The following list of Alaska Native inventors and scientists begins to document Alaska Natives with deep historical and ecological knowledge about system-wide health, knowledge that in many cases precedes and exceeds discoveries published in the scientific literature. [1] [2] [3]
For more than century, Alaska Native naturalists have entered into collaborative relationships with scientists working in the field or in their communities (International Polar Year (IPY), Native Contributions to Arctic Science, [4] Barrow Arctic Research Center). Their many contributions extend from indigenous ways of knowing to practical and applied inventions needed to subsist from the land, air, and waters (Sharing Knowledge Smithsonian Exhibit).
As institutions strive to decolonize, indigenous-settler relationships remain contentious and marked by structural inequities. In the history of the New World, Old World explorers and settlers often relied for their survival on the knowledge and wisdom of indigenous peoples. [5]
While this list focuses on individual biographies, it is worth noting the many exemplary collaborative projects (e.g., Barrow Arctic Research Center). In addition to recognizing community-based participatory research (CBPR), this list credits the organizations that develop and advocate for the education of future indigenous scientists and engineers, young scholars who will increase the number of indigenous scientists and engineers earning degrees. According to a 2019 report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, fewer than 1% of bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering programs go to American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islanders. These organizations include American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program (ANSEP), Recruitment and Retention of American Indians into Nursing (RRAIN), and Recruitment and Retention of Alaska Natives into Nursing (RRANN).
Name | Years | Tribal Affiliation | Degree Knowledge area | Citations |
---|---|---|---|---|
Billy Adams | 1965- | Iñupiat | Utqiagvik - NSB Department of Wildlife Management - extensive experience (30+ years) working with scientists, and continues to inform marine mammal and ice scientists | [6] |
Harry Brower Sr. | 1924-1992 | Iñupiat | See The Whales, they give themselves, and Fifty More Year Below Zero: Tributes and Meditations for the Naval Arctic Laboratory's first half century at Barrow, Alaska | [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] |
Patricia Longley Cochran | Iñupiat | [12] [13] [14] | ||
Stanley Edwin | Gwich'in | UAF - Atmospheric Sciences, Climatology - PhD | [15] [16] [17] | |
Sven Haakanson | 1967- | Alutiiq | [18] | |
Al Hopson, Sr. or Eben Hopson | Iñupiat | See Fifty More Year Below Zero: Tributes and Meditations for the Naval Arctic Laboratory's first half century at Barrow, Alaska | ||
Orville Huntington | Athabaskan | B.S. Wildlife Biology, Climate Change, Indigenous Knowledge, Subsistence, Alaska Native Corporations | [19] [20] | |
Paul John | 1929-2015 | Yup'ik | [21] [22] [23] [24] book review [25] | |
Teresa Arevgaq John | Yup'ik | [26] [27] [28] [29] | ||
Oscar Kawagley | 1934-2011 | Yup'ik | traditional knowledge and science educator | [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] |
Della Keats | 1907-1996 | Iñupiat | Healer, midwife | |
Joe Leavitt | 1959- | Iñupiat | Utqiagvik - extensive experience (40+ years) working as consultant with ice scientists. | [35] [36] |
Ilarion (Larry) Merculieff | circa 1950 | Aleut | [30] [37] [38] | |
Simon Paneak | 1900-1975 | Iñupiat | See Fifty More Year Below Zero: Tributes and Meditations for the Naval Arctic Laboratory's first half century at Barrow, Alaska | [4] [39] [40] [41] [42] |
Peter Sovalik | 1910-1977 | Iñupiat | An Original Arctic Naturalist, by Robert E. Henshaw and Max C. Brewer 2001 | [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] |
Tina Marie Woods | Aleut | Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology with a Rural Indigenous Emphasis from the University of Alaska Anchorage. Worked within the Alaska Tribal Health System for over 15 years, with much time administering the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association. | [48] [49] [50] |
Eskimo is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit and the Yupik of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, the Aleut, which inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the Eskaleut language family.
The Yupik are a group of Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Iñupiat. Yupik peoples include the following:
The Iñupiat are a group of Indigenous Alaskans whose traditional territory roughly spans northeast from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the northernmost part of the Canada–United States border. Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaat, including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough, affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough; and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation. They often claim to be the first people of the Kauwerak.
The Gwichʼin language belongs to the Athabaskan language family and is spoken by the Gwich'in First Nation (Canada) / Alaska Native People. It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tukudh, or Loucheux. Gwich'in is spoken primarily in the towns of Inuvik, Aklavik, Fort McPherson, and Tsiigehtchic, all in the Northwest Territories and Old Crow in Yukon of Canada. In Alaska of the United States, Gwichʼin is spoken in Beaver, Circle, Fort Yukon, Chalkyitsik, Birch Creek, Arctic Village, Eagle, and Venetie.
Muktuk is a traditional food of the peoples of the Arctic, consisting of whale skin and blubber. It is most often made from the bowhead whale, although the beluga and the narwhal are also used. It is usually consumed raw, but can also be eaten frozen, cooked, or pickled.
Ann Fienup-Riordan is an American cultural anthropologist known for her work with the Yup'ik of western Alaska, particularly on Nelson Island and the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska. She received Historian of the Year awards from the Alaska Historical Society in 1991 and 2001.
The Yup'ik or Yupiaq and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik, are an Indigenous people of western and southwestern Alaska ranging from southern Norton Sound southwards along the coast of the Bering Sea on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and along the northern coast of Bristol Bay as far east as Nushagak Bay and the northern Alaska Peninsula at Naknek River and Egegik Bay. They are also known as Cup'ik by the Chevak Cup'ik dialect-speaking people of Chevak and Cup'ig for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect-speaking people of Nunivak Island.
Inuit are a group of culturally similar Indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Alaska. Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) describes indigenous and other traditional knowledge of local resources. As a field of study in Northern American anthropology, TEK refers to "a cumulative body of knowledge, belief, and practice, evolving by accumulation of TEK and handed down through generations through traditional songs, stories and beliefs. It is concerned with the relationship of living beings with their traditional groups and with their environment." Indigenous knowledge is not a universal concept among various societies, but is referred to a system of knowledge traditions or practices that are heavily dependent on "place". Such knowledge is used in natural resource management as a substitute for baseline environmental data in cases where there is little recorded scientific data, or may complement Western scientific methods of ecological management.
Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley, best known as Oscar Kawagley, was a Yup'ik anthropologist, teacher and actor from Alaska. He was an associate professor of education at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks until his death in 2011. The Anchorage Daily News described him as "one of (Alaska's) most influential teachers and thinkers".
The Messenger Feast or Kivgiq, Kevgiq, is a celebratory mid-winter festival in Alaska traditionally held by Iñupiaq and Yup'ik peoples after a strong whale harvest.
Eskimology or Inuitology is a complex of humanities and sciences studying the languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of the speakers of Eskimo–Aleut languages and Inuit, Yupik and Aleut, sometimes collectively known as Eskimos, in historical and comparative context. This includes ethnic groups from the Chukchi Peninsula on the far eastern tip of Siberia in Russia, through Alaska of the United States, Canada's Inuit Nunangat, including the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut Nunavik and Nunatsiavut, through NunatuKavut, to Greenland of Denmark. Originally, an Eskimologist or Inuitologist was primarily a linguist or philologist who researches Eskimo or Inuit languages.
Yup'ik dance or Yuraq, also Yuraqing is a traditional Inuit style dancing form usually performed to songs in Yup'ik, with dances choreographed for specific songs which the Yup'ik people of southwestern Alaska. Also known as Cup'ik dance for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking Inuit of Chevak and Cup'ig dance for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking Inuit of Nunivak Island. Yup'ik dancing is set up in a very specific and cultural format. Typically, the men are in the front, kneeling and the women stand in the back. The drummers are in the very back of the dance group. Dance is the heart of Yup’ik spiritual and social life. Traditional dancing in the qasgiq is a communal activity in Yup’ik tradition. The mask (kegginaquq) was a central element in Yup'ik ceremonial dancing.
Yup'ik doll is a traditional Eskimo style doll and figurine form made in the southwestern Alaska by Yup'ik people. Also known as Cup'ik doll for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking Eskimos of Chevak and Cup'ig doll for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking Eskimos of Nunivak Island. Typically, Yup'ik dolls are dressed in traditional Eskimo style Yup'ik clothing, intended to protect the wearer from cold weather, and are often made from traditional materials obtained through food gathering. Play dolls from the Yup'ik area were made of wood, bone, or walrus ivory and measured from one to twelve inches in height or more. Male and female dolls were often distinguished anatomically and can be told apart by the addition of ivory labrets for males and chin tattooing for females. The information about play dolls within Alaska Native cultures is sporadic. As is so often the case in early museum collections, it is difficult to distinguish dolls made for play from those made for ritual. There were always five dolls making up a family: a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, and a baby. Some human figurines were used by shamans.
Paul Joseph John was an American Yup'ik elder, cultural advocate, and commercial fisherman. John was a proponent of traditional Central Alaskan Yup'ik culture, including the use of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language and a subsistence lifestyle, including wild food. Additionally, John helped to settle the village of Toksook Bay, Alaska. A traditional chief of the Nunakauyarmiut tribe, he was a member of the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP), which is based in Bethel, Alaska.
Marie (Nick) Arnaq Meade is a Yup'ik professor in the humanities and also a Yup'ik tradition bearer. Meade's Yup'ik name is Arnaq which means "woman." She also works and travels with the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. Meade is also part of the Nunamta Yup'ik Dance Group. Meade has been documenting the cultural knowledge of Yup'ik elders, including the values, language and beliefs of the Yup'ik people for over twenty years. She is currently an instructor at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Climate change and Indigenous peoples describes how climate change disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples around the world when compared to non-indigenous peoples. These impacts are particularly felt in relation to health, environments, and communities. Some indigenous scholars of climate change argue that these disproportionately felt impacts are linked to ongoing forms of colonialism. Indigenous peoples found throughout the world have strategies and traditional knowledge to adapt to climate change. These knowledge systems can be beneficial for their own community's adaptation to climate change as expressions of self-determination as well as to non-Indigenous communities.
Max Clifton Brewer (1924–2012) was an Arctic scientist, geophysicist, geological engineer, environmentalist, educator, and philosopher, and is best known for his expertise in the scientific field of permafrost. He was the longest-serving director (1956-1971) of the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) in Utqiaġvik, Alaska where he established and managed the NARL ice stations in the Arctic Ocean. From 1971-1974 he served in the gubernatorial cabinet of William A. Egan as the first commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
Harry Brower, Sr. (1924–1992) or Kupaaq was an Iñupiaq whaling captain and community leader from Utqiagvik, Alaska.
Vera Kingeekuk Metcalf is educator and advocate known for her work in the preservation of traditions and language of Alaska Native people. in 2019 she was elected to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.