Associate Professor
Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development
College of Rural and Community Development
University of Alaska Fairbanks
2221 E. Northern Lights Blvd, #213
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 279-2706
(907) 279-2716 (fax)
Email: g.pullar@uaf.edu
 

EDUCATION:

Ph.D.
         The Union Institute, 1997
         Organizational Anthropology and International Studies
         Dissertation title: Indigenous Culture and Organizational Culture: A Case Study of an Alaska Native Organization

M.P.A.
         University of Washington, 1983
         Tribal Administration; Natural Resource and Energy Policy

B.A.
         Western Washington University, 1973
         Sociology/Anthropology

 

AREAS OF INTEREST AND SUBSTANTIVE KNOWLEDGE:

Cultural anthropology, indigenous culture, organizational culture, tribal administration, Federal Indian Policy, rural development, community development, organizational development, international indigenous politics, grant proposal development, enthnohistory of Sugpiat culture area.
 

PROFESSIONAL  BACKGROUND:

2010-present   Associate Professor, Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development, College of Rural and Community Development, University of Alaska Fairbanks

1996- 2010    Director, Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development, College of Rural and Community Development, University of Alaska Fairbanks

1994- 2010    Instructor and Assistant Professor, Rural Development Program, CRA. UAF

1992-1996    Director, Alaska Native Human Resource Development Program, CRA, UAF

1990-1992    Director, Office of Planning, Program Development, and Evaluation and Human Resource Development Officer, Chugachmiut, Inc. (The North Pacific Rim, Inc.)

1989-1990    Director, Museum and Cultural Center Project, Kodiak Area Native Association

1989    Adjunct Faculty, University of Alaska Anchorage, Kodiak College

1983-1989    President/Chief Executive Officer, Kodiak Area Native Association

1983-1985    Owner/Publisher, Kadiak Times, Kodiak, Alaska

1981    Associate Editor, Nations Communications, Inc. (Nations Magazine), Seattle

1979-1981    Business Analyst/Marketing Specialist and Assistant Editor, The Indian Voice, Small Tribes Organization of Western Washington, Sumner, Washington

1963-1979    Machine Operator, Shift Supervisor, Georgia Pacific Corporation – Tissue Products Division, Bellingham, Washington

 

SELECTED COMMUNITY SERVICE:

2004 – present    Native American Advisory Group, National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

2001 – 2004    Board of Directors, International Arctic Social Sciences Association

2000 – present    Leisnoi Village Tribal Council (Woody Island Tribal Council), President

1999 – present    Alaska Native Advisory Board, Indian Law Resource Center (NGO)

1996 – 2002    Dig Afognak Advisory Board, Afognak Native Corporation

1996 – present    International Editorial Board, Fourth World Journal, Center for World Indigenous Studies

1995 – 2003    International Editorial Board, Ethnicity and Health Journal. National Institute for Ethnic Studies in Health and Social Policy, London, UK.

1995    Advisory Network Member. “Environmental Knowledge, Cultural Strategies and Development in Greenland and the Circumpolar North.” A research project of the Department of Ethnography and Social Anthropology, Aarhus University and the Department of Eskimology, Univ. of Copenhagen.

1994 – present    Steering Committee, Chairman. Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution.

1994 – 2002    Board of Directors, Koniag Education Foundation, President (’97-’02), Vice President (’95-’97)

1992 – 1995    Board of Directors, American Society for Public Administration, Alaska Chapter

1992 – 1996    Board of Directors, Keepers of the Treasures – Alaska

1991 – 1997    Board of Directors, President (’93-’94). National Keepers of the Treasures: Cultural Council of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. Representative to United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Geneva, Switzerland (1992) and Member of repatriation delegation to the Republic of  Ireland (1995).

1990 - 1995    Advisory Committee. “Indigenous Peoples’ Self-Determination, Identity and Development,” a research project of the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs and the Department of Eskimology, University of Copenhagen.

1983 – 1990    Board of Directors. Alaska Federation of Natives, Chairman, Human Resources Board (‘86 – ‘88). Member of various committees including, Legislative (“1991 Amendments”) Committee and Tribal Government Committee

1989 – 1991    Board of Directors, Chairman. Alaska Native Foundation.

1989 – 1991    Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities (Gubernatorial appointment).

1989 – 1990    Organizing Committee. Sixth International Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies, University of Alaska Fairbanks

1987 – 1989    Kodiak Business and Industry Council. Kodiak Chamber of Commerce

1987    Cultural Concerns Commission. National Congress of American Indians, Washington, D.C.

1986 – 1988    Board of Directors. Kodiak Public Broadcasting Corporation (Radio station KMXT)

1984 – 1985    Board of Directors, Alaska Regional Energy Association.

1981 – 1983    Board of Directors, Native American Business Alliance

1980 – 1981    Governor’s Minority and Women’s Business Development Advisory Council. State of Washington

1979 – 1981    Board of Directors, Northwest Indian News Association

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

2005     “Indigenous Self-Government and Political Institutions in Alaska.” In: An Indigenous Parliament? Realities and Perspectives in Russia and the Circumpolar North. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (Copenhagen) and Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (Moscow).

2001    Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People. Co-edited with Aron Crowell and Amy Steffian. University of Alaska Press.

2001    “Foreward.” In: Birth and Rebirth on an Alaskan Island: The Life of an Alutiiq Healer by Joanne Mulcahy. University of Georgia Press.

1997    “Native Americans and Archaeologists: Commentary and Personal Perspectives.” (with T.J. Ferguson and Joe Watkins). In: Native Americans
and Archaeologists: Stepping Stones to Common Ground. (N. Swidler, K.E. Dongoske, R. Anyon, and A. Downer, eds.). Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek, California.

1996    “Indigenous Identity on Kodiak Island.” In: Native Cultures in Alaska. Alaska Geographic, Anchorage.

1996    “Aleut.” In: The Encyclopedia of the American Indian, (Frederick Hoxie, ed.) Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

1996    “Cultural Revitalization as a Demonstration of Self-Determination among the Indigenous People of Alaska.” In: Unity and Diversity in Arctic Sciences, (Monica Tennberg, ed.), International Arctic Social Sciences Association, Rovaniemi, Finland.

1995    “Alutiiq,” In: Crossroads Alaska: Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia, (Valerie Chaussonet, ed.) (with Richard Knecht). Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution.

1994    “The Qikertarmiut and the Scientist: Fifty Years of Clashing Worldviews.” In: Reckoning With the Dead: The Larsen Bay Repatriation and the Smithsonian Institution, (T. Bray and T. Killion, eds.) Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London.  Reprinted (1995) University of British Columbia Law Review. Special Issue: 119-135.

1994    “Alutiiq.” In: The Encyclopedia of Native Americans of the Twentieth Century, (M. B. Davis, ed.) Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

1992    “Ethnic Identity, Cultural Pride, and Generations of Baggage: A Personal Experience.” In: Arctic Anthropology 29(2): 182-91, University of Wisconsin Press.

1992    “Introduction.” Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska: Contributions to the Anthropology of Southcentral and Southwestern Alaska. (R. Jordan, F. de Laguna, A. Steffian, eds.) 24(1-2):1, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

1990    “The Kodiak Island Archaeological Project,” In: Preservation on the Reservation: Native American Lands and Archaeology. (A. Klesert and A. Downer, eds.). pp. 269-274. Navajo Nation Papers in Anthropology, Number 26.

 

AFFILIATIONS:

Koniag, Inc., Regional Native Corporation, enrolled shareholder

Leisnoi, Inc., ANCSA village corporation, enrolled shareholder

Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak, enrolled member

Leisnoi Village, enrolled tribal member

American Anthropological Association

Alaska Anthropological Association

American Society for Public Administration
 

STATEMENT:

In the summer of 1994 I attended the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva. It was the fourth year I had attended and each time I came away feeling like I learned just a little more about how we as Alaska Natives fit in the world. But this time I met someone who had a profound impact on me. I met a man who was a member of the Twa tribe who had barely escaped Rwanda with his life just a couple months earlier when genocide resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. The news accounts focused on the Hutus and the Tutsis and little if anything was said about the Pygmy Twa people who were also massacred by the Hutu extremists. This man hid in the bushes while others around him were found and hacked to death with machetes. He had been on his way home from work when the massacre began and never did make it home. At the time he was in Geneva he didn’t know if his family members had survived or died. He was worried and became agitated as he relayed his horrible experience. Who could help him? I think that many who heard him had a sense of helplessness. I thought that others in the U.S. should be aware of the tragedies that had befallen the Twa. I thought that especially Native peoples should know what was happening to their indigenous brothers and sisters in some other parts of the world. I believe we often become so preoccupied with what is going on around us that we fail to recognize that we make up a part of a global society. As we learn of this we can better understand some of the events of history such as the colonization of Alaska and the trauma inflicted on Native peoples. The results of this trauma are still with us today in a variety of forms. Over the past decade I have tried to find opportunities for Alaska Natives, especially students, to gain exposure to indigenous peoples from other parts of the world. It will be to our advantage in the long run.

I consider my job as the Director of the Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development the best job I could ever hope for. I gain great satisfaction in helping students identify opportunities and pursue their goals and dreams. I feel a sense of accomplishment in being involved from the beginning with the RD Applied Field-Based Program where students can earn their BA degrees from their home communities. I am particularly proud to have had the opportunity to play a significant role in the design, development and implementation of the RD MA program. The RD program as a whole has students who bring incredible knowledge to the program. I believe that students probably learn more from each other in RD classes than they do from instructors. And, I continually hear how much instructors learn from the students.