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Alutiiq ethnicity Item Type Thesis Authors Partnow, Patricia Hartley Download date 07/10/2021 06:23:12 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9398 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this ^production is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. 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Order Number 9419758 Alutiiq ethnicity Partnow, Patricia Hartley, Ph.D. University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1993 Copyright ©1393 by Partnow, Patricia Hartley. All rights reserved. 300UMI N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALUTIIQ ETHNICITY A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Patricia Hartley Partnow, A.B., M.A. Fairbanks, Alaska December 1993 © Copyright 1993 by Patricia H. Partnow Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALUTIIQ ETHNICITY BY PATRICIA HARTLEY PARTNOW RECOMMENDED: Jncdtci\Q&u ^ u J u ^ u 4 , Richard Datienhauer Phyllis Morrow -Li~pda J. EDianna (- Advisory Committee Chair Lydia T^-Blacl a \/UDepartment U Head W. Roger Powers APPROVED: Gorden Hedahl, Dean College of Liberal Arts £UUluJ pyftyu-f~\ Edwardard C. Murphy J Acting Dean of the Graduate School <? /993 Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALUTIIQ ETHNICITY by Patricia Hartley Partnow ABSTRACT In this project I consider how Alaska Peninsula Alutiiqs (Pacific Eskimos) maintain and express a sense of continuity with their past and how in today's world they use their understanding of the past to renegotiate and reenact their ethnic identity. I do so through an ethnohistorical reconstruction of Alutiiq ethnic identity from precontact days to the present and through a consideration of the role oral tradition and community ritual play in the constant reformulation of Alutiiq identity. I discuss the symbols considered most diagnostically Alutiiq (i.e., those which make up the Alutiiq identity configuration) and explore their meanings as Alutiiqs utilize and manipulate them in a variety of settings. Originally based on a common language, the Alutiiq identity developed into a full-blown ethnicity over a period of 200 years of contact with non-indigenous peoples, first the Russians and then the Americans. As Alutiiq identity became more uniform and pervasive throughout the iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iv Alaska Peninsula, its uniformity was balanced by a cultural tendency toward emphasis on local society. Today's Alutiiq identity configuration is characterized by ties to the land, a belief in a shared history with other Alutiiqs, acknowledgement of Alutiiq as the ancestral language, adherence to some level of subsistence lifestyle, and a kinship link to Alutiiqs of the past. For this study I undertook both archival research and fieldwork, the latter focusing on folklore transmission and performance (particularly ethnohistorical narratives and ritual performances). I discuss how verbal and dramatic folklore performances, considered in historic, social, and cultural context, serve as a vehicle for defining, reconceptualizing, and reinforcing ethnicity. I employ a situational (in contrast to a group-with- boundaries) model of ethnicity in conjunction with ethnohistoric and folklore analysis to illuminate the processes which have led to today's Alutiiq identity configuration. I further consider the ramifications the Alutiiq case has for general ethnicity theory. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables xii Acknowledgments xiii CHAPTER Is INTRODUCTION The Problem 1 The Study Area 3 Nomenclature 8 Significance 11 An Area Study 11 The Study as Ethnohistory 13 Method 14 Validation of Findings 19 The Researcher 21 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL MODELS Ethnicity Anthropological Models in Complex Societies 24 Terminology 28 Ethnic Characteristics 30 Perception of Common Origin; Claim to Continuity with the Past; Self Ascription 3 0 Social and Cultural Distinctiveness 31 Ethnicity as an Interactive Process 36 Ethnic Distinctiveness 39 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vi Ethnicity as Class 39 Folklore Theory and Method 41 The Individual Tradition-bearer 49 Folklore as a Window to Ethnicity 51 Ethnic Symbols 53 Context 55 Storyteller 55 Performer/Audience Relationship 61 Physical Setting 65 Temporal Setting 65 Community Concerns 67 Texture 67 Ethnohistory 69 CHAPTER Ills HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The Precontact Period on the Alaska Peninsula 73 Archaeological Evidence 76 Historical Evidence 83 Precontact Alutiiq Cultural Characteristics 91 Summary: Precontact Alutiiq Ethnicity 101 The Russian Period m the Alaska Peninsula Earliest Contacts 106 Russian Economic Activity 107 Final Explorations of the Alaska Peninsula 114 Russian Period Settlements 115 Russians at Katmai 117 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vii Russian Impact on the Indigenous Population 124 Alutiiq Ethnicity in Russian Days Effects of Company and Church 130 Creoles and Alutiiq Ethnicity 132 The American Period on the Alaska Peninsula The 19th Century 141 Alutiiq Economic Activity in the 19th Century 142 The Russian Orthodox Church in the 19th Century 145 Alaska Peninsula Villages 146 Alutiiq Economic Activities in the 20th Century 159 Creoles on the Alaska Peninsula in the American Period 169 Post-War Life on the Alaska Peninsula 171 Alutiiq Ethnicity in the American Period 172 CHAPTER IV: THE GENESIS OF MODERN ALUTIIQ ETHNICITY Introduction 179 Primary Sources 181 The Story’ 189 Prologue 190 Premonition and Preparation 192 The Eruption 194 Judgment Day 196 Messengers 198 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. viii Rescue 199 Refugees 201 Relocation 203 First Landing 206 Reintegration: Home at Last 208 The Katmai Story as History and Myth 210 Differences in Performance 210 The Story as Myth 218 Structure 219 Establishment of Canon 222 Symbols 223 The Katmai Story as the Beginning of History 227 The Katmai Story and Alutiiq Ethnicity 22 9 CHAPTER V: PRE-KATMAI NARRATIVES Alutiiq Narrative Genres 236 The Mythical Pre-Katmai Eruption Era 244 Pre-Katmai Stories 246 Piculi 248 Pugla'allria 252 Macintine 260 Summary 27 6 CHAPTER VI: CHRISTMAS IN CHIGNIK LAKE 2 80 History and Description of Starring 280 A Christmas Diary 285 December 25 285 January 6 286 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ix January 7 286 January 8 291 January 9 292 January 10 294 January 12 297 January 13 297 January 14 298 January 17 298 January 18 299 January 19 300 Meaning 300 Exegetical Explanations 301 Operational Meanings 304 Positional Meaning 317 Christian Symbols 318 Native Foods 320 Alutiiq Language 324 Other Symbols 331 Ritual Relationships 336 Ritual and the Alutiiq Identity Configuration 341 CHAPTER VII: ALUTIIQS AND OUTSIDERS 345 Alliance or Incorporation 346 Battle 359 Avoidance 369 Ridicule 382 Change through History 389 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER VIII: ALUTIIQ IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY THEORY The Alutiiq Identity Configuration 393 Symbol 1: Ties to Particular Geographic Areas Within the Alaska Peninsula 400 Symbol 2: A Belief in a Shared History With Other Alaska Peninsula Alutiiqs 403 Symbol 3: Acknowledgment of Alutiiq as the Ancestral Language 405 Symbol 4: Subsistence Lifestyle 406 Symbol 5: A Genetic or Adoptive Link to Alutiiqs of

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