Alaskan Athabaskans
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Turkish. (March 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
 Former Gwichʼin grand chief Clarence Alexander in 2004 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 6,400[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Alaska | |
| Languages | |
| Northern Athabaskan languages, American English (Alaskan variant), Russian (historically) | |
| Religion | |
| Shamanism (largely ex), Christianity |
The Alaskan Athabascans,[2][3][4][5][6][7] Alaskan Athapascans[8] or Dena[9] (Russian: атабаски Аляски, атапаски Аляски)[10] are Alaska Native peoples of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. They are considered the descendants of the original inhabitants of the interior of Alaska.[11]
Formerly they identified as a people by the word Tinneh (nowadays Dena; cf. Dene for Canadian Athabaskans). Taken from their own language, it means simply "men" or "people".[12]
Subgroups
[edit] |
In Alaska, where they are the oldest, there are eleven groups identified by the languages they speak. These are:
- Dena’ina or Tanaina (Ht’ana)
- Ahtna or Copper River Athabascan (Hwt’aene)
- Deg Hit’an or Ingalik (Hitʼan)
- Holikachuk (Hitʼan)
- Koyukon (Hut’aane)
- Upper Kuskokwim or Kolchan (Hwt’ana)
- Tanana or Lower Tanana (Kokht’ana)
- Tanacross or Tanana Crossing (Koxt’een)
- Upper Tanana (Kohtʼiin)
- Gwich'in or Kutchin (Gwich’in)
- Hän (Hwëch’in).
Life and culture
[edit]The Alaskan Athabascan culture is an inland creek and river fishing (also coastal fishing by only Dena'ina of Cook Inlet) and hunter-gatherer culture. The Alaskan Athabascans have a matrilineal system in which children belong to the mother's clan, with the exception of the Yupikized Athabaskans (Holikachuk and Deg Hit'an).[13]
The Athabascan people hold potlatches which have religious, social and economic significance.[8]
Dogs were their only domesticated animal, but were and are an integral element in their culture for the Athabascan population in North America.[14]
History
[edit]Athabascans are descended from Asian hunter-gatherers, likely originally native to Mongolia, who crossed the Bering Strait and settled in North America.[15]
Notable Alaskan Athabascans
[edit]
- George Attla (August 8, 1933 – February 15, 2015) was a champion sprint dog musher.[16]
- Poldine Carlo (December 5, 1920 – May 9, 2018) was an American author and Athabascan elder.[17]
- Kathleen Carlo-Kendall is a professional sculptor.[18]
- Quinn Christopherson is an American singer-songwriter. He won the 2019 Tiny Desk Contest with his entry "Erase Me," a song describing his experience with male privilege and erasure as a transgender man.[19]
- Peter Kalifornsky is an author and oral storyteller.[20]
- Emil Notti is an American engineer, indigenous activist and democratic politician who was key in the development of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.[21]
- John Sackett (1944–2021) served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1967 to 1971 and in the Alaska Senate from 1973 to 1987.[22]
- Michael Stickman is the First Chief of the Nulato Tribal Council.[23]
- Mary TallMountain (June 19, 1918 – September 2, 1994) was a poet and storyteller of mixed Scotch-Irish and Koyukon ancestry.[24]
- F. Kay Wallis (born c. 1944) is traditional healer and member of Alaska House of Representatives.[25][26]
- Siobhan Wescott, physician and public health advocate; she has served as director of the American Indian Health Program and is a professor of American Indian health at the University of Nebraska.[27]
See also
[edit]- Tanana Chiefs Conference (all Alaskan Athabaskans' [excl. Ahtna and Dena'ina] a territorial-level organization)
- Doyon, Limited
- Alaska Native Language Center
- Alaska Federation of Natives
- Indian ice cream (Alaska)
- Athabascan fiddle
References
[edit]- ^ "Athabascans of Interior Alaska". www.ankn.uaf.edu.
- ^ "Athabascans of Interior Alaska". www.ankn.uaf.edu.
- ^ "Appendix E: Race Code List" (PDF).
- ^ "South Dakota Department of Education, Race/Ethnicity Guidance, Race Identification" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 23, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
- ^ "athabascan". www.aa.tufs.ac.jp. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
- ^ "Alaska's Heritage: Alaskan Athabascans". Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
- ^ Susan W. Fair (2006). Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity
- ^ a b William Simeone, A History of Alaskan Athapaskans, 1982, Alaska Historical Commission
- ^ "------------- Dena Languages -----------". anlorg.
- ^ Дзенискевич Г. И. Атапаски Аляски. — Л.: «Наука», Ленинградское отд., 1987
- ^ Esdale, Julie A. (September 19, 2008). "A Current Synthesis of the Northern Archaic". Arctic Anthropology. 45 (2): 3–38. doi:10.1353/arc.0.0006. ISSN 0066-6939.
- ^ U.S. Government Printing Office (1900), Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Interior
- ^ "athabascan indians". www.aaanativearts.com.
- ^ Derr, Mark (2004). A dogs history of America. North Point Press. p. 12
- ^ Stockel, Henrietta (September 15, 2022). Salvation Through Slavery: Chiricahua Apaches and Priests on the Spanish Colonial Frontier. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-4327-7.
These words do not explain why the Athabaskans initially left their home somewhere in Asia, probably Mongolia, to settle in cold country just south of the Arctic Circle.
- ^ Bragg, Beth (February 15, 2015). "Famed Alaska musher George Attla dead at 81". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ Bohman, Amanda (June 18, 2017). "Athabascan elder reflects on her 96 years". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ "Kathleen Carlo Kendall". Native Arts & Cultures Foundation. 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ Cornish, Audie; O'Connor, Gabe (May 16, 2019). "Meet Quinn Christopherson, Winner Of The 2019 Tiny Desk Contest". NPR - All Things Considered. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ "From the First Beginning, When the Animals Were Talking". Artist’s Proof Editions. January 30, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ Rockey, Tim (November 7, 2021). "ANCSA leader Notti inducted into Native American Hall of Fame". Alaska's News Source. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ Sullivan, Meghan (March 8, 2021). "John C. Sackett: Champion of rural Alaska". ICT News. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ Little, Suzanne (July 25, 2019). "Federal Proposal Falls Short in Protecting Alaska's Public Lands". Pew. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
- ^ Welford, Gabrielle (1997). "Reflections on Mary TallMountain's Life and Writing: Facing Mirrors". Studies in American Indian Literatures. 9 (2): 61–68.
- ^ McBride, Rhonda (November 25, 2022). "Giving thanks in 3 Alaska Native languages". KTOO Public Media. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ Lowen, Sara (June 16, 1988). "Bones of Contention". Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
- ^ Keenan, John (July 15, 2021). "Siobhan Wescott, MD, named LaFlesche Professor". University of Nebraska Medical Center. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
