Elders of the Frozen North
Subsistence is a very important way of life for the Indigenous people of Alaska. Evoking their deep rooted connection to the land, their wisdom passed down through generations, and their resilience in navigating the challenges of the artic environment. Cultural you care for the land and the land will care for you. Subsistence is the practice of obtaining basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter, and clothing. Collecting berries, hunting, fishing and farming are a few examples. The villages take care of each other and when the elderly are two old to do these task, the younger generation steps up and takes care of their people. Sharing stories, teaching and embracing this life is becoming a difficult option. The rules and regulations on hunting are cutthroat, and if your blood line is diluted less than 1/4 you lose the right of hunting in your territory. With these rigid rules, the indigenous culture are in an extent group if not careful. Only a few generations of blood lines being mixed, and they will lose the right to pass down tradition and lose their culture. If they lose the right to hunt, they will not be able to survive. Hard to not have an issue with the fact all these tribes are more Federally recognized than by the state of Alaska.
If they lose the right to hunt their land, they will not be able to live the life of subsistence and survive. Living off the land is the most cost effective, losing that right will bring a huge food insecurity to the villages and the families. Advocating for these villages and this way of life is very important. Unfortunately they are minorities on these boards and are easily dismissed.
Previous studies on the population in Ninilchik demonstrate extensive involvement
and reliance on subsistence for food which was further confirmed by this case study. For
example, a 1998 study by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) identified
96 percent of Ninilchik households involved in subsistence harvesting which included
Societies 2022, 12, 72 9 of 17
berry picking, fishing, gathering plants, bird hunting, and moose hunting with an average
harvest by household of 439.5 pounds and a per person fish harvest of 81 pounds [68 ]. A
survey conducted in 2002 by ADF&G interviewed 100 Ninilchik households and found
that 96 percent harvested fish at approximately 82 pounds per person [ 69 ]. The Ninilchik
Village Tribe hired a survey company to conduct a subsistence survey in 2014 and this
survey found that of the 44 people surveyed through a simple random sample, 30 people
hunted, 36 people fished, 7 people trapped, and 30 people gathered
Alaska Native Subsistence Rights: Taking an Anti-Racist
Decolonizing Approach to Land Management and Ownership
for Our Children and Generations to Come
This article broke my heart. All these indigenous tribes who have lived off the land way before the colonization’s and the “Fix” to their way of life. The fact that Alaska downsized their land “Due to
the pressure to quickly pass the legislation, to develop oil and additional disagreements
about subsistence, there were no subsistence protections in ANCSA, and it removed all
subsistence rights. Alaska Natives ended up with only 10 percent of Alaskan land, a loss of
90 percent that they had held since time immemorial. The land Alaska Natives received was
held in fee simple private ownership through the formation of twelve regional for-profit
corporations and additional village corporations with no land given to the Tribal Nations.” Losing 90% of their land because it benefited Alaska with the oil. Losing land, culture and rights is really hard to swallow.
Current issues
The history of marginalization experienced by Alaska Natives is reflected in the continued marginalization that they, along with other indigenous communities across the US, continue to experience to this day: in 2016, for instance, 26.2 per cent of American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIAN) were living in poverty, the highest rate of any ethnic group and almost double the nationwide average of 14 per cent.
While, in some respects, the situation of Alaska Natives has improved and many more now have jobs, higher incomes, better education, health care and living conditions than before, they remain several times more likely than other Alaskans to be poor and out of work. Alaska Natives experience some of the highest rates of accidental deaths, suicides, alcoholism, homicides, fetal alcohol syndrome and domestic violence in the United States. Disproportionate numbers of Alaska Natives, mostly young men, are incarcerated; while making up around 15 per cent of Alaska’s residents, they represent around 36 per cent of its prison population.
Alaska’s indigenous children are still not obtaining adequate education, and Alaska Natives remain on the economic fringes of one of the richest states, per capita, in the US. Furthermore, the validity of the Alaska Native cultural perspective continues to be ignored, and traditional ways of life and native languages are gradually disappearing as tribe elders are passing away. Alaska natives in the United States of America. Minority Rights Group. (2024, January 29). https://minorityrights.org/communities/alaska-natives/
Sarai Gomez
Christine,
It’s important to talk about how the Alaska Natives have been treated, not just a long time ago, but RIGHT NOW. The situation with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 is a big deal. This act was supposed to fix problems about who owns what land in Alaska. But then, oil got discovered, and suddenly, there is a rush to make deals and pass laws, leaving Alaska Natives in a tough spot without real rights to hunt and fish like they used to. It’s like they were pushed to the side again because money and oil were on the table.
This isn’t just about history. It’s about what’s happening today. Alaska Natives are still feeling the effects of those decisions—things like not having enough money, schools not being up to par, more people ending up in jail, and more problems with drugs. It’s an enormous messy cycle that keeps spinning because the deep issues haven’t been fixed yet.
The whole thing with ANCSA trying to make things right by setting up corporations instead of reservations was a new idea, but it’s had its own set of problems. It’s like trying to fix a leak with a Band-Aid. It might hold for a bit, but it’s not going to stop the water.
Now, it’s about hearing what Alaska Natives have to say and taking it to heart. There’s a push to get back to their roots, keep their languages alive, and celebrate their culture as a way to heal and stand strong. And for everyone else, it’s about recognizing that these issues aren’t old news—they’re very much alive and need attention, respect, and action to make things right. It’s about not just saying “That’s too bad” but doing something to help change the future.
Christine Ryan
Hey Sarai,
You are right, my blog was more of the past but the future is also important. Years ago, I went to the holocaust museum in Washington D.C. I remember the feelings of tragedy and the lack of humanity of it. At the end of the museum, they had survivors talk to us and recount their history. As we left that room, they brought us to another room. At that point, the group I was with was mumbling about how the world could be so blind to the tragedy. Then we were met by another set of people who talked about how we would feel if that was going on now. We of course said we couldn’t think it could happen again. The presenters talking to us then introduced us to the genocide in Africa and our hearts broke again. What I am trying to say, is we need to open our eyes. Sometimes we just walk around in our comfortable bubble of what we know. So much could be down if there was more of an awareness around it.
Annalee White
Hi Christine! Your blog went along beautifully with what I had listened to for the podcast episode, in regards to being grateful for the land and all the way it provides for us. While never taking more than we need hunting, fishing, and gathering sustainably. Not only is this an important lesson for the indigenous people who reside on these lands, but all of us are on the outside. Without proper preservation of resources, they will no longer be able to live in the lands they choose to, and that way of life will soon disappear.
Christine Ryan
Thanks, Annalee for checking out my blog. I will need to check out that podcast next. When I chatted with friends about my blog this week a few of them brought up a television show about Alaska indigenous and how the husband was Caucasian and had no right to hunting on the land. So it follows the wife and sons as they live with the land and use every part of whatever they hunted and gathered.
Robi Naranjo
I thought this article was so thorough, Im living on the Kenai Peninsula right now so it was interesting reading about what is going on with Ninichik Tribe and federal laws vs state laws, substinance and factors such as sports fishing. It really angers me how lawmakers continue to disregard the Indigenous voices and wisdom of the tribes! When they won’t allow substinance even on thier land but will allow it to sports fishing and tourism, I’ve been down here 5 years and it’s crazy to me how they are not listening to the tribes, with thousands of years of knowledge and proven land management and conservation. Also it’s furthering loss of cultural traditions and knowledge. So sad. Thank you for your blog and it’s a very important topic, probably the best article I’ve read about it too.
Christine Ryan
Hi Robi,
I bet you have seen a lot of “sportsman fishing” down on the Kenai. Kenai is gorgeous and we do head down there at the end of July to catch salmon for our little family. I was taken aback when they wouldn’t let the tribes fish on the Kenai and subject them to a certain area. This article opened my eyes and ask so many more questions. Sounds like you had a lot of takeaways also. Hard to say I enjoyed this article because it was heartbreaking, but it was important and needed to be addressed. These struggles need to be shared and more advocacy needs to be addressed. Their knowledge is being overlooked and it is very sad.
Ben Woods
Hi there Christine, I thought your post was very informational. I really found that substance-hunting and fishing chart at the beginning very interesting. I feel that Alaska was taken from the people who were already here and already had their lives going strong. It’s not very great that the native people are losing their right to hunt and fish in certain areas even though they were there first. They hunt and fish to feed themselves and their families. I traditionally go fishing in the summer to stock up for the winter! (I do have a stock of halibut I eat during the winter, I call it my “Depression Halibut.”) I get that Alaska is rich in oil, precious metals, and minerals but I feel that the best way to go about retrieving such would be to ask permission form the elders of that community.
Ian Miller
Great blog! You touched on something that really stood out to me when I was reading your blog and Gordon’s paper, “Only a few generations of blood lines being mixed, and they will lose the right to pass down tradition and lose their culture. If they lose the right to hunt, they will not be able to survive” and “The rules and regulations on hunting are cutthroat, and if your blood line is diluted less than 1/4 you lose the right of hunting in your territory”. The concept of 1/4 blood line mandates blew my freaking mind. I knew of the existence of the policies, but I guess I never really read into them. The evilness that exists within the sub-context of the policy truly sunk in during this weeks readings. The U.S. governments put a time limit on the indigenous people of Alaska having rights to fight for their own histories and futures. For a couple hundred years, native tribes of Alaska were decimated, and raped, and ripped apart by colonization. Then to mandate them to maintain a 1/4 bloodline mandate in order to have full rights to their land is forcing either cultural isolation in terms of reproduction or to eventually give up their land in its entirety.
The article by Gordon also broke my heart. When I read about the cultures, song, story, traditions, subsistence, respect for their land, and everything else that is at the heart of who the Indigenous Alaskans are, I cringe with what westernization has done to the Americas. For the colonizing people, and the capitalistic powers of today, everything has been and will always be about money and what we can gain from the land… until something wakes us up to want something else.
Deandra Nicholai
Waqaa Christine! Very nice blog and I like the photos you put into it! I, myself, am an Alaska Native in the rural region where we depend mostly on the land and animals. A long time ago, my apii’s (grandpa’s) grandpa was a reindeer herder before a corporation relocated them to Nunivak Island. To this day, my apii tells stories about what was told to him about our family’s subsistence history. He mentions his dad was a great blackfish trapper and it is carried down to his children and the male grandchildren, and soon to be handed down to my brothers. Over the years, you can hear that the food gathering and subsisting got very limited. It is now required to have a license to hunt and fish and there are season openers for fishing for every Native’s favorite, salmon. That means we share the food to the families and communities that don’t have a license or miss the season opener. It is very sad our land is barely our land.