ARTHUR MASON

University of California, Berkeley

In the Alutiiq House of Culture

With the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971, a new structural position within Alaska Native society emerged fostering the rise of an entrepreneurial group I call an Alaska Native social bourgeoisie. Basing their legitimacy to forms of power and authority on social capital, the willingness of this group of agents to adopt a conscious role as modernizers demonstrates the possibility of class formation based on cultural identity.

This paper examines the particular kinds of symbolic work performed and meanings produced by symbols of identity of one such group of Alaska Native social bourgeoisie. I argue that particular symbols of identity reflect the growing importance of Native corporate capital and hopes for its infinite reproduction and continued circulation.