Protestant and orthodox missions in Alaska: Sheldon Jackson's and Ivan Veniaminov's activities

• Main Authors: Lauter, Olga, "Арктика история и современность", ежегодная международная научная конференция 3; 2018; Санкт-Петербург
• Format: Text
• Language: Russian
• Published: ПОЛИТЕХ-ПРЕСС 2019
• Subjects: Anchorage; Kodiak; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18720/spbpu/2/id19-112; http://elib.spbstu.ru/dl/2/id19-112.pdf

During a recent fieldwork in Anchorage and Kodiak, Alaska in summer 2017, the name of Sheldon Jackson, the general agent of education in Alaska constantly came up, in particular, while discussing punishments for speaking Native languages at schools and their consequent loss. In 1982, the anthropologist Richard Dauenhauer compared in his article two missionary strategies in Alaska in the 19th century: that of Sheldon Jackson, the Presbytarian missionary, and that of Ivan Veniaminov, the Russian Orthodox missionary. The same year, Stephen Haycox wrote an article arguing that Dauenhauer had failed to develop a sufficient historical context for the two missionaries and provided more details on Sheldon Jackson's strategy. The goal of both missionaries was to convert Native people to Christianity, thus, to eliminate their traditional religious beliefs. To reach the goal, both of them gathered ethnographic material, carried out missionary work, founded schools. In Veniaminov's and the Russian Orthodox Church's case, the elimination of Native traditional customs and beliefs was progressive and the approach was bilingual while Sheldon Jackson, like many other Protestants, insisted on Christianization, civilization and the exclusive use of the English language as the only possible means for indigenous people to become 'citizens' of the United States. This work acts as a survey over the existing literature and compares the respective missionary approaches.