Research - Alutiiq Renewal

"Looking Both Ways"
An Arctic Studies Center / Alutiiq Museum Exhibition in Progress
By Dr. Aron L. Crowell

The Alutiiq people of the Kodiak archipelago and southern Alaskan coast are deeply engaged in the process of cultural rediscovery and revitalization. Many aspects of Alutiiq culture and identity, including language, arts, and beliefs, were suppressed and nearly lost during two hundred years of Russian and U.S. rule. By working together, communities, museums, Native corporations, elders, researchers, and young people are reversing these losses, and creating widespread appreciation for the beauty, meaning, and history of Alutiiq traditions. Dance, carving, beading, skin sewing, hat making, and boat building are flourishing, and objects made by earlier generations, long buried in the ground or preservedin distant museums, are coming to light through new studies.

In celebration of this cultural rennaissance, the Alutiiq Museum, Alutiiq Heritage Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Center (ASC) are proud to announce their partnership in production of Looking Both Ways: Reclaiming the Alutiiq Past for the Future, a major new exhibition that will open at the Alutiiq Museum in 1999. Featuring contemporary arts as well as beautiful objects made many generations ago, the show will look toward both past and future in exploring the changing meanings of Alutiiq culture and identity. A regional Gathering of the Alutiiq People will be held in Kodiak to coincide with the exhibition opening. The conference will be organized by Gordon Pullar, former President of the Kodiak Area Native Association and current National President of Keepers of the Treasures.

Conceptual development of the project has been undertaken by an Alutiiq advisory panel and an Anchorage-based working committee with representation from Kodiak, the Chugach region, lower Cook Inlet, and the Alaska Peninsula. Planning awards have been received from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Smithsonian Special Exhibition Program, and corporate sponsors including ERA Aviation, Westmark Hotels,and Totem Ocean Trailer Express. To help plan and prepare for the exhibition, the Alutiiq Museum and Arctic Studies Center will invite elders from throughout the Alutiiq region to an elders' planning conference this spring.

Looking Both Ways will be a true collaborative effort, and draw on the rich cultural resources of the Alutiiq region. Language, oral history, cultural identity, artistic expression, knowledge of the land and sea, and spiritual traditions will be major themes. Objects to be included in the show include dozens of masks, hunting hats, beautifully-decorated skin clothing, carvings, tools, and hunting weapons from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., most purchased in the 1880s by William J. Fisher, a Kodiak resident who is buried in the American Cemetery. The dancer in the drawing that accompanies this article, rendered by exhibition artist/intern Mark Matson, is wearing a beaded headdress, belt, and jewelry from the Fisher collection.

Along with 19th century objects from the Smithsonian, Looking Both Ways will feature new archaeological discoveries from Karluk and other sites that reveal the long development and artistic heritage of classical Alutiiq culture. Alutiiq Museum Curator Amy Steffian has undertaken a comprehensive survey of the museum's collections to pick objects that will help to tell this still-unfolding story. The most important resources for more recent history are the memories and oral traditions of Alutiiq elders. During the forthcoming elders' conference, we will ask for their help in learning more about traditional knowledge and material culture. We will also ask their help in identifying people and places depicted in historic photographs that have been gathered from U. S. archives by project researcher and ASC exhibition coordinator Dee Hunt.

Other Research Articles | Arctic Studies Center Home Page