LingitX Haa Sateeyi, We Who Are Tlingit: Contemporary Tlingit Identity And The Ancestral Relationship To The Landscape Item Type Thesis Authors Martindale, Vivian F. Download date 11/10/2021 05:50:12 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/8961 NOTE TO USERS Page(s) missing in number only; text follows. Page(s) were scanned as received. 217 This reproduction is the best copy available. UIY1I LINGITX HAA SATEEYI, WE WHO ARE TLINGIT: CONTEMPORARY TLINGIT IDENTITY AND THE ANCESTRAL RELATIONSHIP TO THE LANDSCAPE A Dissertation Present to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Vivian F. Martindale, M.A. Fairbanks, Alaska May 2008 UMI Number: 3337644 Copyright 2009 by Martindale, Vivian F. All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send 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. ® UMI UMI Microform 3337644 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PO Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract Divergent views on the Tlingit ancestral relationship to the landscape of Southeast Alaska often leads to conflicts between Western-orientated government agencies, public entities, and the Tlingit people themselves. To better understand this subject, I collected nine personal narratives from research participants from within the Tlingit nation. The narratives provide insight into the dynamics at the intersection of conflicting worldviews, and the role this plays in shaping contemporary Tlingit identity. The results of exploring these diverging worldviews has illuminated three factors influencing contemporary Tlingit identity: the loss and struggle with maintaining the Lingit language, implementation of subsistence regulations and resultant conflicts, and diminishment of the ceremony called a kpo.eex ’ (a memorial party). In addition, within the Tlingit worldviews there are oral histories, traditional values, and concepts such as balance, respect, and at.oow, which define ancestral relationships and identity. These findings also reveal that the means of imparting cultural knowledge and worldviews have changed. The narratives are organized into themes reflecting common factors: Residing in the ancestral landscape, Lingit language and thinking, the Tlingit artist and the ancestral relationship to the landscape, and contemporary Tlingit identity. The results demonstrate the significance of identity markers, such as the Lingit language, as a means for healing social trauma. Moreover, the lives of the Tlingit artists illustrate that maintaining an ancestral relationship utilizes both traditional and contemporary methods. In addition, the narratives provide documentation concerning the changes in a subsistence lifestyle that affect the social lives of the Tlingit in contemporary society. V Table of Contents Page Signature Page ..................................................................................................................... i Title Page............................................................................................................................ ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents................................................................................................................ v List of Figures................................................................................................................... xii List of Tables............................................................................ xiii List of Appendices........................................................................................................... xiv Acknowledgment............................................................................................................ xvii Chapter 1: Introduction to Tlingit Aani The purpose of the study ......................................................................................................1 Significance of the study ..................................................................................................... 3 The role of the researcher................................................................................................... 3 Introduction to the Tlingit landscape.................................................................................. 7 Tlingit aani: The physical landscape and worldview ............................................. 8 The human landscape ...........................................................................................13 Research considerations in Tlingit Aani........................................................................... 20 A preview of the Lingit language......................................................................... 20 Cultural and intellectual property rights issues ..................................................... 23 vi Page The Tlingit worldview and CIPR.............................................................. 26 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 30 Chapter Summaries ........................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2: Examining Literature within Tlingit Aani Introduction....................................................................................................................... 36 Ethnographic studies ......................................................................................................... 40 Dated perspectives.............................................................................................. 40 Contemporary ethnographic studies..................................................................... 47 Related landscapes ................................................................................................ 55 Government and tribal research.........................................................................................57 Alaska history: Whose perspective?................................................................................. 62 The missionary perspective................................................................................... 64 Mapping through the ancestral landscape ............................................................. 66 The artist’s journey........................................................................................................... 70 Contemporary Tlingit literature....................................................................................... 76 Writing for a younger perspective........................................................................ 79 Outside landscapes ............................................................................................................ 80 Tourist literature.................................................................................................................81 Unique perspectives...........................................................................................................86 vii Page Oral traditions as literature ................................................................................................ 91 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 94 Chapter 3: Methodology Introduction....................................................................................................................... 96 The general perspective.................................................................................................... 96 The research context......................................................................................................... 97 The research participants.................................................................................................. 97 Procedures used ...............................................................................................................101 Background of the researcher..........................................................................................101 Participant/observer fieldwork.........................................................................................102 A case for appropriate literature about the Tlingit...........................................................104 The personal narrative.....................................................................................................107 Data analysis ....................................................................................................................110 Research methods in indigenous communities................................................................113 Responsible and respectable research ..................................................................117 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................120