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Shishmaref is a contemporary Inupiaq community in Northwest Alaska dedicated to continuing and maintaining their subsistence hunting way of life in a world of rapid natural, political, and social economic change. Traditional cultural values and ways of living in the world are continually and creatively drawn upon in everyday engagement in living in a world of constant change. It is cultural dexterity toward participating in a world in which change is the fundamental constant that has been and continues to be a hallmark of Inupiaq society through time. Flexibility in the continuity of subsistence land use in Shishmaref, as an expression of local identity demonstrates this Inupiaq way of being in the world and necessitates examining contemporary hunting practices in relation to historically documented relations with lands and animals.
Historic Iñupiaq societies or nations (Burch 1998) of Bering Strait and Northwest Alaska were distinct geographically bounded socio-territorial groups. These socio-territorial groups or nations were made up of bilaterally extended families, linked to each other through kinship ties, and until the middle of the 19th century, Iñupiat societies throughout Northwest Alaska and the Bering Strait region were essentially economically and socially self-sufficient nations. Groups of local families were referred to as nunaqatigiitch “people related to each other through possession of the land” (Burch 1998a:14).
Citizens of these nations operated primarily but not entirely within their national boundaries and co-existed more or less peacefully with their fellow citizens. Citizens of a particular nation were recognizably distinct in their physical appearance, clothing and language or dialect. Nations were socially and economically self sufficient, depending primarily on the resources within their national boundaries, and trading with citizens of other nations for resources not locally available (Magdanz et al. 2002:20).
Map 1, Inupiap Nations circa 1880, based on Burch (2005)
14 distinct territories between Kotzebue and Norton Sound have been identified by regional scholars (see map 1). Shishmaref lies within the use boundary area of the Tapqagmiut “people along the sandy shore”. Kigiqtaqmiut is a self-designating term that refers to the “people of the island” This land tenure system extended beyond the recognition of territorial political boundaries and included and still includes family owned lands within the socio-territory where one was a relative “citizen.” Use of lands or water belonging to another family typically required permission and some type of payment. The presence of family controlled fishing sites and berry-picking lands continues into the present. Through state controlled mechanisms (such as the Allotment Act) some Native residents have been able to apply for and gain title to “allotment lands”. Allotments generally are on traditional berry picking areas, productive fishing areas, and spring hunting camps. Additionally many families have their allotments spread out across the Tapqagmiut landscape in order to maximize their ability to access their preferred traditional wild resources harvesting areas. There is also considerable sharing of lands, and families may have regular seasonal camps on another’s allotment. Such use still often results in a form of payment; typically this involves sharing the resources harvested from those lands. Such sharing of lands and camps emerges both from historic familial relations and ties to places and other social mechanisms. Along the coast both south of Shishmaref, to Cape Espenberg, and up the Serpentine River, allotments owned by Native families demonstrate the integration of contemporary state land management into Bering Strait Iñupiat land tenure systems. Not only do people continue to use lands they historically occupied; many families have considerable monetary investment in camps and cabins throughout their historically identified region.
Current subsistence hunting demonstrates the resiliency of Iñupiat land tenure and resource management by Shishmaref residents within their traditionally occupied territory. Material evidence suggests that the territorial and land management system of nunaqatigiitch “may date back to more than 1,000 years ago. Thus while historical processes disrupted and destroyed much of the political autonomy of Iñupaiq nations, in relation to colonial expansion traditional territories still play an important role in terms of defining community land-use patterns and assume the existence of detailed ecological knowledge of a specific geographic region area.
Walking around Shishmaref one can quickly sees the importance of wild foods. Every house has a collection of racks next to it with foods drying and hides being stretched or stored. Just outside of the residential area each family has drying racks that by mid summer are groaning under the weight of bearded seal, ugzruk, fish, reindeer, and caribou meat preserved through traditional techniques. Each family puts up close 50 gallons of seal oil per year. People continually suggest that just as hunting was the historic basis why Shishmaref Iñupiat both settled on and continue to live on Sarichef Island, as opposed to moving to Nome or another larger town with greater cash-economic opportunities. Shishmaref’s location is directly related to its functionality as a base for subsistence hunting. At the same time, on a symbolic level, the Tapqaqmiut cultural landscape represents not just a food source but serves to enhance local identity through resident’s experiences traveling and harvesting resources from lands to which they maintain a historic relationship with. Shishmaref’s contemporary Iñupiaq culture just as historic traditional cultural practices are premised upon continuous recreation rather than simple replication of a older modes of being. In this capacity Shishmaref Iñupiaq culture is actualized in everyday activities; the sharing of traditional foods, the passage of names. Contemporary hunting life therefore speaks to a continuous dedication toward place as a Kigiqitaq way of being in the world.
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