LIVING ON THIN ICE
Living on Thin Ice
The Gwich’in Natives of Alaska
Steven C. Dinero
Published in 2016 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com © 2016 Steven C. Dinero
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dinero, Steven C., author.
Title: Living on thin ice : the Gwich’in natives of Alaska / Steven C. Dinero.
Description: New York : Berghahn Books, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047950 | ISBN 9781785331619 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781785331626 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Gwich’in Indians—Social conditions—Alaska—Arctic Village. | Gwich’in Indians—Ethnic identity. | Arctic Village (Alaska)— Economic conditions. | Arctic Village (Alaska)—Environmental conditions.
Classification: LCC E99.K84 D56 2016 | DDC 305.897/20798—dc23
LC record available at hmp://lccn.loc.gov/2015047950
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78533-161-9 hardback
ISBN 978-1-78533-162-6 ebook
For My Father
Who First Sparked My Interest in Alaska,
Its Environment, Wildlife, and Peoples
in 1966
Contents
List of Illustrations, Maps, and Tables
Chapter 1. How Did We Get Here? An Overview of the First Century
Chapter 2. Episcopalianism Comes to Nets’aii Country
Chapter 4. The Village, Service Provision, and Economic Development
Chapter 5. The Evolving Role of Subsistence in Nets’aii Gwich’in Life
Chapter 6. The Environment and a Changing Climate
Chapter 7. The Youth Are the Future
Chapter 8. We Don’t Know Where We Are Anymore
Illustrations, Maps, and Tables
Illustrations
1.1 Main Street, Arctic Village, Alaska (July 2011).
2.1 Rev. Albert E. Tritt and the original Bishop Rowe Chapel, circa 1933.
2.2 The Bishop Rowe Chapel, circa 1960.
2.3 Christmas pageant, old Bishop Rowe Chapel (December 1963).
2.4 The old Bishop Rowe Chapel in disrepair (August 1999).
2.5 The reconstructed and historically preserved Bishop Rowe Chapel (March 2013).
3.1 Arctic Village classroom (1970).
3.2 Arctic Village classroom (1970).
3.3 The new Arctic Village School (July 2009).
4.1 Main Street, Arctic Village, and neighborhood expansion (August 1999).
5.1 Cutting firewood at –30 degrees Fahrenheit (Christmas Day 2011).
5.2 Gathering fish from a fishnet (Third Tower, July 2012).
5.3 Smokehouse on the Chandalar River (July 2012).
5.4 Picking blueberries is tedious yet fulfilling and provides hours of socializing (August 2011).
5.5 Caribou hunting camp (Dachan Lee, August 1999).
5.6 After the hunt: caribou meat, skin, and antlers being dried (August 2011).
5.7 Tanning a caribou hide (August 1999).
6.1 Flooding on the Chandalar River (August 2011).
6.2 Riverbank erosion and willow overgrowth along the Chandalar River (July 2011).
6.3 One of many Arctic hares to visit the village—and to harass the local dog population (July 2009).
7.1 The joy of childhood (Arctic Village, August 2011).
7.2 The youth of Arctic Village (Christmas Eve 2011).
7.3 Twenty-first-century Nets’aii Gwich’in children (Arctic Village, Christmas Eve 2011).
7.4 Nets’aii Gwich’in boy eating hotdog on the cover of Arctic Village Echoes (1970).
7.5 These children are the future (Arctic Village, July 2012).