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The Praxis of Indigenism and Alaska Native Timber Politics
Author(s) -
Dombrowski Kirk
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.2002.104.4.1062
Subject(s) - politics , praxis , native american , settlement (finance) , state (computer science) , human settlement , identity politics , resistance (ecology) , political economy , political science , ethnology , sociology , environmental ethics , economy , archaeology , law , history , business , economics , ecology , finance , philosophy , algorithm , biology , computer science , payment
This article addresses the most recent discourse on indigenism in Southeast Alaska that has emerged around the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 and its subsequent revisions. It argues that one must consider the "politics of recognition" in Southeast Alaska in terms of the larger political dynamics that shape state and industry access to resources, especially commercially valuable stands of timber. In Southeast Alaska, recognition of Native claims has allowed industrial timber and pulp producers to, in effect, circumvent environmental laws aimed at curbing production, thus allowing them to continue devastating the living conditions of many Natives. Among the local responses to the manipulation of Native claims and identity, the all–Native, radical Christian churches that have taken a strong stance against the recent, corporate–sponsored, cultural revitalization are unique in their resistance to indigenist politics. [Keywords: indigenism, Alaska Natives, development, Pentecostalism]