Posts

Posted on

Letter to Students – Professor Jenny Bell Jones

May 2016 DANSRD Graduation Celebration.

Greetings to you all! By the time you read this my journey on our beautiful planet will be over and I will have taken my last walk into the forest. I want you all to know what a huge honor it has been to be a part of your lives. You, and in many cases your families as well, have brought great joy to me through the years that we worked together, and especially during my last years when illness made me homebound. It is not the Native way to say goodbye, and this isn’t a goodbye, it is a “I’ll see you later” or “hágoónee’”.

No more grading papers late into the night for me, no more sending out just one more email trying to make sure that everybody got their assignments in on time. No more developing those quizzes and writing those lecture notes that I’m sure some of you groaned about when you found how much reading they would require. Those things I will not take with me. The things I will carry along are the wonderful memories I have from each time I saw one or another of you have another success. Sometimes those successes were small, sometimes they were large, it never mattered to me, just seeing them was what counted. Nobody was happier about your good grades than I was!

Sometimes I was aware that you were struggling with incredible challenges in your lives. Some of you came to me and talked to me in confidence about those challenges and that confidence has never been shared. Sometimes I sat up all night like a worried grandma trying to figure out how best I could help you. Sometimes there were things I could do, and other times all I could do was pray but I want you to know that I was always there doing it.

Know that you can succeed. Do your best work and then try to make it just a tiny little bit better. You don’t have to be perfect just do your best. Take what you have learned in our classes and programs and use it wisely. Be proud of your successes, and forgive yourselves when you do not do as well as you had hoped … you are often your own worst critics, chances are the rest of us think you did pretty well!

When I was diagnosed with ALS in 2010 I was told I had just a year or two. I had a choice. I could have resigned my position, filed for disability and let the illness take over. Or I could continue working for as long as I was able. I chose the second option because of all of you. And those of you who I have worked with through these last 12 years they had told me I would not have, have given me a gift that I cannot repay. You gave me a purpose and reason to keep fighting. A reason to keep loving life for as long as I possibly could.

So, now it is time for you to pick up that fight. Sing for me, dance for me, eat some Native food for me, spend some time out on the land with me, but please do not be too sad for me. I have been blessed with many good years and especially the ones I have spent with you. I am at peace now, please be at peace with me. Remember when we walk on, we do not walk away. If you want to talk to me, go sit outside somewhere and be very quiet and listen … I’ll be there.

Enjoying the sunshine. July 2020 at the UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden.

Posted on

Collaboration with Tribes and Alaska Native Organizations Vital

My Inupiaq name is Iñukualuk and my Denaakk’e name is Tł’oyenaadleno. My English name is Jennifer (Maguire) Adams. I am originally from Allakaket, Alaska. My grandparents are the late Johnson and Bertha (Nictune) Moses of Allakaket and Alatna. My parents are the late Bob and Cora Maguire of Allakaket/Fairbanks.

I was hired by the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Indigenous Studies as an assistant professor in the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development in September 2023. I believe that one of the reasons I was hired is because of my involvement with Alaska Native organizations and Tribes. My service on the board of directors for the Doyon Foundation offers a collaborative pathway for education projects with the University of Alaska, as well as the consultative work with my Tribe (Allakaket) on infrastructure and grant projects. Some of my colleagues are also engaged in Tribal projects that bring us closer to Tribes and Indigenous people in Alaska.

Examples of other collaborations that can help both the University and Tribes are: 

  • language revitalization,
  • workforce development, 
  • Tribal education projects, 
  • self governance,
  • Indigenous knowledge,
  • infrastructure projects,
  • cultural security and wellbeing,
  • state and federal government advocacy, 
  • problem-solving research that advances Native communities, etc.

These types of collaborations create two-way benefits for all involved – good for the University and good for the Tribes. For example, if the University collaborates with a Tribe to increase capacity in workforce development, there are funding streams and grants that can benefit both entities.

US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland spoke about the disconnect between education and tribal communities in her 2022 commencement speech at Haskell Indian Nations University. Higher education institutions can be agents of progressive change if they collaborate more with tribal communities. 

Tribal College Journal (TCJ) points out that an expert leader (of which Alaska Native tribal communities have many) needs to be identified to help produce the partnership effectively. TCJ also advises that when creating and sustaining a mutually beneficial partnership for all parties, it is also important to identify what should be done by other local government entities like boroughs, local chapters and schools.

Steps forward can start with identifying issues of common interest and developing resources that can be transferred. Alaska Native people, organizations and Tribes should have input into what types of career programs are most in demand, to help shape University offerings. Traditional knowledge should also be incorporated into higher education wherever and whenever possible. Drawing from the wisdom of Alaska Native Elders can only enrich the University. 

Applied research that will contribute to actual rural Alaska community development should also improve living conditions for those communities. The Nature Conservancy points out that Indigenous “communities collectively manage at least one-quarter of the world’s lands, 17% of all forest carbon, and vast stretches of freshwater and marine habitats. Their stewardship and management often achieve greater conservation results and sustain more biodiversity than government protected areas”. There is a lot to learn from Indigenous people about managing the environment.

Another example is at Arizona State University, where

the combined efforts of American Indian Studies and the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning have helped support communities in the Navajo Nation in developing land use plans, updating older land use plans and supporting discussion and community education for economic development efforts and planning for new infrastructure projects.

ASU also has a mixed-reality game project called WaterSIMmersive where Indigenous students start a dialogue with tribal and rural community members…to better understand and voice their water concerns.

An example at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is the Tamamta Program, which is “centered on elevating 14,000+ years of Indigenous stewardship and bridging Indigenous and Western sciences to transform graduate education and research in fisheries and marine sciences”. 

It is not hard to imagine how the University can increase the benefits by cooperating with Alaska Native organizations and communities. Tribal people and communities can benefit as well. There are many exciting possibilities!

I look forward to bringing my students into this type of real-world community development, since it is beneficial to their learning and beneficial for Tribes to have a new generation to assist them with collaborative projects. 

If you know of an Alaska Tribe that has a project they would like to collaborate or request assistance with, please contact us at the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development (DANSRD) in the College of Indigenous Studies! Our email address is uaf-dansrd@alaska.edu and our website is https://www.uaf.edu/dansrd/.

Posted on

The Co-Create Collaborative 

A Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development Blog Post

March 2024

By: Charleen Fisher, PhD

Gwich’in Introduction

Drin Gwinzii! Shoozhrii Charleen Fisher, PhD oozhii. Beaver, Alaska gwats’an ihlii. Shii Dinjii zhuh oozhii Daazhrąįį. Assistant Professor Department of Alaska Native Studies ts’à’ Rural Development ihlii. 

English Introduction

Good day! My name is Charleen Fisher, PhD. I am from Beaver, Alaska. My native name is Daazhrąįį. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development. 

This DANSRD Blog post shares about the Co-Create Collaborative and the work they do to contribute to and highlight ethical norms for working with Indigenous people in the circumpolar north. The group are like minded individuals who work together when it is important to do so. 

The Co-Create Collaborative is an unstructured group of Indigenous rights holders and Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers who come together to write papers, organize and host workshops and presentations, and meet to share knowledge. I have worked with this group on several projects and will share about them here, please feel free to access the links and cite as you see fit. 

January 2022 (published paper) – Shaping Arctic’s Tomorrow through Indigenous Knowledge Engagement and Knowledge Co-Production

Shaping Arctic’s Tomorrow through Indigenous Knowledge Engagement and Knowledge Co-Production

This Sustainability, 2022, 14(3) 1331 publication is a foundational article that was worked on by researchers in 2021 and published in January of 2022. This paper advocated for co-creation or co-production of knowledge with Indigenous people and non-Indigenous researchers to be a priority and made recommendations for practical steps to be taken.

June 2022 (published paper) – Improving the Relationships between Indigenous rights holders and researchers in the Arctic: an invitation for change in funding and collaboration

Improving the relationships between Indigenous rights holders and researchers in the Arctic: an invitation for change in funding and collaboration – IOPscience

This article recommends strategies for transformative ways to integrate ethical research for meaningful collaboration in the area of research funding. There were 10 co-authors including Indigenous researchers and allies from the circumpolar north and Europe. The paper was published in Environmental Research Letters, Vol 17, No. 6 on June 10, 2022. The introduction was written by advocate Elle Merete Omma and highlights the Sápmi experience. This paper is steeped in helpful references and has a table with clear recommendations to research funders.

July 2022 (workshop) – Gwich’in fur mitten workshop & need for collaboration in research

Gwich’in fur mitten making and the need for collaboration in research

I was lucky enough to participate in a summer workshop in Potsdam, Germany with the Co-Create Collaborative. I held a workshop about identity, sewing, and research from an Indigenous perspective with co-create members and other people affiliated with the Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz-Centre Potsdam (RIFS). I shared a presentation, my sewing and then we worked on a beading project.

November 2022 (presentation) – CRCD Research Speaker Series

CRCD Research Speaker Series: Dr. Charleen Fisher

The UAF College of Rural and Community Development (CRCD) initiated the CRCD Research Speaker Series and I was asked to share. I was joined by Dr. Döring and we spoke about the current co-creation collaborative events of that time.  

August 2022 (published paper) – Shijyaa Haa Research: Reflections on positionality, relationality, and commonality in Arctic research by Charleen Fisher & Nina Nikola Döring

https://ethicalspace.pubpub.org/pub/8gsn9s8h/release/4

Dr. Döring and I worked on this paper for a couple of years and we were lucky enough to be published in the special issue of Ethical Space: Indigenous Communications Landscapes, Vol. 20, Nos. ⅔. The dialogic style presented a conversation between myself and Dr. Döring discussing our perspectives on co-creation issues and identity.

October 2023 (workshop) – A Week of Exchange: Ethics and Methods in Arctic Transformative Research 

a week of exchange: ethics and methods in arctic transformative research

WEMA III had so many great workshops with over 40 attendees at Oulu University in Oulu, Finland. I co-led a session titled Indigenous Knowledge, Language, and Positionality in Indigenous Research, facilitated by Ellen Marie Jensen (independent researcher) and Sigga-Marja Magga of the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu. I was so happy to share about the language work that I am involved in at the Tribal level. I shared the partnership website: https://gwichinlanguage.org/ and the materials that we work on and then did a hands-on sensory experience making a keychain with moose hide scraps, duck feathers, and glass beads. A report will be made available soon summarizing our workshop.

Upcoming: Co-creation collaborative website! 

Mahsi’ choo or thank you for taking the time to read this Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development Blog post!

Posted on

“DANSRD Remembers Dr. Gordon L. Pullar Sr.” by Jenny Bell Jones

On behalf of the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development staff, faculty and students I extend our deepest condolences to the family of Dr. Gordon L. Pullar Sr. who took his final walk into the forest on April 18th.  His family including his son, Gordon Pullar Jr. his daughter in law Diana Rose Pullar, his grandson Little Gordy, his wife, Flossie Leavitt-Pullar, daughter Tracy Pullar Cascio and all other family members are in our thoughts and prayers.

Dr. Pullar was a huge part of DANSRD and UAF for 20 years. He retired in 2014 with Emeritus status after serving first as Director of the Alaska Native Human Resource Development Program and then as Director of the Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development (now DANSRD), but he continued to work on some in progress graduate committees into 2016. He was revered not only for his academic brilliance that shone through in a long list of scholarly publications, but also for his willingness to help all students no matter what the question was, and most of all for his overall kindness to everyone he encountered. He served on my graduate committee and then, when DANSRD hired me, insisted that I drop the “Dr.” and just call him Gordon. A difficult task for someone who had placed him on a very high pedestal but I am remembering it here and will honor his request for the remainder of this piece.

Gordon’s focus on teaching came about because of his commitment to students and his strong scholarly interests – – especially in leadership, in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the events leading to its passing, and in cultural preservation and documentation.  He was known internationally for his work in those areas.  With those areas of expertise, he created the graduate symposium on Circumpolar & Indigenous Leadership, which was to serve as a foundation course for graduate students in Rural Development.

Gordon touched the lives of so many both within DANSRD and in the larger Alaskan community. He served on the Tangirnaq Native Village Tribal Council, the Koniag Education Foundation, the Alaska Federation of Natives Board of Directors, and as President of the Kodiak Area Native Association. He guided so many of us through graduate programs and then continued to mentor us as we went out into the world. We always knew we could count on him for feedback or answers to all the crazy questions that grad students come up with. His lessons were well learned by many, and he left a legacy of coursework and good solid advice which will be used long into the future.

We are happy that Gordon got to spend his last years with a wonderful wife and was able to take some nice vacations that were shared on Facebook. Those who met him along the way know that he had worked long and hard for that time off. Gordon was an athlete as well as a scholar and there will be no limits on that now. May his spirit soar with the eagles and his feet run forever free!

Service will be on May 5th at 3p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Anchorage.

Posted on

DANSRD congratulates ANS graduate Sharon Hildebrand: by Jenny Bell Jones

DANSRD would like to congratulate ANS graduate Sharon Hildebrand on her election as Vice President of Tanana Chiefs Conference.  Sharon is a 2013 graduate from our program who then continued her education and earned a Master’s of Public Administration from UAS in 2018. She was a stellar student who refused to let numerous challenges prevent her from reaching her educational goals.

Sharon is originally from Nulato but has made Fairbanks her home with her husband and sons where we are lucky to be able to call them neighbors. She is currently employed by Doyon Limited as their Village Outreach Liaison.

She has an exemplary record of public service and leadership and currently serves on the Board of Fairbanks Native Association in addition to her new position with TCC. She has been involved with youth hockey in Fairbanks and has raised her sons to be hard working respectful young men that we can all be proud of. She has been involved with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District as a curriculum review committee member and she is active with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. She serves on her Village Corporation Board of Directors and as a board member for Get out the Native Vote. She has a passion for singing Denakka songs of Nulato & Kaltag and is a strong advocate for the Indigenous languages. She is active with the Denakkanaaga Elders organization … and these are just the major highlights.

Sharon took the tools that both traditional and western education gave her and used them for the benefit of so many. We wish her all the best and when anyone asks where they might go with an ANS degree I will tell them to look no further than Sharon and do their best to follow in her shoes. She has provided a fine example for all to follow.   

Posted on

“The Alaska Historical Society Guide to Sources for the Study of ANCSA” by Dr. Charleen Fisher and Dr. William Schnieder

With the 50 year anniversary of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development (DANSRD) would like to share the Guide to Sources of Study for ANCSA as developed by the Alaska Historical Society (AHS). This blog entry will include an overview of the guide as well as highlight an example. We recommend that you use the Guide in your research activities.

The Alaska Historical Society is quickly moving from annotating sources to include in the master Guide to Sources on ANCSA to the next stage, formatting and managing the 700 plus page document. Karen Brewster is ably managing this compilation. The Guide will contain six sections:

  1. An introduction explaining the scope of the project and how the Guide is organized. 
  2. A second section lists collections by archive or holding institution.
  3. A third section that actually describes the content of collections at each site that relates to ANCSA. This third section is indexed down to the box and folder level when possible and is meant to give researchers a path to content that relates to their area of interest. To access the actual content they will need to go to the archive where it is held. 
  4. The fourth section of the Guide is an annotated bibliography of sources that are readily available in published or printed form in library holdings. 
  5. A fifth section is a listing of key players in the ANCSA movement. A one or two sentence describes each person’s role. 
  6. The sixth and final section of the Guide is a compilation of curriculum that has been developed over the years with a listing of key discussion topics for educators teaching this topic. 

An Example of How to Use the Guide 

Photo title: “Chiefs’ Conference at Tanana”, 1962. Bear Ketzler Collection, UAF Archives. Photo dated 1962. Photo number UAF 1992-202-18. 

One of the collections featured in the Guide is for Al Ketzler Sr., an Interior Native leader who worked for land claims. A collection of material was deposited at the Rasmuson Library, Alaska and Polar Regions Archives and is described in the Guide to Sources on ANCSA in sections 2 and 3 of the Guide.

Section 2

Al Ketzler Sr. Collection

Al Ketzler Sr. is an Athabascan leader from Nenana, Alaska who actively worked for the recognition of Native rights and was instrumental in organizing Native leaders in the Interior in the 1960s about land ownership issues prior to the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act. The collection covers the years 1961-1977, and topics of particular interest addressed by this collection include:

  • Material and correspondence from the first Chiefs Meeting in Nenana and subsequent meeting in Tanana in 1962, and the Dena’ Nena’ Henash (Our Land Speaks) organization that Ketzler was chairman of and its conference in Tanana in 1963; 
  • Material and correspondence related to the Alaska Native Rights Association; 

Correspondence and supporting reference to key people involved in early Native land claims efforts: Kay Hitchcock (English Department, UAF); Sandra Jensen (local Fairbanksan involved in helping the people of Nenana with their “land problem”); Charles Purvis (whose daughter, DeLois, was married to Al Ketzler and was a local Fairbanksan involved in helping the people of Nenana with their “land problem”); Grant Newman (Director of the Alaska Native Rights Association); Henry Forbes, LaVerne Madigan and William Byler of the Association of American Indian Affairs (AAIA) in New York City that supported Ketzler’s land claims efforts and helped provide funding; and William L. Paul, Sr, who was Tlingit and a Native rights attorney.

To see the listing of sources, researchers go to section 3 of the Guide where they find the following description:

  1. Al Ketzler, Sr. Collection 

Box 4: Alfred Ketzler Sr., Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Collection (Accession 84-044)

Box 4

Folder 10

“Chiefs’ Conference, Tanana, Alaska, June 24-26, 1962”

“Dena’ Nena’ Henash” (Our Land Speaks)

Posted on

“Reflections on the Impacts of ANCSA over the past 50 years” by DANSRD Director Emeritus Miranda Wright

In the following piece, Director Emeritus of the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development, reflects on the fight for land claims in the Interior and the impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Professor Wright joined the then Department of Alaska Native Rural Development in 2001 and was the director of the department from 2010 to 2014. Professor Wright brought tremendous knowledge, education, experience, and passion to the department and was the force behind the department’s “ANCSA Impact Series.” She has served on the Doyon, Limited Board of Directors since 1995 and is currently the treasurer. We are honored that Professor Wright took the time to share her reflections with us.

Reflections on the Impacts of ANCSA over the past 50 years

by Director Emeritus Miranda Wright

Fifty years since the historic passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act offers the opportunity to reflect on the past and to speculate on our path forward.  Indigenous peoples have lived in Alaska for tens of thousands of years.  Contact with Western cultures over the past century brought stress on natural, cultural and wildlife resources.  This stress came to the forefront in Interior Alaska in 1915 when plans surfaced to build a railroad from a coastal port in southcentral Alaska to the northern terminus at Nenana in Interior Alaska.  The Native village of Nenana witnessed their traditional cemetery excavated and moved by the federal government to accommodate the construction of a railroad and railroad bridge across the Tanana River.

This encroachment on traditional/cultural lands and land ownership claims caused enough concern among Athabascan tribes from the lower Tanana River that a meeting was called with federal officials.  This first meeting of the Tanana Chiefs marked the beginning of tribal and government relationships for Interior Alaska.  The meeting was held in Fairbanks with Judge James Wickersham, Alaska Territorial delegate to Congress, presiding. At this meeting, the Chiefs expressed the importance of sustaining our lifestyle through employment, education, health care, and land protection.  Land protection was specifically discussed as managing access to lands and traditional subsistence hunting and fishing.

The Alaska Railroad and later the proposed Rampart Dam are two major government efforts that rocked the Athabascan communities.  Then came statehood in 1959 and a massive land grab. The feeling of being transparent or downright invisible to the newly established State government, resulted in thirty-two interior tribal villages convening a meeting in 1962 to protect our lands.  The meeting was held in Tanana and adopted the moniker Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC).  Twenty-Four of the represented villages signed a petition that was hand carried to Washington DC.  This led to Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall to freeze further land selections by the State of Alaska. 

Nearly every Indigenous region across Alaska were experiencing similar land selection pressures and folks began asking “Who owns Alaska?”  These concerns resulted in a statewide meeting in 1966 of seventeen Native organizations and over 400 Alaska Natives to address aboriginal land rights.  Labeled the Alaska Federation of Natives, this three-day conference became the unifying voice for all Alaska Natives in the fight for land claims.  After years of debate, compromise, and frequent travels to and from Washington DC by Alaska Native leaders, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971.

ANCSA redefined federal Indian policy in Alaska and mandated that both regional and village corporations be owned by Alaska Native shareholders.  This governing structure placed corporate ownership into the hands of Alaska Natives.

Here in the interior, Doyon, Limited took on the monumental task of land selection and analysis of areas designated for future resource development, which would be protected as sacred and historic sites, and mapping out subsistence areas.  Much have changed with ANCSA over the past fifty years.  Corporate stock can no longer be sold, several corporations, including Doyon, have opened enrollment to Alaska Natives born after 1971.  Alaska Native Corporations are major economic drivers in Alaska and continue to make strides in becoming visible in the decision-making process that impacts all Alaskans.

Posted on

Reflections on the ANCSA Impact Series by Catherine Brooks

The piece below, written by DANSRD Associate Professor Cathy Brooks, reflects on what she learned participating in the ANCSA Impact Series, culminating in a series of panel discussions and presentations hosted by the UAF Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development (DANSRD) and collectively titled “The Impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) on Alaska 1971-2011.” The event was held in the Wood Center Ballroom on the UAF campus on October 5 and 6, 2011, in observation of the 40th anniversary of the passage of the act. Recordings of that event, totaling more than 10 hours, are now available online through the UAF Elmer E. Rasmuson Library’s Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives digital repository (https://bit.ly/31SYIRz). Early in 2022, DVDs of these videos will also be available for checkout through the library. For more information, please contact the archives at UAF-APR-reference-Service@alaska.edu

Reflections on the ANCSA Impact Series

Catherine Brooks, Associate Professor, Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development

During the summer and fall of 2011, a series of public lectures and presentations were coordinated by the Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development (DANSRD) in conjunction with the Office of the Chancellor, UA Office of Academic Affairs, and the College of Rural and Community Development, called “The Impact of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Series.”1  

The Impact of ANCSA Series events included a summer lecture, “The Children of ANCSA: A discussion with Willie and Elizabeth Hensley,” a September lecture, “Byron Mallot Shares Reflections,” and a two-day event held in October 2011 featuring numerous speakers from across Alaska.  At the time, I was one of the people in the department assisting with the event. The event was the brainstorm of Miranda Wright, who served as the director of DANSRD at the time.  Miranda understood the importance of ANCSA and had lived the changes it had brought.  She chose a reflections format with the idea there was a lot of information and a lot of directions one could go on addressing the topic.  The reflections allowed for a telling of history using personal stories about what the time was like, why they did some of the things they did, and how things had changed in the forty years since passage.

Ironically, it has only been in my own reflection that I realize how impactful the series was on me.  The event helped me appreciate the issues and the people involved.  Most of the Alaska Natives involved were doing the best they could for the land, people, and culture they loved. 

In Willie Hensley’s lecture, he credited his Inupiat upbringing to being able to persevere through the battle for the land.  He learned, “you can’t afford to quit; if you quit here, you die.”2 He also shared how in completing the research for one of his college courses, he “owned the understanding”3 of the issue.  His understanding of the lands issue helped create the call that Alaska Natives needed to do something.  In Byron Mallot’s talk, he emphasized how the initial battle was “not about economics, but about the land, land that needs to be taken care of for future generations.”4 Mallot also spoke of how his mother emphasized it was going to need to be his generation, not hers that made a difference, as “she did not fit” in that world.

The panel discussions focused on history, economics, environment, women, social change, governance, education, and leadership. The numerous stories and sharing in the reflections are full of insights that can help us understand today even better.  Many of the individuals that participated in the panels have passed on and I feel fortunate to have heard their stories and sharing.  I was shuffling back through my notes on the event (yes, I still have them ten years later) and found myself looking for themes.  Although many did not use the word, I would say that resilience and working together definitely emerged as themes.  I wish I had written down who said it, but in the margin of my notes, I had, “If you want to know, go out and seek.” 

__________________________

  1. Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development, The Impact of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act on Alaska 1971-2011, 2011, Fairbanks, AK: Yahdii Media, 2011. DVD
  2. Hensley, Willie, and Elizabeth Hensley. “The Children of ANCSA: A discussion with Willie and Elizabeth Hensley,” Lecture, Impact of ANCSA Series, Fairbanks, AK, July 7, 2011.
  3. Hensley, “Children.”
  4. Mallott, Byron. “Byron Mallott Shares Reflections.” Lecture, Impact of ANCSA Series, Fairbanks, AK, September 13, 2011.
Posted on

Addressing Alaska Native Corporations and Their Need to Open Enrollment for “New Natives” by Rural Development MA student Jolene Nanouk

Addressing Alaska Native Corporations and Their Need to Open Enrollment for “New Natives”

Adapted from “Case Study of Doyon Limited and Calista“

 by Jolene Nanouk DANSRD student

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was enacted on December 18, 1971, allowing Alaska Natives born on or before this date with 1/4 blood quantum to be enrolled as shareholders in the village and regional corporations they wished to enroll in (Linxwiler, n.d.).  Twelve regional corporations and just over 200 village corporations were formed because of ANCSA.  Regional corporations own the subsurface rights of the land and village corporations own the surface rights of the land.  Shareholders have the responsibility to keep these Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) sustainable, protect the land and allow their ANCs to be profitable, and provide for their shareholders via electing their Board of Directors to help run these ANCs.

ANCSA is celebrating its 50th anniversary since it was established.  Since then, the 1991 Amendments, which originated as 1991 resolutions that were adopted in March of 1985, allowed individual corporations to open enrollment for those born after the ANCSA enactment (“1991 Amendments – Alaska Federation of Natives Newsletter” 2021). 50 years later, 6 of the 12 regional corporations have opened enrollment for their “New Natives” or “Afterborns”, allowing them to enroll into their regional corporations and become active members of their corporations. The 6 regional ANCs are Ahtna, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, NANA, Doyon Ltd., Sealaska Corporation, and just recently Calista Corporation (Sullivan 2021).  These ANCs have different types of classes of stock issued for enrollment such as life stock, stock for 1/4 or more blood quantum, stock for 1/4 or less blood quantum, lineal descent enrollment, a stock with votes for 18 years of age and older, and even Elder stock. Each ANC is different, and to be honest, it dilutes the value of the existing stock, but by not opening enrollment, it disenfranchises what is our birthright as Alaska Native people to be landowners of our communities and regions. Therefore, it is up to each ANC to decide what type of stock to issue if they choose to open enrollment within each village and regional corporation.  The issue is that there is the remainder of the regional and village corporations who have not opened their enrollment, and how these corporations plan to continue if they only rely on the descendants who have inherited/gifted shares.

The case study I reviewed is two regional corporations: Doyon Limited and Calista Corporation. These two regional corporations have opened enrollment to those born after December 18, 1971. There are similarities and differences regarding the way they opened enrollment and how their companies have shared information with their shareholders. Before I review these corporations, I will go over “wise practices” used in regards to promoting opening enrollment and how these practices should be used to promote this type of community development for the future of Alaska Native Corporations and their stakeholders.

Wise Practices

When the 1987 Amendments were passed, I was attending an Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Elders and Youth Leadership Conference in Anchorage, Alaska. What struck me, was when a small Inupiat woman named Marie Greene stood in front of all the youth and said very boldly “A Native is a Native is a Native!” Visionaries like Marie KasaNnaaluk Greene were advocating for change. In the Arctic Sounder Newspaper, published on August 8, 2014, it states “NANA Regional Corporation president and CEO KasaNnaaluk Marie N. Greene doesn’t differentiate when it comes to her corporation and her people. They are one and the same.” (Arctic Sounder, 2014). Marie Greene who had advocated for change and seeing everyone as the same regardless of the ANCSA date of enactment sets precedence for others to follow change and it is unlocking grassroots action for change and seeing this change through a different lens like Foucault explains regarding power and leadership and to becoming “self-determining agents that resist and challenge power structures” (“Community Development in Action: Putting Freire into Practice: Ledwith, Margaret.)

Advocates like Marie Greene, voicing concern regarding the issue of leaving out those born after the ANCSA enactment, communicating with others about the issue, raising awareness, advocating for change, including all people to be involved, and bringing up discussions to why it is important for their people, their company and their future are “wise practices” as an example for others to follow. Her regional corporation, NANA, had opened enrollment for those born after the ANCSA enactment.

Case Study

            In order to understand the process of opening enrollment, a letter of intent was sent out to 5 of the regional corporations that had opened enrollment.   Doyon Limited graciously replied and shared with me their wise practices.   One important aspect is communication. Communicating with shareholders, with community members, and with family and friends. The corporation went to the villages, held meetings in the schools or places big enough to meet at, and communicated with all those about the issue of opening enrollment. In addition, they communicated through surveys: surveys were sent to the original shareholders and asked if they would like to open enrollment. Once the shareholders decided on opening enrollment, another survey was sent out to decide what type of shares should be distributed. Listed below are the types of shares Doyon Ltd. chose to do based on the surveys and communicating with their shareholders. They also did videos to inform the shareholders and had many special newsletters sent out regarding enrollment. The major role players participating in the discussions were the board of directors and youth advisors regarding this issue.

Within the Doyon website, access to videos on their portal includes videos that their shareholders voiced on “what it means to be a shareholder” as well as an informative video regarding questions on records and class stock. Class C stock is available for children who are descendants of original shareholders of Doyon Class A, B, C, or D shareholder, ¼ or more Alaska Native blood quantum, born after December 18, 1971, and not enrolled into any other regional corporation, Arctic Village, Venetie or Metlakatla. Doyon Limited’s website is very informative for their shareholders and makes accessibility to knowing what is happening for their shareholders and very transparent in how they run their business. (“Records & Stocks – Doyon, Limited” 2019).

Calista Corporation has recently opened their enrollment to their descendants, using the use of life estate stock meaning that the stock/shares would go back to the corporation once the shareholders pass away.  One thing Calista chose to do is have the open enrollment as lineal descent rather than requiring their descendants to be ¼ Alaskan Native blood quantum. The Calista Corporation went from 14,000 Class A or B shareholders to an additional 12,000 Class C and D shareholders, with maybe another 17,000 who have missed enrollment. The voting on adding the descendants into their corporation was passed in 2015, but it took until 2017 to enroll the additional 12,000 Class C or D shareholders. The process of opening enrollment given this information provided by Calista sounds like it takes time with the process of communication, being transparent, using surveys, understanding what the original shareholders want, and implementing what they would like to do.

Calista’s website for their shareholders is also very informative, using videos and a welcome packet pdf that can also be viewed online. Within the welcome packet, the information given in these categories includes: 

  • Shareholder Benefits: Shareholder Hire Preference, Job Opportunities, Talent Bank, Dividends, Scholarships, Burial Assistance.
  • Shareholder Rights: Elect Directors to the Calista board, Run for A Seat on the Board of Directors, Shareholder Resolutions, Amend Bylaws, Review Records, Be Informed.
  • Shareholder Responsibilities: Be Engaged, Voting Your Proxy, Helping Calista Meet Quorum, Keeping your information up to date, Completing a Stock Will or Beneficiary Designation form.
  •  Access to Resources: Shareholder Web Portal, Contact Information. (“Welcome New Shareholders – Calista Corporation” 2020).

Wise practices that utilize resources available to your shareholders, using communication whether through technology, verbally holding meetings to provide information and feedback,  surveys, videos, newsletters, and in-person through email or at the buildings provided are excellent ways to reach out to others. Communication, transparency, advertisements, being informative, educating others, working together, thinking ahead, and being accessible and accountable for the action of the company is important for the community development of these two corporations.  These tools of “wise practices” and examples that these two regional corporations have can be used to help the ANCs that have not opened enrollment, and allow the ANCs to move forward if they are considering it. 

Conclusion

            Who will benefit from this knowledge of wise practices for open enrollment in ANCs that have not opened enrollment? The question answers itself, everyone and every ANC  that has not opened enrollment. All ANCs need to continue to advertise, communicate, be transparent, use newsletters, hold special meetings, post videos, blogs, and surveys to find out what the shareholders foresee in the future of their corporations. By using these types of wise practices, the ANCs can find out whether or not their shareholders would like to open enrollment, and if they do, they can figure out what type of stocks they would prefer to have: life estate stock, a stock that is open to those turning 18 or not, a stock with or without voting rights based on age, stock restrictions based on blood quantum or lineal descent, and then restrictions of those who can and cannot apply (such as whether or not they are already enrolled in and received stock from a different ANC). Although these wise practices cannot solve the issue of opening enrollment, it is a start for ANCs to consider. The use of these wise practices can help the ANCs interested in opening enrollment, and help give ideas of what each ANC should consider regarding the process and options that the shareholders have to decide on if they chose to move forward.

The real question is understanding whether or not the original shareholders understand that the continuation of gifting and willing shares can cause dwindling of stock, unfairness that not all descendants would become shareholders, and how the future of the ANC would look another 50 years from now if they continue to push aside not opening new stock for all those born after the ANCSA enactment. The concern is not just for the rest of the regional corporations that have not opened enrollment; it is also for the village corporations who may or may not be barely hanging on, based on how well they are making it after 50 years. The concern of protecting the land base in the villages, the future of our people, and where they are living. This whole issue has so many concerns not just on the business side of community development, but how our people are “one and the same,” as Marie Greene stated, and deserve to be treated equally and be able to voice their concerns regarding the ANCs. The ¼ blood quantum issue is also concerning, and lineal descent can be an answer, but it all depends on the current shareholders and what they feel about whether or not to enroll them, and if so, does it matter if you are ⅕ Alaska Native or 24%, Alaskan Native, to qualify for enrollment. We all come from the same ancestors, we live on the same land, and we should be qualified to take care of the land and its resources like our ancestors once did and for what our leaders fought for 50 years ago. We need a mindset like Marie Greene, where “a Native is a Native is a Native”, and be willing to think ahead together as one.                

 Please consider those who may not have had inherited shares, because all the shares might have been willed to one person and not equally distributed amongst family members.  Also, the gifting of original shares dwindles and over time, becomes barely anything.  A solution to this problem is to open enrollment for those who were born after the ANCSA enactment and to include everyone. The future generations’ blood quantum will continue to get smaller as time passes, and the process of allowing kinship and lineal descent as a qualification rather than blood quantum should be considered.

In conclusion, all ANCs will have a tool of past open enrollment ANCs to look upon, especially for the village ANCs which I am concerned about. Identifying what would work best for each ANC, observing and using what current ANCs have done, and understanding that the future of the ANCs depends on these future descendants and the work put into advocating for our land rights based on why ANCSA was passed would not have been done for nothing, because all the descendants and our future will be able to continue to take care of our lands and continue to run these ANCs for the betterment of our people. This truly is why all ANCs should be opening enrollment. 

Acknowledging the future of the ANC, acknowledging the future generations and their responsibilities need to be addressed now by allowing the ANCs to incorporate new shares for those being left out. We need to become whole again as a people, and this is just one step in addressing this issue. Now is the time that we can work towards a healthier future for our ANCs, our land, and our people.

References

Alaska Newspapers, Inc. 2014. “Greene to Retire after 13 Years at Helm of NANA.” Thearcticsounder.com. 2014. http://www.thearcticsounder.com/article/1432greene_to_retire_after_13_years_at_helm_of.

“Community Development in Action: Putting Freire into Practice: Ledwith, Margaret.

Linxwiler, James. n.d. “THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT: THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS.” Accessed October 23, 2021. https://ancsa.lbblawyers.com/wp-content/ uploads/ANCSA-Paper-with-Table-of-Contents-1992.pdf.

“1991 Amendments – Alaska Federation of Natives Newsletter.” 2021. Alaskool.org. 2021. http://www.alaskool.org/projects/ancsa/articles/afn_newsletters/afn_newsletter.htm.

“Records & Stocks – Doyon, Limited.” 2019. Doyon.com. 2019. https://www.doyon.com/shareholders/records/.

Sullivan, Meghan. 2021. “ANCSA@50: The Next Generation of Alaska Native Shareholders.” Indian Country Today. Indian Country Today. July 26, 2021. https:// indiancountrytoday.com/news/ancsa-50-the-next-generation-of-alaska-native- shareholders.

‌“Welcome New Shareholders – Calista Corporation.” 2020. Calista Corporation. January 16, 2020. https://www.calistacorp.com/welcome-calista-corp-shareholders/.

Posted on

“‘Then fight for it’ Alaska Native Brotherhood and The Fight for Land and Fishing Rights” by Judith Daxootsu Ramos

In the piece that follows, Judith Daxootsu Ramos, DANSRD faculty from 2012 to 2021, discusses the early participation of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood in the pursuit of land claims. This early involvement resulted in a different formula for deciding on the acreage to be conveyed to the qualifying villages in Southeast Alaska under ANCSA. In addition, the communities of Wrangell, Petersburg, Tenakee Springs, Ketchikan and Haines were excluded from forming Village Corporations and they are still fighting for recognition. At the end of this piece are the sections of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act that pertain to Southeast Alaska and the Tlingit-Haida settlement.

****************************************************************

“Then fight for it”

Alaska Native Brotherhood and The Fight for Land and Fishing Rights

Judith Daxootsu Ramos

“Then fight for it” are the famous words by Peter Simpson at the 1925 Alaska Native Brotherhood IANB) convention. In a conversation with Tlingit lawyer William L. Paul, Peter Simpson asked William, “Willie, who owns this land?”, William answered, “We do”. Peter Simpson, replied “Then fight for it”. It took William Paul four years to convince the ANB to begin the fight for land claims. It was at the 1929 ANB Grand Camp, at the urging of Judge Wickersham, the Tlingit and Haida tribes of southeast Alaska began the process of “filing a lawsuit against the United States seeking compensation for expropriated lands and fisheries” (Metcalf, 2010).

The Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) is one of the oldest Indigenous organizations in the United States. ANB was formed in 1912 by eleven Alaska Native men and one Native woman. The Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANS) was formed three years later. Their primary issues were the fight for citizenship and voting rights, civil rights, health, education, and the abolition of fish traps. Local camps were established around the state.

The ANB fight for fishing rights beginning in the 1930’s led to the movement for land claims. The abolition of fish traps was an important goal of ANB because salmon was the primary food source for the Tlingit and Haida Indians. Traditionally each clan owned and managed the streams and the harvest of salmon in their traditional territory. Canneries and their fish traps controlled the fishery in Alaska from the 1880’s until statehood in 1960. The White Act prohibited subsistence fishing within streams. “The Indians were conflicted about asking for full-blown reservations but worked with the Interior Department and pressed claims for aboriginal fishing rights. Eventually, the courts ruled that they had abandoned those rights when they went to work in the canneries for cash. Eventually, the Indians asked for reservations including fishing rights, but were rejected in that request by the Interior Department” (Colt, 2000).

ANB’s fight for land claims began with the establishment of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska in 1905 and the Glacier Bay National Monument in 1925, two acts by the Government that tied up the land under Federal ownership and extinguished aboriginal title to most of southeast Alaska. After repeated attempts to bring the case to the United States Court of Claims, Congress finally passed the Jurisdictional Act of 1935 which authorized the Tlingit and Haida Indians “to bring suit in the United States Court of Claims” (CCTHITA, 1995).

For various reasons the Department of Interior disqualified the ANB “from being the plaintiff in the lawsuit against the government” (Metcalf, 2010). The ANB executive created the Central Council for Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska for the purpose of land claims.  Judson Brown (1982) in an interview remembers their meetings in 1936, “I recall vividly our frantic attempts to raise money to hold both the ANB Convention and the Central Council meeting at the same time … the first Tlingit and Haida meetings we held in the evening after the ANB business was complete”.

In 1959 the Court of Claims issued a judgement recognizing the Tlingit and Haida Indians use and occupancy. Finally in 1968 the US Court of Claims issued the quantum judgment (CCTHITA, 1995). Judson Brown (Hope 1982) recalled “The amount we received in return for the land taken …. Was a mere pittance. We settled on pennies per acre”. In addition, because the Tlingit and Haida Indians had settled their land claims prior to the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971, they were treated differently in the Act, they received less land, and some communities did not receive any land at all. Despite this, the ANB and ANS played a significant role in the success of Alaska Native land claims.

Metcalf’s (2010) research on the Alaska Native Brotherhood found “Without it (ANB), Alaska’s congressional delegates would have had no credible organization with which to collaborate on issues of importance to Alaska Natives; and without the ANB all those who represented Alaska Natives interests before Congress before statehood would have been without credentials. It was the ANB that fielded — and provided funding for — the lobbyists and attorneys who participated in defining Alaska aboriginal title. And it was the ANB that maintained the crucial alliance with the National Congress of American Indians”

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts on land claims. My Lingit name is Daxootsu. I am Raven moiety, from the Kwaashki’kwaan clan, and Tiskw’ Hit (Owl House). I am the daughter of the Lʼuknax̱.ádi (Coho) Clan and granddaughter of the Teikweidí (Brown Bear) clan. I am a shareholder in the Sealaska Regional Corporation and the Yak-tat Kwaan Village Corporation. I am a member of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe and Central Council for Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska.

My parents and grandparents were active in ANB and ANS. I served as President of the Yakutat Camp 13. ANB/ANS Camps are very busy in local communities. When someone passes away in the community, the camp hosts a memorial service. The ANB Hall serves as the center for local community activities, from traditional dance practice to potlatches, to meetings. There are currently around 23 local camps, but not all of them are active. This 109-year-old organization continues to pay an active role in many Alaska Native communities today.

************************************************************************

43 U.S. Code CHAPTER 33— ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT

§ 1615. Withdrawal and selection of public lands; funds in lieu of acreage

(a) Withdrawal of public lands; list of Native villages

All public lands in each township that encloses all or any part of a Native village listed below, and in each township that is contiguous to or corners on such township, except lands withdrawn or reserved for national defense purposes, are hereby withdrawn, subject to valid existing rights, from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining and mineral leasing laws, and from selection under the Alaska Statehood Act, as amended:

Angoon, Southeast.

Craig, Southeast.

Hoonah, Southeast.

Hydaburg, Southeast.

Kake, Southeast.

Kasaan, Southeast.

Klawock, Southeast.

Saxman, Southeast.

Yakutat, Southeast.

(b) Native land selections; Village Corporations for listed Native villages; acreage; proximity of selections; conformity to Lands Survey System

During a period of three years from December 18, 1971, each Village Corporation for the villages listed in subsection (a) shall select, in accordance with rules established by the Secretary, an area equal to 23,040 acres, which must include the township or townships in which all or part of the Native village is located, plus, to the extent necessary, withdrawn lands from the townships that are contiguous to or corner on such townships. All selections shall be contiguous and in reasonably compact tracts, except as separated by bodies of water, and shall conform as nearly as practicable to the United States Lands Survey System.

(c) Tlingit-Haida settlement

The funds appropriated by the Act of July 9, 1968 (82 Stat. 307), to pay the judgment of the Court of Claims in the case of The Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska, et al. against The United States, numbered 47,900, and distributed to the Tlingit and Haida Indians pursuant to the Act of July 13, 1970 (84 Stat. 431), are in lieu of the additional acreage to be conveyed to qualified villages listed in section 1610 of this title.

References

Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribe of Alaska (CCTHITA). 1995.    “Central Council Historical Profile” http://www.ccthita.org/documents/T&H%20Historical%20Brochure.pdf

Colt, Steve. 2000.   Salmon Fish Traps in Alaska: An Economic History Perspective. http://www.alaskool.org/projects/traditionalife/fishtrap/fishtrap.htm

Hope, Andrew III, ed. 1982. “On the Organization of the Tlingit and Haida Central Council, An Interview with Judson Brown.” In Raven Bones. Sitka Community Association.

Metcalf, Peter. 2010    “The Sword and the Shield: The Defense of Alaska Aboriginal Claims by the Alaska Native Brotherhood.” Contributor by Kathy Ruddy. http://ankn.uaf.edu/ANCR/Southeast/Chronology/LR%20Final%20Sword%20and%20Shield.pdf

Metcalfe, Peter. 2014. “A Dangerous Idea, The Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Struggle for Indigenous Rights.” University of Alaska Press.

For more information:

A Traditional Literary History of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood: Writing Alaska Native Solidarity into American Modernity, talk given by Michael P. Taylor, Ph.D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu44PDabIDs&t=259s

In His Own Words, a Biography of William Lewis Paul, talk given by Benjamin Starr Paul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmQuMHBbU98

Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich, talk given by Ann Boochever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzvcc1UlrMw

Paul, Fred. “Origin of the land Claim Movement” https://www.anbansgc.org/document-library/.