Inupiat Landscapes and Architecture: preserving Alaska Native community histories
Project ID: J8W07080023
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: University of Washington
Fiscal Year: 2008
Initial Funding: $23,700
Total Funding: $58,306
Project Type: Technical Assistance
Project Disciplines: Cultural
National Park: Alaska Region
Principal Investigator: Jolles, Carol Zane
Agreement Technical Representative: Richter, Peter
Abstract: This project combines applied social scientific research with educational outreach. The data to carry out the project comes from a recently completed study, June 2006, (Jolles, Principal Investigator), funded by the National Science Foundation’s Arctic Social Science Program. That study, Collaborative Research – Change and Its Impact on Culture, Economy, and Identity in Three North Bering Strait Alaska Iñupiat Communities: Diomede, Wales, King Island, documented cultural, social, and economic changes in the Native Villages of Diomede and Wales over 5 decades to determine how changes are reflected across several generations. Results included: a large collection of Iñupiat place names and subsistence site locations, photographs of community architecture, subsistence locations, and historic markers, family residence histories, and detailed photographic and tape-recorded interviews identifying subsistence plants, gathering areas, and plant uses. The current proposal relies on this existing data. This new project has two primary objectives. The first is to conduct final verification of cultural, historical, geographical, traditional subsistence knowledge and practices information that was recorded with Elders and others in each community. Secondly, this project aims to prepare a series of educational outreach products for use by local communities, regional organizations, and educational institutions. These outreach materials will be used for educational purposes as well as for preserving the backgrounds and histories of the Native Villages of Diomede and Wales for future generations in a world now experiencing extreme climate and ecological change. This project will be funded in multiple phases. Future phases are dependent upon successful completion of work in the previous phase and upon availability of funding.
Deliverables: