Boogly,
Would you care to comment about this column from Cecil Adams? Most specifically, his claim that the physiology of Eskimos differs (in aggregate) from that of other peoples, in ways that helps them better cope with the cold.
Thanks.
I can probably address some of that, from a non-Native perspective. The influences on Alaska Natives has pretty much mirrored the experience of Native Americans everywhere: disease, alcoholism, poverty, etc. The introduction of modern technologies has eroded the Native traditional culture and has, in some cases, resulted in dialects dying out. Many village children want to leave for bright lights, good jobs and better education, which adds to cultural degradation. In the past, many Natives who moved to the larger cities found that there was no job and no dream to be had for them. Downtown Anchorage used to be rife with “drunken Natives”. Not so much nowadays, but it’s not due to the largess of the non-Native population.
Back when the oil companies were salivating over drilling in Alaska, the realization hit that Alaska needed to resolve the long-standing land claims before oil companies could gain access to traditional lands. This resulted in Congress passing the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, which established 13 Native corporations. Those corporations are now owned by tribal members or shareholders, as they’re called. The largest of those is Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, which is a $6 billion company with contracts all over the country and internationally. I worked for them for a while in one of their multitude of 8(a) companies.
You may rightfully ask “How does a six billion dollar corporation qualify for SBA status?” This is due almost entirely to the efforts of Senator Ted Stevens, who was able to jam through legislation to allow these corporations to establish offshoot 8(a) companies within the corporate umbrella. Other minority business cry foul constantly (as they probably should), and demand audits of the operations. Profits from the corporate entities are supposedly divided among shareholders, but salaries are very high, and many would argue that they should be much smaller.
Health care is one huge benefit for Alaska Natives. I believe that it’s free, and the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage provides services to all Natives.
All that aside, most villages are still using honey buckets for waste. Fuel oil for stoves has to be either barged in or flown in, as the road system is very limited. If there is an early freeze-up, or bad storms, barge delivery can be delayed or even cancelled. That means air delivery, which is horrifyingly expensive.
Chefguy what is “SBA?”
Nobody resided permanently on the ice cap, because the sea ice isn’t permanent. It, you know, melts in the summer.
And igloos are pretty much temporary shelters, not something you live in. People used to have semi-subterranean houses for the winter–dig down into the dirt and build a roof over it. Lots better insulation than trying to built a cabin in a place where the only wood is driftwood or willow bushes. These were permanent structures. But people might not live in this village year-round since they’d have different camps to live in at different times of the year depending on what they were collecting.
And native Alaskans have been part of the global economy for hundreds of years. Before America took over Alaska it was part of the global fur trade, whaling, and fisheries under the Russians. So you have to go really far back before you find Alaskans that didn’t have access to firearms for hunting.
Becky2844:
I’m not him, but he probably means “Small Business Administration.”
I had some questions, read over this thread and promptly forgot most of them. Here’s what I remember I wanted to know:
(1) What did you/your family do for a living? I would presume it’s hard to make a living in the Alaskan wilderness, at least compared to where I live in DC.
(2) Have you had (or come across) issues with Vitamin D deficiency due to the lack of sun?
Those are all the questions I can remember. Thanks.
Blanket tosses used to be done to spot whales. Remember there are no trees to climb or build towers out of, and most places are pretty flat so no nearby hills or cliffs to look out over the water. So toss someone up 10-20 feet to look around for signs of whales out in the ocean.
Thanks.
I’ve heard that the practice of trampolining a guy up high was so that he could see farther in broad, flat terrain. If there was game just out of sight from ground level, he’d be able to see it. I sure hope it’s true, because I love the simple ingenuity of it.
Exactly right. And 8(a) businesses are minority/women-owned businesses. They’re limited to a specific number of employees and time in business. The Native corporations spin off these companies in whatever numbers suit them. When they cap out, they just reorganize and start up another one. The more successful ones remain as subsidiary companies. The unfair advantage is that while they are not supposed to be able to draw upon corporate resources, the reality is much different. I never had to worry about things like copy paper or other office supplies, and a corporate financial specialist was at my beck and call. The challenges come when a competing small business loses out to a Native corp “small” business and checks up on them only to find that it is part of a much larger parent company.
Cool thread.
Question, how close knit are Inuit communities? if I asked if you knew or know of any of the Twetos in Unalakleet, or any of the members of the Pamyua band, would that be a reasonable question? or is it sort of like asking “Oh you are from Moscow? You must know my boss’s cousin Marakov!”
Do you know any King Islanders? I used to buy and sell Alaska Native art, and they made some of the most beautiful ivory carvings I have ever come across.
I’ve read that when people (Native Alaskan or non-native) emigrate from Alaska, they rarely move to somewhat cold-weather states like Minnesota or North Dakota and typically end up in warm-weather areas like southern California, Hawaii, or Florida. I notice you’ve moved to New Mexico–was this a conscious decision to move somewhere warm, or were there other factors involved?
Why do they call it an Eskimo Pie?
How many words do you use for ‘snow’?
OK, got that out. Now, better questions:
There is much discussion about north-south exchange of cultures here, but how about east-west exchange, among the native community? Do the peoples of Siberia have contact with their North American bretheren? How about from Greenland to Iceland or Norway?
How would you describe the Eskimo community politically? Is there any rancor between people from Alaska to folks in Canada (e.g. ‘we dont want your socialism!’)? Is there a conservative/liberal divide geographically? Or, is the Eskimo community largely homogenous, politically?
If a guy from California were to show up in your town for his vacation, how would he be treated? What would there be to do?
Good thread, thanks for starting.
http://www.nullagvikhotel.com/activities/
Note that Kotzebue is actually a large town, as these things go–3000 people. It is a regional hub to a lot of smaller villages. So your experience if you flew in to Kotzebue is going to be different than if you flew into a really small village. Meaning, if you’re walking down the street in Kotzebue and see someone you don’t recognize, you don’t automatically do a double-take.
You’d likely be fine in the larger villages like Barrow or Nome, or polar bear watching on Barter Island. There is some hostility toward whites in some of the villages, and there are a few where you would NOT be welcome. I had an employee who was shot at. I never had a problem in all my travels throughout a large portion of Alaska.
Wow! Thanks for chiming in with answers!
If I’m off on any of this stuff, please let me know. I’ve been gone for four years now.
Chappachula;
UAA very well may have had an orientation into basic life in the past. My mother went to cillege in the 70’s and she didn’t mention anything like this.
As for schooling being sub-par, that is hard to answer without being broad stroke-y. When I was in elementary some people thought that some teachers only took jobs in the region because they had no other choice. I didn’t see it like this and with the 'net shrinking the world I don’t think people think in this way.
Dr. Drake, english is the primary language in my region. There is a decline in the native language in my region but it is far from dead.
For you and the others wondering about our Canadian and Russian brethren; there is quite a bit of communication at the corporate or highet level. Whenever there have been visitors people in the region got excited and broke out the good clothes.