Module III-People, Places and Practices

Module III-People, Places and Practices

Is there an “Alaskan” culture?  How could it be described?

As a result of  long, cold winters, drastic changes in daylight throughout the year, the remote location, and low percentage of people per square mile, Alaska has its own unique culture.  Two aspects of this culture that nearly all Alaskans share are our connection to the wilderness and our connection to the seasons. 

Elder woman in  the Lower Yukon Region.
Retrieved from the Kwik'Pak Fisheries LLC
Website.

Alaskans are very connected to the wilderness around them.   To varying degrees, Alaskans are very involved in a subsistence culture and fill their freezers with food taken from the land.  Whaling is a huge subsistence activity among many of the indigenous cultures of Alaska.  Hunting moose, bear, caribou and other animals, along with fishing and berry picking are other  subsistence activities that both natives and non-natives participate in.  In addition to subsistence activities, Alaska has a strong outdoor recreation culture.  In the summertime, hiking, camping, biking and boating are all common activities.  In the wintertime, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, dogsledding and snowmachining, are common activities.

  

Gwich'in Tribe Protects Caribou and Culture 

Inupiaq Whale Hunt

The Spirit of Subsistance Living

Dipnetting In Alaska 

Alaskan Berry Picking

In addition to having a strong connection the wilderness around them, Alaskans are also very connected to the seasons around them.  In the Winter time people generally spend more time at home in a kind of "hibernation" mode.  As the weather warms up and the daylight increases, people begin coming out of "hibernation" and spending more time outside of their homes.  Alaska residents seem to have a great sense of jubilation and excitement during the summer, and people participate in as many recreational activities, subsistence activities and home improvement projects as possible before the weather turns cold again.  Many communities also host big celebrations in the Summer.  Examples of these celebrations are the Crab Festival in Kodiak, Nalukataq in Barrow, and the Midnight Sun Fun Run in Fairbanks.

Runners in the Midnight Sun Fun Run in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Retrieved from www.lastfrontier.org

While there are certainly more aspects of the "Alaskan Culture", it is hard to separate the overall culture from all the many, many subcultures that exist in this very ethnically and geographically varied state.  Here are some links to more information about Alaska's various subcultures:

Alaska History & Cultural Studies Website-Alaska's Cultures

Alaska History & Cultural Studies Website-Modern Alaska

What is your concept of culture? 

How do you explain your own cultural identity?   

How does that influence how you approach the study of culture in Alaska?

My own concept of culture has been shaped and influenced by the many different places that I have lived.  So far I have lived in Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Montana.  I am glad that I have had these opportunities because it has helped me to see life from many different cultural perspectives.  Right now my own cultural identity is being heavily shaped by the following three subcultures:  Being a mother, being an educator in a public school and living in Fairbanks, Alaska.  In the next few paragraphs I will describe some examples of my own cultural identity that result from the above factors.

Motherhood Culture 

Right now, most of my time away from work is spent caring for my two year-old daughter.  As a result, my home, the public library, the swimming pool, the park (when weather allows) and bathrooms everywhere (my daughter is potty training right now) are the places that I spend most of my time. Almost every activity that I participate in, everything I buy and everywhere I go is kid friendly.  I spend much of my time involved in activities such as reading stories, singing songs, putting together puzzles, sledding, and running to the bathroom at any given moment.  Since I spend my time and energy involved in this, I end up meeting and making friends with other mothers of young children.  When we talk and get together, the majority of our activities and topics of conversation revolve around young children.

My daughter and I smelling the flowers on the side of the road during a
family drive on the Richardson highway in summer of 2011.

Educator Culture 

As an educator and a speech pathologist, language and literacy activities are a large aspect of my culture.  I read books to my daughter everyday, and when I have the time, I enjoy reading novels and discussing them with others.  When getting together with friends, we often play language-rich board games, such as “Apples to Apples” and “Balderdash”.  Having a desire to expanding my world view and have new experiences is also a large part of the educator culture in which I am a part of.  When I have time, I enjoy attending various cultural events in the community, such as the Alaska Federation of Natives Community Potluck, the Alaska Native Educator’s Potlucks, the Fairbanks Summer Fine Arts Festival and the Ice Alaska Ice carving competition.

Fairbanks, Alaska Culture 

Another strong influence on my cultural identity is that I live in a home in the outskirts of Fairbanks, Alaska.  Typical chores that my husband and I must complete that are uniquely Alaskan are, plugging in the car in the winter, hauling our own water and adjusting our post-on-pad home when the ground shifts.  I am also involved in some subsistence activities.  Each July, I try go dipnetting for Salmon on the Kenai River.  This is an activity that I look forward to all year long.  While I love filling my freezer with salmon, I also love the experience of camping on the beach and spending time with my family.  In the late Summer and Fall I also love to go berry picking.  In addition to having wonderful berries all year long for cooking and baking, berry picking provides a wonderful time to hang out and strengthen my relationships with my friends.  In addition to fishing and berry picking, my family and I also spend a lot of time going, camping and hiking in various parts of Alaska.  I love having so many beautiful places to explore in such relative proximity to where I live.



My Alaskan home shortly before it was completed in the summer of 2011.

I must remember my own cultural bias when studying Alaskan culture.  The place that I learn the most about various cultures is in my work and interactions with my very ethnically diverse caseload of students and families.  Because I was exposed to so much diversity at such a young age, I must remember that most children and even many adults have not had as many different exposure to cultures as I have.  I also must remember that most of the families that I work with do not come from an educator culture where literacy and reading is valued.  At times when I am teaching a concept to a student that I feel the student should have already been taught or exposed to, I am tempted in my mind to accuse the parents of being lazy, unintelligent or uncaring. I then have to remind myself that they may be wonderful, caring parents who have had different cultural experiences and/or have different cultural values than I have. 

Three Blog Reviews

Peter's Alaskan Blog-This blog is written by a Mental Health Case Manager and substitute teacher who lives in the Matsu Valley. 

Exploring Alaska's Cultures-This blog is written by a Kindergarten Teacher who lives on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska.

Holly Explores Alaska History-This blog is written by the principal of Gustavus School and Klukwan School, both K-12 in Southeast Alaska. 

Summary
In Summary, this module has caused me to think deeply about what exactly my own culture is.  It has been difficult to narrow down both my own culture and an "Alaskan Culture".  I have come to a conclusion that each person's culture is highly complex.  No person can be defined by any one culture.  Rather, we all belong to many different cultures that change and influence each other over time.   

How does knowledge of natural systems inform our understanding of cultural systems?

In order to truly understand and respect a cultural system, you have to understand the influences that shape a culture.  Natural systems are some of most influential forces on any culture.  Some examples of these influences are: the climate system influencing the type of clothing and types of shelter, the natural landscape influencing the types of plants and animals present, which then effects the diet of a culture, and the natural landscape influencing the type of travel utilized.  Natural systems also greatly influence the less essential aspects of culture, such as providing the topics of many stories, songs and dances in a culture.

My personal respect towards the Native Alaskan Cultures, and especially towards the subsistence lifestyle has greatly increased as I have learned more about the natural systems of Alaska.  I spent the majority of my childhood in Oregon, in a very temperate climate that did not value hunting, or depend on it for survival.  My family owned no guns, and I was never taught how to care for or operate them.  As a result of my non-exposure to firearms, I developed a negative view of them and the people who owned and used them. 

I was first introduced to a more subsistence based lifestyle when I was fourteen and living in Barrow, Alaska, and it was hard for me to understand why the residents of the community had so many guns and spent so much time hunting.  I am now 31, and I still do not own a gun, nor have I ever shot one.  However, as I have learned more about the natural systems in Alaska, and how essential hunting has been to the survival of the Native Alaskans for thousands of years, I now have respect for people who own guns for subsistence purposes.  In fact, I have recently thought that I might want to learn about guns and go hunting myself someday.   

What is the relationship between tectonic forces, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes in Alaska?

Plate Tectonics is the main reason why we have mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes in Alaska.  Simply put, Plate tectonics is the theory that the surface of the Earth is broken up into large areas of continental crust, known as tectonic plates.  These plates are always in motion relative to each other, and as they move, they create mountains, volcanoes and earth quakes.  The two tectonic plates that have the most influence on Alaskan geology are the North American Plate, which all of Alaska rests on, and the Pacific Plate, which consists of the Area underneath the Pacific Ocean.

Introduction to Plate Tectonics 

Plate Tectonics: The Scientist Behind the Theory 

There are two important geological features that have formed along the boundary of Pacific Plate and the North American Plate in Alaska.  The first feature is the Fairweather Fault, which is a transform fault located along the boundary in the area of the Alaskan Panhandle.  With this type of fault one of the rock units moves parallel to the other.  In the case of the Fairweather Fault, the Pacific Plate is moving north relative to the North American Plate.  The second major geological feature is a subduction zone off of the southern coast of Alaska.  This subduction zone is caused by the denser Pacific Plate moving and pushing itself under the Alaskan portion of the less dense North American Plate.  This movement and subduction of the Pacific plate into the North American Plate has caused or greatly influenced the formation and activity of most of the mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes in Alaska.

Here is a list and description of some the major geologically active areas in Alaska:

Chugach Mountain Range- This mountain range is an example of an accretionary wedge.  This means that these mountains were formed by the Pacific Plate subducting, or diving down at a shallow angle below Alaska, causing material from the Pacific Plate to scrape off, compress, crumple and shove upward.

 

The Cook Inlet Volcanoes-This area is another example of an accretionary wedge.  However, in this area, the Pacific Plate is subducting farther down into the Earth and at a steeper angle than the Chugach Mountain Range, allowing for the Pacific Plate to partially melt in the upper mantle.  This in turn allows for molten rock to make its way to the surface and create these volcanic mountains.

 

Aleutian Islands- In this area the Pacific Plate subducts at an even steeper grade than in the areas of the Chugach Mountains and the Cook Inlet Volcanoes.  Similarly to the Cook Inlet Volcanoes, the Pacific Plate partially melts, and magma rises causing the volcanoes that we see in this area.  

Wrangell Saint Elias Range- This area was formed millions of years ago when a separate piece of continent that was attached to the Pacific Plate was present south of mainland Alaska.  Through time, as the Pacific Plate continued to move north, this separate piece of continent moved north with it, eventually slamming into mainland Alaska.  Since continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust, the moving piece of continent did not subduct, but rather slammed into the other continent causing the land to deform and push upward.

Three Blog Reviews

Alaskan History-A Newcomers Perspective:  This Blog is written by a speech language pathologist in Girdwood.  The author gives some wonderful examples of place based learning in her community.  She also has some beautiful pictures of Coyote Gulch, Utah in her discussion of the
importance of place.

Miss Mannen:  This Blog is written by a teacher in Point Lay.  The author gives excellent examples of activities and assignments in her school that blend traditional indigenous and and non indigenous values.

Alaska Reflections:  This Blog is written by a speech pathologist in Juneau who works in early childhood programs.  She gives a beautiful and poetic description of how a sense of place begins to develop in a baby shortly after birth.

Concluding Paragraph

Although I have not found this Module to be as directly applicable to the field of speech pathology as the first Module, I have learned a great deal about how to create blogs and about the geology of Alaska.  It has been fun to learn how to insert links and pictures and change the captions on the blog.  I look forward to learning even more about how to create visually appealing blogs during the next assignment.  The geology aspect of this course was especially fun for me because my husband is a geology student at the university and he was able to clarify and expand on the information that was on the course blog.

Favorite Place

This picture of me, my husband and my four week old daughter was taken a couple of summers ago while on a hiking and camping trip in Denali National Park near the Eileson Visitor’s Center.   I have moved around many times in my life, and as a result, I do not have any one place that I can say I am from.  However, I feel the happiest, most peaceful and most content when I am hiking, camping and backpacking in beautiful, remote areas.  This picture was taken during an amazing time of my life when I was able to hike and camp with my first newborn child snuggled comfortably against my chest, my husband by my side and a crystal clear view of Mount Denali in the background.

Module 1- Place and Pedology

Why is Awareness of Place Important?

Having an awareness of place is an incredibly important aspect of being an educator, no matter where you live.  The culture and place that students are raised in impacts the type of information they come to school knowing, the mannerisms and actions that they display, and their values towards education.   Knowing the culture and place that students are raised in helps educators to understand and respect their students, and as a result, be effective teachers.  In this response, I will talk about three different aspects of my job as a speech and language pathologist in which having an “awareness of place” is important.  These areas are diagnosing and evaluating, forming student rapport, and forming rapport with parents and families.

As a speech and language pathologist, I evaluate many Native students who are struggling with communication and language tasks in the classroom.  I must be very careful to differentiate between culturally different communication patterns and true language impairment.  On many occasions I have evaluated students who appeared extremely language delayed at first, but who I soon realized were simply raised in an area with communication patterns that are different than mainstream western culture.  I must be especially cautious when using standardized assessments to evaluate language impairment, because most of these assessments are very western oriented.  On one particular subtest of a widely used test, students are asked to define “cactus” and “pedestrian”.  If a student has spent his whole life in Alaska, he may never have been exposed to these words.  Another subtest of this same test requires students to look at pictures and say a complete sentence about each one.  Students who have spent most of their life in an Alaskan Village often use grammatical structures that are different than standard American English. 

Awareness of place is also very important in forming rapport with students.  All people are more eager and willing to learn and participate when they can see connections between what they are learning in school and their everyday life.   As educators, we are a guide to help the students find these connections and so we must be knowledgeable and respectful of the culture that we teach in.  As an example in my own job, is if I am teaching a student a concept such as comparing and contrasting, the students may learn this concept faster and more completely if I teach the concepts using vocabulary words that are relevant and familiar to the everyday life of the student. 

Awareness of place is also very important in forming rapport with the families of our students.  The students who are usually the most successful in school are the ones who have parents that value and support education.  If we have families that do not value and support formal education, then we need to find ways of establishing rapport.  To accomplish this we need to become part of the community that we live in and learn the value systems of that community.  If we understand these value systems, we can interact with parents in a culturally sensitive manner and help them find ways of supporting the education of their children.  

How can non-indigenous and indigenous teachers help students to embrace both ways?

I feel that both indigenous and non-indigenous teachers play an important role in the education of Alaska students.  In this response I will discuss four ways that this type of collaboration could benefit students.  These four ways are curriculum development, core academic instruction, modeling, and culture specific lessons.  

The first way that indigenous and non-indigenous teachers can collaborate is in curriculum development.   My school uses very high quality, structured and evidence-based curriculums for math and language arts.  However, these curriculums were created by people who do not live in Alaska.  As a result, I often notice that many students have difficulty relating to the stories, vocabulary and word problems.  I think that it would be very beneficial for indigenous and non-indigenous educators to be part of the curriculum planning committees to provide input about how to include culturally relevant aspects into the core curriculum.

Another way that indigenous and non-indigenous teachers can help students embrace both ways is by working together to teach the core subjects of reading, writing and math.   In my school we have two Alaska Native Education (ANE) Tutors that assist our teachers by working with our large population of native students in a way that is culturally sensitive.  Our ANE tutors also teach the staff how to be more culturally sensitive.  One of our ANE tutors often attends Individualized education Plan (IEP) meetings.   When cultural barriers arise in the meetings, she is able to explain, clarify, and answer questions to help the families and teachers to better understand each other better. I have learned how to communicate more effectively with my students and their families by observing her interactions.

In addition to working together to teach the core subjects, indigenous and non-indigenous teachers can help students embrace both ways by having times when indigenous individuals teach lessons devoted specifically to aspect of native culture.  One example of this type of collaboration at my school is that during certain times of the year Alaska Native Elders visit our classrooms and teach lessons to the students.  Another example is when we have Native dancers come to our school and teach Native dancing to the students.  Experiences such as these communicate to students that there is value in both traditional native ways and in western education. 

Concluding Paragraph

This module has made me very excited to learn more about the place that I live in.  Over the past three years that I have been a speech pathologist in Fairbanks, I have been contemplating how to help support the language development of my students in a way that is more culturally sensitive and relevant to their everyday life.  I am looking forward to further exploring the Alaska Native Knowledge Network and Teacher’s Domain, as these sights appear to have a wealth of information related to this topic.