Wesleyan t University Creating a Native Space in the City: An Inupiaq Community in Song and Dance By Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk Faculty Advisor: Dr. Mark Slobin A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Wesleyan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Middletown, Connecticut May 2017 i Copyright © 2017 Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk All Rights Reserved i Acknowledgements I wish to thank everyone who has supported me through my process of completing graduate studies. I am most appreciative of the advisors on my dissertation committee, especially Mark Slobin, who has provided invaluable insight, guidance, suggestions, and criticisms over the course of several years of graduate work, and generously agreed to work with me on this project. Su Zheng always finds new ways of seeing issues, and I welcome her sharp intellect. I am grateful for Maria Shaa Tláa Williams, who is one of a handful of Alaska Native professors, and serves as a role model, sounding board, and friend. Taikuutanni imatnuvaa. The Kingikmiut Dancers and Singers of Anchorage have shown me the way to become Inupiaq, a real person, through music and dance. Gregory Tungwenuk Nothstine, Sophie Tungwenuk Nothstine, Richard Atuk, Jane Atuk, Roy Roberts, Ruth Koenig, Reba Dickson, Cecilia Nunooruk Smith, Jessica Saniguq Ullrich, Mellisa Maktuayuk Heflin, Jennifer Aposuk McCarty, and many others have all been generous in showing me the way. Thank you to our relatives in the Native Village of Wales for hosting us at the Kingikmiut Dance Festival and sharing in the joy of dance. This dissertation was made possible with financial support from the Wesleyan University Music Fellowship and Graduate Assistantship, Wesleyan University Summer Research Travel Grants, Bering Straits Foundation Scholarship, Sitnasuak Foundation Scholarship, and the American Indian Graduate Center AIGC Fellowship. i Last, but not least, I am most appreciative of the support from my parents, Ron and Turid Senungetuk. Thank you. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ....................................................................................................... iii List of Illustrations ...................................................................................................... v Abstract ....................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 Pualanaqsiah! Let’s Dance! ......................................................................................... 1 Atiġa (“I am named after…”): Introduction ................................................................. 4 Objective ....................................................................................................................... 6 Orientation .................................................................................................................... 7 Terminology ...................................................................................................... 8 Inupiatun: Notes on Inupiaq Language Usage ............................................... 11 Literature Review ............................................................................................ 11 Methodology ................................................................................................... 22 Study Overview .............................................................................................. 28 Chapter 1. Aipanitaq inūlliq: Old Stories ................................................................ 31 1.1 Aipanitaq inūlliq: Old Stories ............................................................................... 32 1.2 American Influences ............................................................................................. 37 1.3 Healing .................................................................................................................. 63 Chapter 2. Qazgi: Community Center .................................................................... 70 2.1 CITC in the City: Monday Night Practices ........................................................... 71 2.2 Qazgi: Community House ..................................................................................... 76 2.3 Community ........................................................................................................... 87 2.3.1 Diaspora ................................................................................................. 90 2.3.2 Cosmobility ............................................................................................ 95 2.3.3 Deterritorialization ................................................................................. 96 2.3.4 Urbanization ........................................................................................... 97 2.3.5 Native Hubs ......................................................................................... 100 2.4 Sounds of Practice ............................................................................................... 104 2.4.1 Soundscape .......................................................................................... 105 2.4.2 Sounds of Singing—Tone .................................................................... 108 2.4.3 Sounds of Singing—Pitch .................................................................... 115 2.4.4 Sounds of Singing—Vocables ............................................................. 117 2.4.5 Sounds of Drumming ........................................................................... 120 2.4.6 Sounds of Drums—Drum Making ....................................................... 123 2.4.7 Acoustemology .................................................................................... 126 2.5 Aġġi: Dance ......................................................................................................... 127 iii 2.5.1 Invitational Dances .............................................................................. 128 2.5.2 Motion Dances ..................................................................................... 132 2.6 Iḷisaġvik: Place of Learning, Creating ................................................................ 136 2.6.1 Learning ............................................................................................... 138 2.6.2 Composing ........................................................................................... 145 Chapter 3. Moveable Qazgit .................................................................................. 156 3.1 Historic Inupiaq Travel and Temporary Qazgit .................................................. 157 3.1.1 Ancestral Travels ................................................................................. 158 3.1.2 Moveable Qazgit .................................................................................. 169 3.2 Performance ........................................................................................................ 178 3.2.1 Performing in Anchorage ..................................................................... 181 3.2.2 Public Events ....................................................................................... 182 3.2.2.1 Authenticity ........................................................................... 188 3.2.2.2 Identity .................................................................................. 194 3.2.2.3 Indigenizing the City ............................................................. 195 3.2.3 Semi-Private Events ............................................................................. 200 3.2.3.1 Spirituality ............................................................................. 202 3.3 Traveling to perform ........................................................................................... 210 3.3.1 Fairbanks—WEIO: Competition Element ........................................... 212 3.3.2 Wales—Kingikmiut Dance Festival .................................................... 216 3.3.2.1 Ownership of Songs .............................................................. 220 3.3.2.2 Shared Songs ......................................................................... 222 3.3.2.3 Changes ................................................................................. 226 3.3.2.4 Nostalgia ............................................................................... 228 3.3.2.5 Constructing a Sense of Place ............................................... 230 Puviqlealuq: Tail, Coda ........................................................................................... 234 Greater Qazgi Movement .............................................................................. 237 Future Research ............................................................................................ 240 References ................................................................................................................ 244 iv List of Illustrations Figure 1. Hawkes, Ernest William. The Dance Festivals of the Alaskan Eskimo (1914). Plate XII ...................................................................................................... 173 Figure 2. Hawkes, Ernest William. The Dance Festivals