Negotiated Meanings on the Landscape: Culture, Perseverance and a Shift in Paradigms in Klawock, Alaska Metadata

Title

• Main Title Negotiated Meanings on the Landscape: Culture, Perseverance and a Shift in Paradigms in Klawock, Alaska

Creator

• Author: Sopow, Catherine Ruby
  Creator Type: Personal

Contributor

• Chair: Dunstan, Adam
  Contributor Type: Personal
  Contributor Info: Major Professor
• Committee Member: Nuñez-James, Mariela
  Contributor Type: Personal
• Committee Member: Scarcelli, Michael
  Contributor Type: Personal

Publisher

• Name: University of North Texas
  Place of Publication: Denton, Texas
  Additional Info: www.unt.edu

Date

• Creation: 2019-08

Language

• English

Description

• Content Description: The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of Klawock's Tribal Citizens' relationship to harvesting what is colloquially known as customary and traditional foods and/or native foods. The state and federal governments categorize these culturally specific goods as subsistence foods. An unearthed, 5,360-year-old basket potentially links modern day Klawock Tribal Citizens with their ancestral ties to the region. Throughout this time, families in this region of Southeast Alaska have been participating in a form of indigenous fishery. Despite access to multiple grocery stores and fish canneries, tribal citizens choose to expend their family's efforts to harvest their own sockeye out of the Klawock watershed. Oral history and ethnography and methodologies were employed to record personal relationships with the harvest of these resources while also documenting a context in which these relationships exist. Klawock Cooperative Association's staff worked alongside the student researcher and participants to analyze the data and produce findings. Engaging in customary and traditional activities rewards participants with intrinsic facets of their identity. Alongside reinforcing identities, these activities teach participants about family dynamics and working as a team, as well as the responsibilities that come with. These responsibilities are formed through the assignment of roles and provide people with purpose. The roles of individuals within their family dynamic parallel their understanding of their place within the larger society. Having a purpose and knowing their place shapes participant's accomplishments in the food system and honors them with feelings of pride. Based on these findings, KCA interprets customary and traditional activities as an epistemology in which increased access and participation provides an upwards trajectory of community health.
• Physical Description: vii, 55 pages

Subject

• Keyword: Indigenous Food Systems
• Keyword: Identity
• Keyword: Modes of Production
• Keyword: Social Capital
• Keyword: Resilience
• Keyword: Anthropology, Cultural

Coverage

• Place Name: United States - Alaska

Collection

• Name: UNT Theses and Dissertations
  Code: UNTETD

Institution

• Name: UNT Libraries
  Code: UNT

Rights

• Rights Access: public
• Rights Holder: Sopow, Catherine Ruby
• Rights License: copyright
• Rights Statement: Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

Resource Type

• Thesis or Dissertation

Format

• Text

Identifier

• Accession or Local Control No: submission_1757
• Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc1538653

Degree

• Degree Name: Master of Science
• Degree Level: Master's
• Academic Department: Department of Anthropology
• College: College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
• Degree Discipline: Applied Anthropology
• Degree Publication Type: thesi
• Degree Grantor: University of North Texas

Note

• Embargo Note: The work will be published after approval.