Alaska and Alaska Native History

Alaska has a population of approximately 740,000; one in five residents is Alaska Native and one in ten lives in a rural community. Alaska has the largest landmass of all the states in the United States (586,412 square miles).

People have lived in Alaska for at least 15,000 years. After being colonized by Russian explorers in the 18th century, Alaska became a U.S. territory in 1867 and a state in 1959. Alaska is quite large and distant from the rest of the U.S., and Alaska Native people have a lot in common with other indigenous peoples of the circumpolar north due to climate, northern latitude, and cultural-historical interactions.

Rural Alaska

Alaska’s communities and villages are spread throughout the state. Many small communities are geographically isolated from both the urban population centers and from each other.

The rural economy is a mixture of cash, subsistence, and bartering. Most small communities havelimitedemployment opportunities.

Rural Health Care

Like other small towns, most rural Alaska communities do not have hospitals or mental health facilities.It is often difficult, inconvenient, and expensive to transport patients and clients to health providers outside the village.Residents rely instead on community clinics that help bring care closer to home by employing Community Health Aide/Practitioners (CHA/Ps) to provide physical health care services, Dental Health Aide/Therapists (DHA/Ts) to provide dental care services, and Behavioral Health Aide/Practitioners (BHA/Ps) to provide behavioral health and wellness services.

Tribal Government

Alaska is home to more than 200 Alaska Native tribes. Most rural villages are governed by local federally recognized tribal councils. Sometimes the councils govern by themselves; other times, they work alongside state municipal governments. Some villages have only state municipal governments.

For more information about specific Alaskan communities, visit the Alaska Community Database online.

Traditional Culture

Many Alaska Native tribes have origin stories that establish their presence from the beginning of time. Other groups trace their roots elsewhere and speak of migrating via land or sea to their present location. Origin stories and lessons for living in the cold northern climate have been passed on through oral traditions.

The traditional culture and way of life is known as subsistence; it encompasses all the practices, beliefs, and values associated with hunting and gathering to provide resources for family and community.

Villagelife has been the cradle of cultural knowledge, providing Alaska Native people with adaptive rules for living and practical instructions for survival and wellness. Village sites were traditionally selected based on trade routes, myths, or availability of and access to wild game or subsistence foods. Tribal councils of elders have traditionally guided their communities.

Elders have always been important members of Alaska Native villages. They help to:

• Maintain social order.
• Manage resources.
• Share experiences and lessons based on historical knowledge.
• Offer direction and support for different activities within the village.
• Connect villages with their historical and cultural roots.

Colonization

During early colonization, outsiders sought riches by taking advantage of the resources of Alaska Natives, such as gold, fur, and animals. During later colonization, outsiders changed Native culture through wars, schools, churches, medicine, trade, cash-based economies, and other social institutions and practices.

Various Christian missionaries were assigned to different geographic regions of the state. Some encouraged and even forced individuals and communities to change or stop practicing their traditional customs and beliefs.

Colonization has had severe cultural, social, and economic impacts on Alaska Native ways of life.

Positive consequences include:

• Increased technologies.
• Homes with running water.
• Improved sanitation.
• Vehicles for rapid transportation.
• Increased access to the global community.

Negative consequences include:

• Reduced or eliminated use of Native languages.
• Altered intergenerational family dynamics.
• Community-wide transitions from subsistence to cash-based economies and more urban lifestyles.
• Imposition of western governments.
• Introduction of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs.
• Introduction of foreign diseases.
• Reduced reliance on a healthy subsistence diet.

Modern Times

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971 shifted legal title of small portions of traditional tribal land to Alaska Native-owned regional corporations and vast tracts of other tribal lands to the State of Alaska and non-Natives. The result was a new regional structure, which was based on geography and politics, for the delivery of health care and other social services. Historical federal and state policies regarding resource control, land ownership, and jurisdiction have impacted Alaska Native ways of life. Modern events such as climate change and social migration also impact village life, location, and overall functioning.

Many colonial factors, lifestyle shifts, and historical traumas continue to be sources of stress in Alaska Native peoples’ lives. High unemployment remains a problem, particularly in rural Alaskan villages. Theimpacts of limited employmentare made worse by high costs of living in remote locations.

At the same time, many Alaska Native villages enjoy tribal self-determination and the freedom to live life according to local customs and values. Importantly, Alaska Native worldviews, lifestyles, values, and beliefs present healing pathways.

Activities such as subsistence hunting and gathering, drumming, dancing, carving, and crafting mayprovidemany benefits and help to guard both individuals and communities against stress and anxiety.

In general, Alaska Natives are humble, honorable, and resourceful people, deeply rooted in and attached to their villages and communities. Oral traditions and the subsistence way of life remain important.

Most rural Alaska Native households rely on a combination of paying jobs and subsistence activities to meet daily living needs. Elders continue to play important roles in their communities as teachers, mentors, role models, and wisdom bearers.

Alaska Natives tend to be very spiritual people with strong beliefs and faiths. Some embrace formal religions, while others hold traditional beliefs. Historical impacts from early Christian missionaries are still present today.

Family relationships (including both blood relationships and adoptive kinships) are very important. Alaska Natives often reference bloodlines and socialrelationshipswhen introducing themselves. This information is also useful for establishing marriages, structuring rites, and addressing other tribal leadership matters.

Alaska Natives today are raised in a range of ways. Many have been raised in a traditional manner: growing up with a subsistence lifestyle, speaking the indigenous language, and learning life lessons from the oral tradition. Others have been raised in a contemporary manner: going to Western schools, speaking the English language, and using modern tools and technologies. Many Alaska Natives speak several languages, including English and their indigenous language.

Alaska Native people must often work to find balance between traditional Alaska Native ways and modern Western ways. It can be difficult to honor traditional values, such as participation in potlatches or subsistence activities, while meeting education or job requirements.

Nearly 1 out of 5 Alaskan residents is Alaska Native. There are eleven distinct Alaska Native cultures, and eleven traditional languages.

Distinct Alaska Native Cultures by Area	Did You Know?
Athabaskan/Athabascan	Athabascan peoples were traditionally nomadic, occupying land territory covering interior, southwest, southcentral, and southeast Alaska. They have also been traced to southwestern states (Dene peoples, for example). Important subsistence activities include fishing for salmon and pike and hunting for moose and caribou. Traditional clothing items such as jackets, tunics, moccasins, and dancing boots are made of moose and caribou hide, often with intricate beadwork designs. Beadwork remains an important cultural tradition. Spoken Athabascan dialects associated with their respective villages and communities includeAthna, Tanaina, Deg Hit’an, Holikachuk, Upper Kuskokwim, Koyukon, Tanana, Tanacross, Upper Tanana, Han, and Gwich’in.
Yup’ik and Cup’ik	Yup’ik and Cup’ik peoples traditionally lived in coastal, river, and island-based villages in southwest Alaska. They were historically very mobile, migrating based on the abundance of game (caribouand seal), fish (such as salmon, whitefish, and blackfish), and plants (berries and greens). Skins of birds, fish, and animals were used to make clothing, with fish skin and marine mammal intestines used to make waterproof shells and boots. Animal skins and furs are still used to make clothes such as hats, gloves, and winter coats. Singing, dancing, drumming, and storytelling continue to be important cultural activities. Yup’ik and Cup’ik languages are still spoken fluently.
Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik	Inupiaq peoples traditionally lived in the north and northwest parts of Alaska. Siberian Yupik peoples occupy St. Lawrence Island; relatives live in Russia on the Siberian Chukchi Peninsula (for example, in Provedeniya). Still hunting and gathering societies, they are sustained by harvests of beluga, walrus, seal, polar bear, black bear, brown bear, caribou, and fish. They eat the animals and use their skins to make clothing and floats, which are used in whale hunts. Traditionally, intestines of sea mammals would be used to make waterproof outer garments. Traditional activities included competitive games to test strength and stamina, such as the blanket toss and high kick. Dancing and drumming continue to be important ways for building community and family relationships. Inupiaq and St. Lawrence Island Yupik languages are spoken fluently in their respective villages.
Aleut (Unangax) and Alutiiq	Aleut and Alutiiq (or Sugpiaq) peoples traditionally lived on the Aleutian, Pribilof, and Kodiak Islands and along the Alaska Peninsula and Prince William Sound. They are largely maritime societies that have been heavily influenced by Russian culture. Important subsistence foods include salmon, halibut, octopus, shellfish, seal, sea lion, caribou (on the Alaska Peninsula), and deer. Skins of harvested animals would traditionally be made into clothing items, which would be decorated with colorful natural dyes, feathers, and puffin beaks. Sometimes ivory, bone, or wooden figurines would be carved and attached to the clothing. Waterproof outer garments were made from mammal intestines. Bowls and baskets are often woven from spruce roots and grass with geometric patterns. The Unangan and Sugpiaq languages are spoken primarily by elder generations, though active efforts exist to transmit languages to youth.
Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Eyak	Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Eyak peoples traditionally lived in southeast Alaska and present-day British Columbia. They share a common and similar Northwest Coast Culture, with important differences in language and clan systems. Traditional subsistence foods include salmon, steelhead, herring, herring eggs, hooligans, seaweed, beach asparagus, berries, shoots, and land mammals. Subsistence activities are still an important part of cultural identity. Potlatches and feasts are traditional ceremonies, with potlatches the more formal of the two. Potlatches might last several days and include feasting, speeches, singing, and dancing. Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages are still spoken, though Eyak is not.

The Alaska Tribal Health System (ATHS) is the tribally controlled provider of health services for the state’s American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population. The system enables Alaska’s tribes to administer health programs previously run by Alaska Native Services and the Indian Health Service (IHS). A voluntary affiliation of over 30 tribal organizations, the ATHS includes:

• Twelve nonprofit regional health organizations serving their local regions.
• The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), which provides statewide services.
• A range of other tribes and tribal organizations.

The ATHS works closely with its participants and the IHS to provide health services for approximately 130,000 Alaska Natives statewide. Services vary by location and can include inpatient care, outpatient care, emergency services, radiology, laboratory, pharmacy, physical therapy, behavioral health, dental, vision, community, and environmental health services.

On the front lines of behavioral health for this statewide system, BHA/Ps most often provide services on the village and subregional levels. They are employed by their regional tribal health organizations (THOs) and supervised by a master's- or doctoral-level clinical supervisor.

Alaska Tribal Health System (ATHS)
Alaska Natives have increasingly assumed management of the Alaska Native health care system from the federal government. The Alaska Tribal Health Compact is the umbrella agreement that sets forth the terms and conditions of government-to-government relations through the IHS. The Compact authorizes tribes and Alaska Native health organizations to operate health and health-related programs. Each tribal organization retains its autonomy with regard to health priorities, services, and policies in its service area.
Members Who Signed the ATHS Memorandum of Understanding
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association Arctic Slope Native Association Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation Chickaloon Village Traditional Council Chugachmiut Copper River Native Association Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments Eastern Aleutian Tribes, Inc. Kenaitze Indian Tribe Ketchikan Indian Community Knik Tribal Council Kodiak Area Native Association	Maniilaq Association Metlakatla Indian Community Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium Native Village of Eklutna Native Village of Eyak Norton Sound Health Corporation Seldovia Village Tribe Southcentral Foundation SouthEast Alaska Health Consortium Tanana Chiefs Conference Yakutat Tlingit Tribe Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation

ATHS MODEL OF CARE
Village-Level Services	Village-based providers include Behavioral Health Aide/Practitioners (BHA/Ps), Community Health Aide/Practitioners (CHA/Ps), and Dental Health Aide Therapists (DHATs). Services include emergency/crisis services, prevention, outreach, education, and early intervention. Some village-based providers may also be able to provide counseling, case management, and assessment.
Subregional-Level Services	Subregional clinics generally provide all village-level services plus additional support services to a number of surrounding villages. Support services include clinical supervision and consultation with village-based providers. Often, subregional clinics have mid-level providers such as physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, and licensed behavioral health clinicians.
Regional-Level Services	These services are provided in the regional hub communities of Anchorage, Bethel, Nome, Sitka, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Kotzebue, and Barrow. Regional hubs generally have an inpatient medical hospital with access to additional equipment and medical staff, including physicians. A wider variety of clinical services may include master's-level behavioral health clinicians, the full complement of behavioral health services, substance abuse detoxification and treatment, and some level of therapeutic foster care and residential care services.
Statewide Services	Provided in Anchorage, referral services include those provided by specialized psychiatric consultants and in inpatient psychiatric facilities. Currently, inpatient psychiatric care is provided by facilities outside the tribal health system.