Department of Alaska Native and Rural Development, University of Alaska Fairbanks
The Circle of Identity: Changing names and images of the indigenous people of Kodiak Island
Following the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971 Native groups in Alaska joined the world of corporate America. In this world a corporation is expected to have a visual representation of itself in the form of a logo or other symbol. Thus Native corporations throughout Alaska began using visual depictions that represented their respective cultures. This presented a problem for the Kodiak Island corporations and their leaders. Nearly 200 years and two separate colonizing forces had nearly obliterated any recognizable symbol of the local culture. Scrambling for recognition the corporations "borrowed" symbols from other Native cultures and developed new ones that depicted little of the local indigenous culture. In attempts to name the corporations in ways that represented the local culture, names were chosen that possessed little accuracy or legitimacy. But a bigger issue emerged in what the people called themselves. Some of these "Aleuts" became embarrassed when the people of the Aleutian Islands referred to themselves as the "real Aleuts" implying that the Kodiak Aleuts were not legitimate. The name Alutiiq, used in the 19th century, began gaining favor. Very few, even among the elders, could remember a time when they were called the Sugpiat. But a resurgence of cultural pride in the 1980s and 90s caused many "misplaced" cultural icons to be retrieved through archaeological and museum research. Thus a movement toward reclaiming a fading identity began.
Special equipment: PowerPoint projector