which have struggled with issues similar to those facing Alaska. Both these societies have made a clear break with the policies of enforced acculturation. In contrast, Alaska continues to be wedded to the practices of the past. Although Alaska has restructured the rural education system, the philosophy of the education system appears to be a continuation of 19th century Social Darwinism — the doctrine of the superiority of Anglo/Western culture. The goal of rural education remains to acculturate the Native student to the dominant culture.
A quarter century ago, Dr. Robert Alberts worked as a trans-cultural psychiatrist in Bethel. According to Alberts, the social service and educational policies in Alaska were having an unintended impact on the Native population — the more outside experts who arrived to provide services, the more programs provided, the more attempts by non-Natives to solve problems — the greater the loss of local autonomy and the greater the dependency. Building on Alberts’ work, Father Michael Oleksa observed that growing dependency leads to loss of initiative, growing frustration and anger, and eventually results in self-destructive behavior (Oleksa, KTUU TV Cross-Cultural Communications, Program 3). And I would add to these observations with one of my own — Alaska Natives have become an industry of the middle class. There is big money to be made by thousands of non-Native professionals providing services in rural Alaska.
As I have traveled and worked in the villages of rural Alaska for more than 35 years, I have observed the effects of the increased dependency and the growth of the education/social service industry. The education industry is dominated by outsiders. Typically, the non-Native teachers have the highest paid jobs and the best housing in the community. In far too many situations, the Native people clean the rooms, empty the trash, and do minor paperwork in the offices. They are disempowered in their own land. This lesson is not lost on the young people.
Alternatives to this cycle of dependency and disempowerment exist. Last year, the elders in a village I have worked in proposed a perpetual healing and wellness journey for their community. The elders told me that true healing must come from within the Native community and cannot be imposed by outsiders. They want their people to control their own lives, run their own schools, and take the responsibility for their own well being. They envision a time when their children and grandchildren will have the right to interact with the dominant culture in their own way, to be allowed to synthesize the two worlds into something new, and to have the independence to become their own experts.
This vision proposes a basic change in relationships between the Native community and majority culture. It involves members of the majority culture backing off from the traditional roles of “expert” and “fixer.” These changes are difficult for members of the dominant culture to accept for two reasons. First, it is counter-intuitive to the Western mind. Where there is a problem, we want to create a new program and send in credentialed experts. With the best of intentions, we want to help. To back off doesn’t connect with our experience or frame of reference to reality.
The second challenge for the Western mind is that a healing and wellness journey as proposed by the elders involves a shift in the existing power structure. People resist giving up authority. Thousands of jobs and huge amounts of money are made by middle-class non-Natives who provide services in rural Alaska. This industry will resist changes which involve giving Alaska Native people direct control over their own destiny.
Native elders throughout the state are calling for a new vision for Alaska Native education, a shift to education which honestly confronts the past; gives guidance and purpose to life; uses cultural wisdom, parables, legends, elders, and ritual; and provides a positive vision and hope for the future. And the voices are becoming louder. There is growing dissatisfaction, growing anger. And the Native community is not alone. Many non-Native educators, politicians, and community members are among the ranks of those demanding a fundamental reassessment of the role of Native education.
The pressure for educational change is not confined to rhetoric. There is a growing movement across the state to develop place-based instruction, curriculum which teaches skills and content relevant to the place where the child lives. Place-based education is rooted in the Native ways of knowing and blends the Western and Native educational traditions. The Goldbelt Heritage Foundation has become a leader in developing place-based lessons. The Foundation has an extensive program of curriculum development based on the Tlingit traditional knowledge of Southeast Alaska. And the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, operated out of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has been patiently gathering information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing.
The North Slope School District recently adopted an Inupiaq Leaning Framework, a move which Jana Harcharek, the Director of Inupiaq Education, describes as “a historic turning point for our district.” Someday, according to Harcharek, the district will not need to purchase outside textbooks because they will create their own curriculum. The Alaska Humanities Forum recently received a large grant to develop a training program for new village educators. The Humanities Forum hopes to meet the challenge of high teacher turnover in the villages with an aggressive program of orientation and training. And on Jan. 26 the Moore case, a complex court case between the state of Alaska and 12 rural school districts, was finally settled. If the final settlement effectively addresses the cultural relevance of school curriculum and assessment testing, there is hope that this will be a positive step forward.
All these are small, but significant steps in a new direction. A new day is dawning in Alaska. And we in the non-Native community need to reject the archaic theories of cultural superiority, step into the 21st century, and recognize the importance of preserving Alaska’s rich Native heritage. Let us embrace the conviction that Alaska Native cultures have the right to exist, the right to perpetuate themselves, and the right to control their own educational destiny.
• This essay is the fifth and final piece in a series by Paul Berg, a Juneau educator with a long background in teaching and learning in Alaska’s Native communities. Visit juneauempire.com to read his previous commentaries.
Comments (37)
Add commentThanks Paul
Great series.
Good series
This was a good series of articles especially in terms of Alaska's history, cultural traditions, and education. The interpretations and examples in this final section were exceptionally good.
Wrong. Lousy letter.
More division. Same old same old. Culture based on race, blah blah. Non-Natives are bad people and need to feel guilty blah blah.
So, if I understand this author correctly, only Natives should teach Native kids, all western ideas of anything should be abandoned in schools, and Yu'pik should be the main language in schools across Alaska instead of English?
I really, really thought that the spirit of ANCSA was to put this kind of regressive thinking behind us, and instead of having divisive Native vs. non-Native cultures that we all beautifully blend into a new culture which was colorblind and envisioned a NEW Alaska where all our cultures blended together for the benefit of ALL Alaskans. We acknowledge the past, however imperfect, and look towards the future. This letter looks backwards more than forwards.
And if there is a growing dissatisfaction and anger it comes from letters like this, which constantly bring up the atrocities of the past and fuels the division between cultures instead of mending that division.
"Thousands of jobs and huge amounts of money are made by middle-class non-Natives who provide services in rural Alaska..." So, is this a bad thing? No one is putting a gun to a Native's head to make him pay for that white boy's float plane to get him out of Hoonah so he can get to a Doctor in Juneau.
This letter made me cringe. The things he suggested do not prepare kids for a 21st century life. They prepare kids for a backwards-thinking 19th century life. Isn't the main purpose of a school to prepare younger people for the life ahead of them instead of the life of their ancestors?
Culture and history are important. That's why we have the Sealaska Heritage Foundation and similar institutions. However, math and science are important too. Yu'pik is an important language, but so is English.
Place based.
How does it work? Is it retro-culturalism? Does it teach English? Does it give the students the tools they need to make it outside of their respective base places? Or does it stump their educational experience by not preparing them to thrive in the world outside their cultures? Any young person who wants to advance in education and vocation beyond the village still needs to be fluent in the basics including (Yes. That's right) English (for American Natives). Even those that choose to make the village their home need these basics as the world doesn't stop at a reservation boundary like it does at sovereign lands in the lower 48 (and Metlakatla). Even if "experts" "back off", the rest of the world of business and industry is not obligated to do the same. That would require autonomy within sovereign boundaries (reservations). There must be guidelines to make sure these kids have the basic tools they need to be cross cultural. Not for the purpose of assimilation into a "dominant" culture, but, to give them a chance to negotiate that culture. Indigenous cultures should be left in the hands of the indigenous with no contribution from the outside. But, it would be a disservice to just hand over education and say, "Write your own curriculum. Teach what you want how you want when you want." This would be a disservice to the young person who wants to get out of the village and also to the culture in the village itself. I see a risk of holding young minds captive with a reservation mentality syndrome.
Wow, Jo!
I'm pretty much in agreement with you on this. Must be something magical about this day!
All Five Articles?
Is there a way for the JE to put all five in one place so they can be read w/o searching for each one?
Good point, fisherwoman44.
How hard would it be for the Empire to add a link to a compilation of like publications, especially a series?
Chuck? Mose?
The last paragraph
The last paragraph made me grit my teeth:
"All these are small, but significant steps in a new direction. A new day is dawning in Alaska. And we in the non-Native community need to reject the archaic theories of cultural superiority, step into the 21st century, and recognize the importance of preserving Alaska’s rich Native heritage. Let us embrace the conviction that Alaska Native cultures have the right to exist, the right to perpetuate themselves, and the right to control their own educational destiny."
#1 - No. Wrong. We in the non-Native community do not need to reject the "archaic theories of cultural superiority," because most non-Natives I know do not possess the sense that we are somehow culturally superior! Therefore, we cannot not reject something that doesn't exist! I refuse to feel your guilt for something that doesn't exist. Quit making things up.
#2 - "Step into the 21st century..." I agree! In fact, I think it's more important to teach a kid how to use a computer instead of how to weave a hat or make a canoe! Computer skills are 21st century skills designed to prepare a kid for the 21st century. Weaving a hat prepares him for the 19th century. Both are important, but, I'd rather see more of the former instead of the latter.
#3 - "Preservation of Alaska's rich Native heritage..." And what about Alaska's rich NON-Native heritage?!? The gold rushes? Statehood? WWII? Should only Native heritage be taught in schools? If so, isn't that an inverse of the "archaic theory of cultural superiority" you bashed earlier? Doesn't that create and presume then, that Native culture is superior to others? How about we teach BOTH instead of one or the other? In fact, instead of calling them "Alaska's Native heritage" or "Alaska's non-Native heritage," we simply blend them together and call them "Alaska's heritage?"
#4 - "Let us embrace the conviction that Alaska Native cultures have the right to exist, the right to perpetuate themselves, and the right to control their own educational destiny." (SCREAMING!!!) ARRGH! NATIVES DO HAVE THE RIGHTS TO EXIST AND TO PERPETUATE THEIR CULTURE!!!! NO ONE SAYS THEY DON'T!!! NO ONE IS TRYING TO STOP THEM!!! Stop implying that anyone is prohibiting Natives from speaking Tlingit, or that they can't perform a dance or a potlatch. Those days are over. Yes, it happened in the past, it was wrong, but it doesn't happen anymore. Time to move on. Quit bringing this up!
And Natives DO have the right to control their own educational destiny! If Natives don't like what is being taught in state-funded schools, they can home-school, or, they can take some Native corporation money and build a private school which teaches Yu'pik and beadwork instead of math, science and computer skills!
There is room to teach both Native and non-Native cultures in schools. But academics are more important. We need not choose one culture over the other.
No outside contribution.
I have to disagree with that point, Jo. I don't think there is room in public schools for teaching culture. That is something passed down within the culture. Teaching ABOUT culture with regard to geography and history in a social studies format is invaluable for understanding the world we live in and the diversity we may encounter and enabling us to be cross cultural to the degree needed to co-exist among diverse cultures. But, I don't believe government funded public education has any business instructing in culture any more than they do instructing religion. But, I absolutely agree that academics is paramount in the education system. Want culture? Learn it from your roots.
@ skirzy
I agree somewhat.
I agree that culture is important, and that schools should teach about the cultures AROUND THEM, especially cultures that are misunderstood.
But, it should not be a main focus that takes years. As you said, culture should be taught in the home. Academics are more important.
And I think this author totally misses that point and puts culture ahead of everything else.
And I think that would do Alaska's kids a huge disservice.
I think it is equally
I think it is equally important to teach Alaskan kids the culture of SE Asia, of Germany, of Cameroon, Peru, Alabama, etc. Talk about Yupik and Tlingit as well. That is how we honor all cultures and end up with educated, balanced kids ready for the world.
@skirkz: culture isn't
@skirkz: culture isn't something you "teach," it's something that is learned from every social interaction an individual has with other persons. There is absolutely no way to remove culture from school. Nor should we try. Different cultures have different modes of thought, and being able to think in different ways is incredibly valuable.
@PP
Then why is it being TAUGHT in JSD? Did you bother to read my posts? Of course we benefit from knowledge of diverse culture. I am a cultural Heinz 57! Should your tax dollar go to classes for all 57 varieties? I wouldn't even pay for those classes. I've been immersed in many cultures including those with which I have no genetic ties or even local roots. I'll put it in simple terms as I see them: Promoting a specific culture in government schools is discriminatory bigotry with conceivably racial overtones. Culture fits in the same category as religion. It is a personal choice and not to be legislated into a government (as in we the people/taxpayers) financed education system.
Culture
Having spent the last fifty years studying various cultures in Alaska and around the world and then teaching about them, I have found.
All societies, technologies, and cultures change over time.
Many societies with their cultures no longer exist.
Languages, a key component of any culture, also change over time. Some languages have become more widely used in everyday life and activities than others.
Yet different languages "see the world" differently and give insights about "reality." Somewhat like various computer programs providing different ways of understanding.
In some places, societies have selected out those things they wish to preserve as important, and discard those that are no longer applicable. For example, I don't think that for most Americans in the modern world, the best idea is to have honey buckets and outhouses in urban areas.
Some social systems, laws, and traditions seem to be at times more fair, equitable and applicable to present times; other social systems seem to be outdated.
With modern communication, technology, media and economics we are in to a new global society, with a global culture and some languages being used across huge areas.
Out of all this, I personally don't see any quick, easy, simplistic answer to many of the issues and comments. We may have to simply adjust to change, but make sure that there is fairness, equality, justice, freedom and liberty for all.
What I got out of this final piece.
I believe Berg is saying that the villages need to begin paying something for village education. I agree with that! People do not value what they receive for free. Every part of Alaska, including non-Native villages like Gustavus and Tenakee need to contribute dollars to their community schools. That would be a great first step in improving rural education in Alaska.
@skirkz: kids are taught
@skirkz: kids are taught about cultures. And this is vastly important, especially when the cultures are relevant to us, as Alaskans or Americans. Everything in school is about promoting the dominant, Anglo-European culture we have in this country. Reductionist science, breaking up education into separate classes, demanding certain behaviors of students, class structure, the works of literature that are studied, and essentially every other element of our educational system is based upon one cultural standard. Now you tell me which specific culture is being thrust upon our youth. Hint: it's not Tlingit culture.
But this isn't a bad thing. It's important to have a dominant culture that ties everyone in such a vast nation together.
Unfortunately, our culture also has a history of suppressing, denigrating, and eradicating other cultures. This attitude still hasn't been completely purged.
@glacierdogs: people don't
@glacierdogs: people don't value what they receive for free? Maybe in your money-obsessed world where the value of a thing directly reflects its cost in dollars. But for people with less shallow worldviews, that's not so at all. I value homemade gifts moreso than expensive ones. I value my education for the perspectives, skills, and facts it taught me, not because of the tuition I paid (or didn't pay, in the case of primary and secondary school). I value my social relationships, despite not ever having paid them to like me. And I know that I am not alone here.
Fess up: all you're really advocating for is putting up barriers to education so that certain people won't grow up successful in our society and challenge your assumptions.
Reply to PP
There are several "dominant cultures" emerging in our new global world, with their world views, values and languages.
Life for future generations with climate changes, global economies, technology, travel, religions and many other things will be much different from the cultures in which most of us have grown up.
We need to respect the past. But at the same time, we have to educate, instruct and prepare the current younger generation for a whole different way of life that the world has never seen nor experienced before.
Very aptly put, Professor!
I don't advocate the scuttling of a language or the history of any culture. But, if a people doesn't see fit to retain it, I feel no compunction to champion it's survival. Nor do I feel obligated to finance it's preservation. That would be up to the people who possessed them. Understanding diverse cultures facilitates interaction with people from other localities that we may encounter. But, you shouldn't be required to finance indigenous culture classes for what should be learned in the home.
@PP
Some one told me that a man with an argument is never at the mercy of a man with an experience. And you would argue with a fence post. My experience is exactly what you hinted that it wasn't. My children had Alaska Native Studies in highschool. I did not resent that and my kids, having moved here from a different cultural setting, benefited from the enlightenment they received. Make no mistake, I am not racist as I am no purebred and have a variety of "color" including several American Indian roots. And now I have Alaskan Native grandchildren. But, I don't agree with making a student take a cultural study any more than requiring Mandarin or theology.
@skirkz: I didn't accuse you
@skirkz: I didn't accuse you of anything, I was noting a flaw in our culture. I also disagree. I think it's of the utmost importance for kids to learn about as many cultures, languages, and religions as possible.
That's called Social Studies.
I can agree with that. There is a difference between that and local ethnicity when it comes to a required course.
Exposing my bias and prejudice
I grew up speaking only English. Then, over the years, I studied Latin, Greek, Norwegian, Yupik, Athabascan, Japanese and Spanish, and even Lunda spoken in Africa.
I don't have children or grand children, but if I did, I would make two recommendations to them. My biological heritage is Irish and Norwegian. I have studied Norwegian, but not Gaelic. Yet I know, both languages have had an influence on English but neither are a preparation for tomorrow.
First, if you want to learn how languages influence one's view of the world, study the Mayan language (both spoken and written hundreds of years ago)Farsii, Swahili, or other languages.
Secondly, if you want to survive well over your lifetime in a completely different global world, then study Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish or Russian. Or, even going beyond modern human languages, learn other possible means of communication in case there are other intelligent beings in the universe that communicate in a different way.
The past is past. Future generations must live in the world in which they find themselves.
@ JoMacNamara & just random thoughts
Your opinions are very well thought out. They are a bit ignorant and could use a bit more substance to it. Maybe taking an (you can audit it) Alaska Native language course through UAS (Or if you’re not in Juneau through Fairbanks or Anchorage) or Alaska Native Culture course? Debate with the students and instructors in your classes. Open their minds up to your opinions and don’t forget to listen to theirs. I think anyone that can agree with you should consider this root.
In our culture (the American one) we have the means of just listening to the information we want to hear. As people we need to listen to both sides of an argument. Just reading an article you don’t agree with is a start the next step is to take a class.
Imagine saying all of what you said in this comment section to an Alaska native student in middle school. Their self image would be killed, by you; they would feel shame in themselves and their culture. In their heads they would think “So my culture isn’t important enough to save? Why do my parents keep on teaching me about it then?” This will go through their mind a millions of times throughout middle school and it’ll seep into their home life. They will start rebelling against their culture and parents because a respected adult (As a middle schooler every adult is seen as a rocket scientist) said all of what you said about their culture.
Personally, I am excited for the resurgence of Alaska native culture with or without state help; tax dollars, or money. I think we can do it without them. Though, it would give some sort of closer for our culture as a whole if the institution that help take down our cultures/languages, that abused our families and ancestors, would give us a little help.
P.S. You can learn how to weave a hat and learn how to use a computer…that’s just demeaning. It’s like saying you should spend your time learning how to use the computer instead of playing basketball! Basketball is so in the 19th century. I am truly offended by that comment. Anywho it's awesome to read these comments. The good and the bad! It's like all filters are off and prepares me for the world. :)
@moosusmoo
I'm gonna reverse your scenario for you...
Imagine if YOU stood in front of a middle school composed of half Native and half non-Native kids and you said, "We are reversing curriculum today. Instead of learning how to use a computer, we're going to teach everyone how to make a Shaman hat! The reason being, since we are in Alaska, then Alaska Native heritage should take precedence over the Euro/Anglo stuff we've been teaching all along. Oh, and English class is now Tlingit class. So, let's all speak Tlingit from now on."
Now how many middle schoolers' self-esteem would be ruined?
Then (paraphrasing your doom scenario) this will go through their minds a million times throughout middle school and it will seep into their homes, and they'll start rebelling against their culture and their parents and grow up to be communists who murder people, eat kittens and set fires to orphanages all because YOU said Native culture was more important than their own.
Now who's being ignorant?
And, your second-to-the-last paragraph made me grit my teeth. Your words: "Personally, I am excited for the resurgence of Alaska native culture with or without state help; tax dollars, or money. . .Though, it would give some sort of closure for our culture as a whole if the institution that help take down our cultures/languages, that abused our families and ancestors, would give us a little help."
That's what ANCSA was for!!! The spirit of ANCSA, in part, was as an apology to Alaska Natives. Natives received BILLIONS of dollars partly for this. ANCSA settled ALL of this, all aboriginal claims forever, and the operative word that appears many times in ANCSA is the word, "forever." When does your forever begin?
Just how many more billions do you need before you achieve closure?!? $10 billion? $100 billion? What's your price tag for closure? Or is it just greed? Only YOU are preventing your own closure. It's not based on money. I sense you really don't speak for a majority of Natives. Most Natives I know have closure. They've let go of the bitterness and divisiveness that some haven't. It is unfortunate for those who haven't.
Just because some of your ancestors may have been oppressed does not mean that your are currently being oppressed. I had absolutely no control over the actions of my ancestors. Why should anyone have to pay any more for history's sins just so you could achieve "closure?"
This is exactly the type of victim mentality that perpetuates the division between some Natives and non-Natives. You do all Alaskans a disservice with outdated racist thinking. Every person alive can claim some association with some group who was oppressed by another group. Alaska Natives do not have a monopoly on claims of oppression.
I acknowledge the past and learn the lessons from it, no matter how painful the lesson. I don't live in the past. I try to move forward from wrongs committed against me. I've learned the power of forgiveness. I try to fuse with cultures other than my own instead of staying in the one where I am most comfy. I share with cultures I like and admire. I avoid those that I don't. I don't let my past dictate my future. I don't let my ancestors define my identity. I make my own future and my own identity. I evolve. I don't remain stagnant.
And that seems to be the biggest difference between you and I, moos.
We are all victims of some thing or some group.
Move on.
Sick of the same, tired rhetoric. Many others are too.
Move on. Time to move on.
Western thinking vs. Native view
Joe MacNamara, your have a strong ethno-centric view of the world, one in which your personal experience is at the center of.
First, most of your facts about ANCSA are incorrect. ANCSA was not an apology. ANCSA was a land bill. The total payment that was paid out to all Alaska Natives was less than one billion dollars. All aboriginal claims have not been settled FOREVER.
Do you really think asking for the state of Alaska to include Native studies in the cirriculum is greedy?
The fact that you have no connection to your ancestors is one of the many differences between your Western view point and a Native viewpoint. Alaska Natives have strong connections to their ancestors because they believe, where you come from is an important part of who you are. Natives are accountable to their ancestors with their behavior today and our generation is accountable for the behavior of the next generation to come.
The Western viewpoint is that the individual is the strongest unit and the Native Viewpoint places the strongest unit as a group (house, clan). When one person of a Clan commits a crime the entire Clan has to pay the price.
Western thought says an individual can "reinvent" themselves and be whoever they want. Native viewpoint says you are born into the Clan of your mother and you always know who you are and where you belong.
I think even Wallie would agree that these Native viewpoints still permeate through Alaska Native thinking today.
JImmy J - Douglas, AK
Neil deGrasse Tyson says...
"We're all connected, to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, and to the rest of the universe atomically."
Beautiful, isn't it?
There is no evidence my not-so distant ancestors ever knew this observable truth let alone all those lost to deep time.
Pity.
Mike
@ JoMacNamara
Dude! Your way to aggressive and making up stuff.
Alaska is the only place IN THE WORLD that I can go to and experience my culture and speak my language. I want to keep that around for my child and for all Alaskans. Alaska Natives' history is apart of every Alaskans history. Doesn't matter what race you are. History is important.
I'm sure if you took a class you'd find things about Alaska Native cultures/language you would like and bring it home with you.
My ancestors are important to me :) I like my culture and language. I want to share it and revive it. Recover, revive, and move on; that meaning to make new culture, words, and traditions.
I'm not going to "Move on." I'm not a victim. I'm not going to forget my ancestors because they are apart of me. Their stories are important and everyone can learn lessons from them.
Thanks for your opinions mine are different.
Western vs. Native?
My curiosity is piqued. Would the self designated Native culture representatives answer my questions?
I understand that indigenous culture is one of oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. Given the lack of hard copy (written?) record, how can you be sure that the information passed down is pure and untainted by personal interpretation for even one generation?
Provided that it is, who is responsible for passing these oral records (as remembered) on to their successors?
In the event that the verbal history has, for whatever reason, lost some content or a key source of accurate accounting been rendered uncommunicable or died, how shall it be retrieved?
Assuming that the record has been passed on accurately and a generation drops the ball, is it the "Native view" that "Western" school systems pick the ball up and provide classes in their culture with written transcripts, rendering oral tradition unnecessary?
Wouldn't that taint the culture? Or is the Native view as such that Western society is obligated to pick up their slack? That spells out entitlement.
No more "entitlement" than
No more "entitlement" than your ability to fit into your own culture.
And good god, Jo, you sound like a friggin' Republican. You know as well as I do that any wrongs YOUR ancestors suffered happened much longer ago, were not related to cultural genocide, and can't be felt today. Next you're going to tell me that slavery happened in the past and has no bearing on today, even though it quite obviously does from an economic and cultural standpoint. Just as the oppression of native peoples does.
Also, you don't argue honestly. No one proposed replacing computer studies with making "shaman hats." Get a grip. You explain things as either/or dichotomies that more are usually used by fundamentalist Christians and other social conservative types.
The only person here who seems to be bitter is you.