Making History

by Partnow, Patricia H.

• ISBN13: 9781889963389
• ISBN10: 1889963380
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of Alaska Pr

Summary

A model of innovative ethnohistory, this account of the Alutiiq people of the Alaska Peninsula spans some 9000 years, from archaeological traces to World War II, concentrating on the 200 years between Russian occupation and the start of the war with Japan. Unlike most historical documentation of the region, it is not a passive record: using collective and individual histories of a people as captured through writing, artifact, oral history, and personal narrative, Partnow weaves a rich story of Alutiiqs not only making their own history, but also expressing a unique perception of the very nature of history. Numerous historical and contemporary maps and photographs, as well as Partnow's historical and cultural background, allow the people to speak for themselves while expanding the ability of readers to interpret the various voices. Together the many elements of this history show a vital culture making its way into the future without letting go of the past. Making Historyis a special find for all readers interested in Alaska Native peoples, and in particular for scholars and students exploring important new methods of anthropological and ethnohistorical research and writing.

Author Biography

Patricia Partnow is an anthropologist with thirty years of experience living and working in Alaska. She moved there after graduate school in 1971 and spent three years in Juneau working at the Alaska State Museum designing learning kits for rural schools. When she moved to Anchorage in 1974, she became involved in bilingual education and curriculum development, eventually spending thirteen years with the Anchorage School District's Indian Education Program designing and publishing curriculum and student readers about Alaska Native cultures. She then returned to university to earn her doctorate in anthropology, concentrating on oral tradition and questions of ethnic identity in the Alaska Peninsula. She is the author of a number of articles and chapters in journals and books, and from 1999 through 2002 served as vice president of education, then as senior vice president of programs and education, at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. For additional information about Dr. Partnow's work and publications, please visit her website at http://www.alaska.net/~ppartnow/

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(1)
How This Book Came About	1	(1)
History and Ethnohistory	2	(3)
History as Interpretation	5	(2)
How This Book is Arranged	7	(1)
The Storytellers	8	(8)
Perryville
Ivanof Bay
Chignik Lake
Chignik Bay
Port Heiden
Chignik Lagoon
South Naknek
Other Storytellers
Alutiiqs and the Land	16	(12)
The Land	17	(8)
Alaska Peninsula Inhabitants	25	(3)
The Precontact Period on the Alaska Peninsula	28	(27)
Origins	28	(4)
Precontact Culture as Reported by the Russians	32	(23)
The Russian Period on the Alaska Peninsula: 1741 to 1867	55	(47)
Europeans Learn about the Alaska Peninsula	55	(2)
Russian Economic Interests in the Alaska Peninsula	57	(10)
1780s to 1818
1818 to 1867
Russians Along the Katmai Coast and the Naknek River Drainage	67	(5)
Baidarshchiks
Katmai in the Nineteenth Century
Russian Period Alutiiq Settlements	72	(4)
Russian Orthodoxy and the Alutiiqs	76	(11)
Creoles	87	(1)
Effects of Company and Church on Alaska Peninsula Alutiiqs	88	(14)
Population Decline
Changes in Warfare and Trading Practices
Subsistence
Beginning of an Alutiiq Identity
The American Period, 1867 to 1912	102	(72)
The American Fur Trade	102	(19)
End of the Fur Trade	121	(4)
Subsistence	125	(5)
Commercial Fishing and Other Economic Opportunities on the Alaska Peninsula	130	(7)
Creoles in the American Period	137	(2)
Alaska Peninsula Villages in the Nineteenth Century	139	(15)
Religion	154	(5)
Gambling as Control: The Game of Kaataq	159	(4)
Health	163	(1)
Dawning of the Twentieth Century	164	(10)
Katmai, 1912	174	(19)
The Katmai Eruption	174	(15)
Posteruption Settlements	189	(4)
The American Period, 1912 to World War II	193	(67)
Social Structure	193	(5)
Population Dynamics	198	(12)
Population Increase
Villages
Economy	210	(31)
Subsistence and the Continuation of Tradition
Fishing and Cannery Work
Furs
Reindeer
Education	241	(1)
Organized Religion	242	(1)
Disasters, Natural and Human	243	(6)
Postscript: World War II and Life after the War	249	(7)
Afterword: History Made and Remade	256	(4)
References Cited	260	(13)
Index	273