Putting the Past in Conversation with the Present: A Collaborative Archaeology of Colonialism in Old Harbor, Kodiak Island, Alaska

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Sugpiaq (also known as Alutiiq) people have a more than 7,500-year history on the Kodiak Archipelago and in the surrounding areas. Through that long history, they adapted and invented new technologies, grew from small and mobile communities to large, settled villages, fought and traded with their neighbors, and created a vibrant coastal society. Russian colonialism brought unprecedented challenges to Sugpiaq communities including systematic violence, epidemic disease, forced labor, resettlement, and religious conversion. Colonial entanglements with Russian fur trading companies and clergy impacted the daily lives of Sugpiaq peoples in countless ways. In my dissertation research, I combine evidence from the archaeological record, Sugpiaq oral history testimony, and archival documents to address how Sugpiaq people negotiated the challenges of colonialism in their daily lives—persisting physically, socially, spiritually, and culturally through the shocks of initial colonialism and, ultimately, to the present day. The research is undertaken as a collaborative project with the Sugpiaq community of Old Harbor, Alaska. This method braids together multiple lines of evidence to enhance our study of the past, while acknowledging and honoring the relationships between Sugpiaq communities past and present.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Arctic Pasts: Dimensions of Change

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32310