| Summary: | This study seeks to understand the ecological and sociocultural changes impacting small Aleutian subsistence communities, how community residents are adapting their perceptions and practices to these changes, and how the communities themselves and institutions can better assess and improve personal and community viability with knowledge of these adaptations. This ethnographic research project in the communities of Akutan, Nikolski and Atka will: 1) document and compare resident’s perceptions, values and use of the local environment and compare observations with instrumented measurements of climate and resource abundance, 2) document current subsistence harvesting and processing practices, 3) determine the most important ecological, economic, and socio-cultural factors associated with observed changes in the use and relationship people have with the environment, 4) analyze the role of institutions in the observed changes in resource availability and environment change, perceived value, and use of subsistence resources, and 5) develop a model which illustrates the interrelations between subsistence use, resource availability, climactic and environmental change, socio-cultural and economic change, and institutional action. Drawing on the long-term research experience that the Principle Investigators have in rural Alaska communities, this project will allow for the opportunity to explore how residents perceive, experience and value their environment and how they have adapted these aspects as well as their subsistence practices to account for environmental change. This mixed-methods study combines semi-structured, in-depth interviews, detailed current and historical mapping of subsistence use areas, participant observation of subsistence practices, a review of literature, and collection and post-processing of relevant instrument data for the scope of this project. The results of the study will lend insight into how residents of small rural communities in the Aleutians interact with their changing environment, as well as how other communities may be experiencing and adapting to changing environments across the state.
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