Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska
Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019 This dissertation is the result of sociocultural anthropological research in and about the community of Elim, Alaska. Elim is a small community of approximately 330 (primarily Inupiaq and Yup'ik Eskimo) people in Norton Sound. This resea...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10531 |
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ftunivalaska:oai:scholarworks.alaska.edu:11122/10531 2023-05-15T16:07:29+02:00 Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska Raymond-Yakoubian, Julie M. Schweitzer, Peter Koester, David Plattet, Patrick Carothers, Courtney Lowe, Marie 2019-05 http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10531 en_US eng http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10531 Department of Anthropology subsistence fishing Alaska Elim pacific salmon symbolism subsistence economy Dissertation phd 2019 ftunivalaska 2023-02-23T21:37:31Z Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019 This dissertation is the result of sociocultural anthropological research in and about the community of Elim, Alaska. Elim is a small community of approximately 330 (primarily Inupiaq and Yup'ik Eskimo) people in Norton Sound. This research began with a focus on the topics of salmon and identity in the community. The focus on salmon was particularly important because the communities of this region have often traditionally been understood in the social sciences through the lens of relationships with marine mammals. The research involved participant observation in the community, a variety of forms of ethnographic interviewing (free listing, structured, and semi-structured interviews), focus groups, storytelling sessions, and archival research. Over 80 adults in the community participated in the project through interviews. I also completed extensive photo-documentation of the community and various aspects of peoples' relationships with subsistence activities. Much of this work began with inquiries about the importance of salmon to people in Elim, as well as an examination of other things which were important to Elim residents, and how people come to understand themselves. In this I also examined and learned about aspects of Elim residents' relationships with fish and other animals, with the environment, with the spiritual world, and with each other. This process led me to insights not just about identity in Elim - what matters, what is meaningful and valued, how people understand and define themselves and their community, and so on - but it also led to me an understanding of how Elim residents think about the nature of the world in general (i.e., cosmology). My main argument in this dissertation is that my research in and about Elim revealed that identity and cosmology are co-created - and it revealed how this is the case. I discovered that salmon are 'good to think with' in order to see that. This co-creation of identity and cosmology occurs within a ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis eskimo* Inupiaq Yup'ik Alaska University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA Fairbanks Norton Sound ENVELOPE(69.507,69.507,-49.202,-49.202) Pacific |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalaska |
language |
English |
topic |
subsistence fishing Alaska Elim pacific salmon symbolism subsistence economy |
spellingShingle |
subsistence fishing Alaska Elim pacific salmon symbolism subsistence economy Raymond-Yakoubian, Julie M. Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska |
topic_facet |
subsistence fishing Alaska Elim pacific salmon symbolism subsistence economy |
description |
Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019 This dissertation is the result of sociocultural anthropological research in and about the community of Elim, Alaska. Elim is a small community of approximately 330 (primarily Inupiaq and Yup'ik Eskimo) people in Norton Sound. This research began with a focus on the topics of salmon and identity in the community. The focus on salmon was particularly important because the communities of this region have often traditionally been understood in the social sciences through the lens of relationships with marine mammals. The research involved participant observation in the community, a variety of forms of ethnographic interviewing (free listing, structured, and semi-structured interviews), focus groups, storytelling sessions, and archival research. Over 80 adults in the community participated in the project through interviews. I also completed extensive photo-documentation of the community and various aspects of peoples' relationships with subsistence activities. Much of this work began with inquiries about the importance of salmon to people in Elim, as well as an examination of other things which were important to Elim residents, and how people come to understand themselves. In this I also examined and learned about aspects of Elim residents' relationships with fish and other animals, with the environment, with the spiritual world, and with each other. This process led me to insights not just about identity in Elim - what matters, what is meaningful and valued, how people understand and define themselves and their community, and so on - but it also led to me an understanding of how Elim residents think about the nature of the world in general (i.e., cosmology). My main argument in this dissertation is that my research in and about Elim revealed that identity and cosmology are co-created - and it revealed how this is the case. I discovered that salmon are 'good to think with' in order to see that. This co-creation of identity and cosmology occurs within a ... |
author2 |
Schweitzer, Peter Koester, David Plattet, Patrick Carothers, Courtney Lowe, Marie |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Raymond-Yakoubian, Julie M. |
author_facet |
Raymond-Yakoubian, Julie M. |
author_sort |
Raymond-Yakoubian, Julie M. |
title |
Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska |
title_short |
Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska |
title_full |
Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Salmon, cosmology, and identity in Elim, Alaska |
title_sort |
salmon, cosmology, and identity in elim, alaska |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10531 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(69.507,69.507,-49.202,-49.202) |
geographic |
Fairbanks Norton Sound Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Fairbanks Norton Sound Pacific |
genre |
eskimo* Inupiaq Yup'ik Alaska |
genre_facet |
eskimo* Inupiaq Yup'ik Alaska |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/10531 Department of Anthropology |
_version_ |
1766403589351145472 |