Module III
Module III explores the idea of connectedness between culture and landforms. Exploring how landscapes formed and how, in turn, they shaped cultures by their landforms is not only interesting, but also a fundamental necessity in understanding any culture.
. The Yupik, Cupik, Athabaskin, and Tlingit cultures were featured in the Teacher Domain episodes. Each is very unique in certain aspects of their culture, and this uniqueness stems from restraints and opportunities afforded by the local, regional landforms and geological processes in their area. Each of these cultures had to find ways to live in harmony with what was around them.
For example, the Athabaskins along the Yukon River use the river for transportation, survival – both subsistence and non-subsistence, and aesthetics. The river is constantly being traversed by boat, snow machine, dog team, automobile, or serving as a landing strip for airplanes. In turn the river brings fish, barges, water, and wood. And, there isn’t a more astounding and beautiful sight on earth as when the “sun dogs” appear or the moon is being reflected from the white ribbon of river ice.
This same river can be menacing when it swells and floods or becomes so turbulent it swamps boats. The Athabaskins living along this river have a “centered” respect for what it “is” – beneficial, beautiful, and threatening. The Yukon connects the people to the land. It provides for them, and they in turn have come to love and revere it.
When I say the river brings wood that may sound strange to someone who hasn’t lived along the river. During spring break up, the river delivers all kinds of driftwood. The water is high from melt off, so trees along the banks often loose their grip due to erosion and become part of a journey to the sea. Natives along the way look for good logs and then go out in boats to drag them ashore for use. I have watched this and heard constantly phrases like, “Let that one go for our relatives down the coast” or “That’s a good one, we should get it”.
I used the Yukon River and the Athabasin culture for my primary source to show how landforms create a connectedness with the people subjected to them. But, I would also like to say that in Tlingit country I felt that same sense of reverence from them toward the cedar and sea. In Aleut, Unangan, country the wind and sea hold tradition and life in their hands. The Inupiat and Yupik have the true tundra and sea, which also have a hold over them. Each season has its gifts and challenges. All of our cultures are tied intrinsically to the land, and its formations - from which a predictable life was carved and established.
People living in an urban area cannot begin to develop this sense of reverence for the landforms unless they leave the comfort of their living rooms and venture out into the surrounding “wildness”. This is a challenge for Native people. How can this value for the land be kept alive if we don’t expose our children to all of its features? With so many rural families moving to urban areas, this should be a point of concern. If we lose the connectedness to the land, then we cannot be good stewards of it.
The concept of Pangaea explains commonalities among fauna, flora and ethic groups living on different continents. It seems to make sense, and it seems to be an accepted theory. How else do we get the Himalayas? And, some awesome, dynamic force pushed Denali to a height unequaled on the planet from base to summit. It had to be colliding landmasses of some sort. Weathering and erosion are natural forces of nature like birthing, living, and dying when the time comes – if one is fortunate to live the full circle.
In Anchorage, like most places in Alaska, it is easy to see the impact of geological forces at work. We have the Chugiak Mountains forming a semi-ring around the city. We have Mt. Redoubt, Sleeping Lady, and the Valdez-Chugiak Faults in our back yards. I will use the resources on Teacher Domain showing how the geological forces formed different mountain types, and how these forces are dynamic even today.
Goggle Earth is wonderful! I looked at the island of Attu because my dad fought there in WWII. He told me how difficult it was to route the Japanese out of the hills in the fog and terrain. Then I contrasted Attu with Wrangell to show how different the land was for the Aleuts. I find this type of teaching invaluable as students are pushed to examine and evaluate how the Aleuts had to adapt during their interment.
Unless we look critically at all of this, and appreciate what it means to “adapt”, then we are misusing our opportunity to “teach” and we are robbing students of the opportunity to synthesize, evaluate, and apply new knowledge.
Three Colleagues:
Matt Hunter of Sitka. I loved his pictures and my granddaughter goes to MEHS.
Lila's blog also caught my eye. I liked her ideas and on intergrating Native knowledge and western science.
Ester Gust's blog is another one I visited. I am interested in hearing other Native perspectives and how they are using the ideas in the course.
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