Aja 11(1-2) 2013
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Alaska Journal of Anthropology Volume 11, Numbers 1&2 2013 Alaska Journal of Anthropology © 2013 by the Alaska Anthropological Association: All rights reserved. ISSN 1544-9793 editors alaska anthropological association Kenneth L. Pratt Bureau of Indian Affairs board of directors Erica Hill University of Alaska Southeast Rachel Joan Dale President research notes Jenya Anichtchenko Anchorage Museum Anne Jensen UIC Science April L. G. Counceller Alutiiq Museum book reviews Robin Mills Bureau of Land Amy Steffian Alutiiq Museum Management Molly Odell University of Washington correspondence Jeffrey Rasic National Park Service Manuscript and editorial correspondence should be sent (elec- tronically) to one or both of the Alaska Journal of Anthropology other association officials (AJA) editors: Vivian Bowman Secretary/Treasurer Kenneth L. Pratt ([email protected]) Sarah Carraher Newsletter Editor University of Alaska Erica Hill ([email protected]) Anchorage Rick Reanier Aurora Editor Reanier & Associates Manuscripts submitted for possible publication must con- form with the AJA Style Guide, which can be found on membership and publications the Alaska Anthropological Association website (www. For subscription information, visit our website at alaskaanthropology.org). www.alaskaanthropology.org. Information on back issues and additional association publications is available on page 2 of the editorial board subscription form. Please add $8 per annual subscription for postage to Canada and $15 outside North America. Katherine Arndt University of Alaska Fairbanks Don Dumond University of Oregon Design and layout by Sue Mitchell, Inkworks Max Friesen University of Toronto Copyediting by Erica Hill Bjarne Grønnow National Museum of Denmark Scott Heyes Canberra University Susan Kaplan Bowdoin College Anna Kerttula de Echave National Science Foundation Alexander King University of Aberdeen Owen Mason GeoArch Alaska Dennis O’Rourke University of Utah Katherine Reedy Idaho State University Richard O. Stern Northern Land Use Research X’unei Lance Twitchell University of Alaska Southeast table of contents keynote address to the aaa the critical next step for alaska native languages .................................1 Edna Ahgeak MacLean returning to russian america introduction: returning to russian america .......................................7 Kenneth L. Pratt misplaced history: a confrontation near chignik bay, alaska, june–july 1782 ...........9 Katherine L. Arndt deconstructing the aglurmiut migration: an analysis of accounts from the russian-america period to the present .................................17 Kenneth L. Pratt the fleet of the russian-american company ......................................37 Evguenia Anichtchenko a. f. kashevarov, the russian-american company, and alaska conservation .............51 Ryan Jones the russian orthodox mission and priest-monk afanasii’s “secret,” 1824–1826 ...........69 Alexander Y. Petrov russian occupation of st. matthew and hall islands, alaska: excavation results from the 2012 archaeological investigation ...................73 Dennis Griffin an american treasure in fairbanks: the rehabilitation of the kolmakovsky blockhouse ............................93 Angela J. Linn special feature roger (kokituk) menadelook ..................................................101 Eileen Norbert a group of alaska eskimos receive greetings and sample the hospitality of soviet russia ....................................103 Roger Menadelook (1948) iii reports the arctic small tool tradition on cook inlet: the magnetic island site, tuxedni bay, alaska ........................................................119 Jason S. Rogers, Douglas R. Reger, Joshua D. Reuther, Robert C. Bowman, and Jill Baxter-McIntosh aleut burial mounds: ULAAKAN and UMQAN ........................................139 Matt O’Leary and Richard Bland fieldwork on the commander islands aleuts ....................................169 Sergei A. Korsun, Translated by Ryan Jones research notes ..............................................................182 Edited by Anne M. Jensen thesis and dissertation abstracts ..............................................191 Compiled by Monty Rogers book reviews keystone nations: indigenous peoples and salmon across the north pacific. .195 Reviewed by Catherine F. West the alutiiq orthography: kodiak dialect .......................................197 Reviewed by Anna Berge women’s work, women’s art: nineteenth-century northern athapaskan clothing ....199 Reviewed by William E. Simeone kingikmi sigum qanuq ilitaavut: wales inupiaq sea ice dictionary ...................201 Reviewed by April Counceller land of extremes: a natural history of the arctic north slope of alaska ............203 Reviewed by Anne M. Jensen KEYNOTE ADDRESS: THE CRITICAL NEXT STEP FOR ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGES Edna Ahgeak MacLean 8231 Summerset Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99518; [email protected] Alaska Native language maintenance and revitalization is the subject of Edna Ahgeak MacLean’s keynote address, given on March 16, 2013, at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association in Anchorage. MacLean holds a Ph.D. in Education from Stanford University. Among her many accom- plishments, she developed and taught Iñupiaq language courses at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1976 to 1987, served as president of Il.i s a ˙g v i k College in Barrow from 1995 to 2005, and recently completed a comprehensive dictionary of North Slope Iñupiaq (MacLean, in press), which will be available in 2014. ABSTRACT Despite the establishment of Alaska Native language programs in Alaska’s schools, use of indigenous languages is declining. The former policy of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs to eradicate the use of Alaska Native languages in schools and homes will succeed unless the community members assist. Adults who were abused as school children for speaking their Native languages must now be recruited to champion language revival programs in their communities. The time is right for a realignment of resources and the creation of opportunities to nurture our indigenous languages. Pa˙glagivsi! Aarigaa maaniitchumiña˙gama. Greetings! It’s wonderful to be here. I’ve enjoyed the conference and I thank Aron Crowell, director of the Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution, for inviting me. And thank you all for being here today. I am Edna Ahgeak MacLean, an Iñupiaq from Barrow, Alaska. Many of you have heard of the abuse that Alaska Native children received from their teachers in the Bureau of Indian Affairs day schools for speaking their Native lan- guages in the schools. The mistreatment was widespread, but I will focus on the issue using the Alaska North Slope region, and specifically my home town. The observations I make are based on the experiences that I shared with my fellow Iñupiat of Barrow, who are now the ages of fifty-five and older.1 My intent is not to focus on the abuse itself but to try to understand my and my fellow classmates’ reaction to the situation we find ourselves in today because of the abuse. Because I am included in this group, I will use the Alaska Journal of Anthropology vol. 11, nos. 1&2 (2013) 1 first person pronouns “we” and “us” to refer to this group the English language, the knowledge of the American cul- throughout my talk. ture, and the technology skills associated with English to I am Iñupiaq. I grew up in the Iñupiaq culture and succeed in further education and to participate in the so- language of my community and was punished for speak- ciety we found ourselves in. ing Iñupiaq in the school of the same community. We returned to our communities as the civil rights The purpose of schooling was to teach us English and movement, the bilingual education discussion, the for us to learn non-Iñupiaq knowledge so we could as- Alaska land claims movement, and the emergence of the similate into the American culture quickly. The method North Slope Borough government began. We worked that some of the teachers chose to teach us English was to hard within our communities to see successful conclu- beat Iñupiaq out of us.2 I’ve wondered why the teachers sions. These were exciting and stressful times. We needed chose this method when other noncruel learning methods a good command of both English and Iñupiaq in order were known. to participate fully. We communicated in Iñupiaq with Some of my friends dropped out of school because our elders and we communicated in English with our they did not understand English well and were punished partners and our adversaries. for speaking Iñupiaq. Most of the time they were asking Unfortunately, during all of this time we did not questions of other students in Iñupiaq for clarification of speak Iñupiaq to our children. We spoke Iñupiaq with what the teacher wanted us to do. each other, with our parents, and other adult members of Many of us hung in there because we had to. We en- our communities, but we did not speak Iñupiaq with our dured the humiliation whenever any of our classmates children. We talked to our children in English. were subjected to verbal or physical abuse for inadvertently Because we did not speak Iñupiaq with our children, speaking Iñupiaq. we have lost Iñupiaq as the first language of communica- We were sent to boarding schools by the Bureau of tion in our homes and in our Iñupiaq communities. Now, Indian Affairs for our high school years, away from our English is the language of communication in almost all of communities. Some of us enjoyed